Food Print Utrecht Region Utrecht visits Netherlands Plant-Ecophenotyping Centre (NPEC) and BioCliVE
On 12 May 2023, Food Print Utrecht Region visited the Netherlands Plant-Ecophenotyping Centre (NPEC) and the Utrecht 木瓜福利影视 Biodiversity and Climate Variability Experiment (BioCliVE). Irene Mommers, partner at BeBright and one of the participants shared an enthusiastic post on LinkedIn: 鈥淲e visited the groundbreaking and impressive new NPEC where mini-eco ecosystems are created and studied with the Ecotron research module. We also visited the Biodiversity and Climate Variability Experiment, UU BioCliVE. Thank you very much Prof. George Kowalchuk and Dr. Roeland Berendsen for your inspiring tour. We could have listened to your captivating stories for hours. We admired your special techniques, so cleverly engineered and constructed. Ren茅 Kwant, thank you for organizing. I am very proud of Utrecht 木瓜福利影视!鈥
About NPEC
The module, located on the Utrecht 木瓜福利影视 campus, consists of 36 closed units within which conditions can be fully controlled and monitored. These units make it possible to replicate the complexities of the real world and study processes at work both above and below ground. Temperature, humidity, amount of daylight, soil and how much it "rains" can be set within each unit. Various plant properties can be measured from within the units. Color cameras monitor the above and below ground development of the plants. This enables researchers to see, for example, which interactions plants have with other plants and soil life, which combinations of crops and plant characteristics go well together and which conditions ensure efficient use of nutrients and maintenance of soil fertility. And this new knowledge is of great importance in these times of climate change, soil impoverishment and reduction of biodiversity!
About UU BioCliVe
Human activities are leading to a sharp decline in biodiversity, while at the same time climate change is impacting the world's ecosystems. Biodiversity and Climate Variability Experiment, UU BioCliVE, is an experiment that manipulates plant diversity and future precipitation scenarios to explore how biological diversity can provide us with natural insurance against climate change. The experiment was set up in May 2017 in the Botanical Gardens of Utrecht 木瓜福利影视. Researchers from other institutes are welcome to participate. UU BioCliVE mimics the ecosystems of the future, giving us insight into the mechanisms by which biodiversity helps protect ecosystems against the potentially harmful effects of climate change.