Student Research Reports

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Cities, like Leidsche Rijn, are quickly developing. Urbanisation is something taking place all over the world. Greenfields all over the world are getting covered up by cement. As a result, there is a noticeable decrease in wildlife in these areas. The decline in wildlife sizes and variety of species can have devastating effects on people when put on a larger scale. With this research, we wanted to research this correlation. During this research, we investigated three plots of land of 90 x 90 m. Maximapark, Veldhuizerpark and the Voedselbos. Maximapark is where the most maintenance takes place and by the Voedselbos the least. Once at the locations, we marked the area and started walking diagonals. As we encountered any new species, we would take a photo and write down where and what we had found. When looking back at the collected data we can see a link between the amount and type of maintenance that is done and the biodiversity of an ecosystem. The region with the most maintenance ended up being the place with the least number of species, and the place with the least maintenance has the greatest number of species. When looking at the types of plants that grow in such an area, we not only kept in mind how many species but also their importance in an ecosystem. The amount of plant species depends greatly on the maintenance done in the area. At frequently maintained locations we have seen fewer plant species than in locations with less frequent maintenance. If we were to do follow-up research, we would like to create a plan to idealize the way to maintain our environment in growing cities.