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Biogeomorphology Platform

02/10/07:BioGeoCivilEngineering conference announcement. GeoDelft & Delft University of Technology organise a conference on the bio-mediated phenomena in (geo)engineering on 23-25 June 2008, Delft. More information you can request at info@bgce.nl and in the BGCE 2008 leaflet.

20/04/07:Last meeting Biogeomorphology Platform. The last platform meeting was held on 19 April 2007. Location IMARES at Texel.

On the agenda were announcements on new research possibilities and updates on ongoing research. An overview on research topics can be found at: Background Reading.

It was extremely low tide at 16:15 (-1.21 m at Den Helder, Lowest Astronomical Tide is -1.25 m) so were nice views on oyster reefs and more wonders of the tidal flats during the excursion.

30/05/06: Definitive program Workshop'water-bed exchange of cohesive sand-mud mixtures'. The definitive program can be viewed at: program sand-mud workshop.

02/03/06: Workshop A workshop on sand-mud mixtures and the interaction with biological influences will be organised by the Dutch Centre for Coastal Research (NCK), see first announcement, and http://www.nck-web.org/.

23/02/06: MSc project announcements. Currently, there are two positions open for MSc. students who want to work on biogeomorphological topics. One in the Westerschelde estuary and one in the river Rhine.

13/02/06: PhD job announcement. At NIOO-CEME a PhD position is open untill 7 March 2006. The candidate will work on experiments quantifying salt marsh dynamics for coastal defence. More information in Dutch or English can be found here.

01/02/06: New post-doc on NWO / STW project. Maarten van der Vegt started February 1st as a post-doc on the STW-project "Ecomorphology of estuaries and tidal lagoons" (see news items below). Maarten expects to become a Ph.D. on March 20th at Utrecht University on the modelling of outer deltas, under the supervision of Huib de Swart.

23/12/05:Course Biogeomorphology at Delft University. Starting 10 February 2006 a new course on Biogeomorphology will be taught at Delft University. This is a facultative course for M.Sc. students with a background in civil engineering / physical geography / biology. It aims at bringing together various disciplines dealing with the description and prediction of erosion / sedimentation, geomorphology and the interrelationships with biota. The lectures will be given by experts from several universities and research institutes. Students have to prepare each lecture by reading scientific journal papers. More information can be found at Course Biogeomorphology

Go to News archive .

Platform biogeomorphology

The platform has been founded in December 2003 as an initiative of Delft University of Technology.

The platform consists at present of members of many Netherlands research institutes and end-users. The platform is not per definition limited to Dutch organizations and welcomes input of other interested parties.

Goal of the platform

Goal of the platform is to provide networking and stimulate interaction between researchers in the field of biogeomorphology.

Within the platform ongoing and new research issues will be discussed with from the viewpoint of potential co-operation in joint projects and sharing of knowledge and resources. The platform will furthermore discuss issues related to student teaching and training.

Activities of the platform

The platform will organize thematic meetings related to research issues in fresh, brackish and marine systems. Efforts will be made to elaborate the relevance of biogeomorphology to end-users and to define research needs for issues in relation to ecosystem management.

What is biogeomorphology?

Biogeomorphology is the study of the interaction between geomorphological features and organisms.

Biogeomorphology is a relatively new discipline within the study of water systems. This discipline combines ecology and geomorphology. Geomorphology is the study of landforms and their formation. Ecology is the study of the relationships between organisms and their environment. The environment can be defined as factors that affect organisms. These factors can be abiotic (physical, chemical), biotic (other organisms) or anthropogenic (humans).

Related terms are ecomorphology, eco-morphology, ecogeomorphology or biomorphology. A related field of research is biogeology.

Research in NL

In the Netherlands biogeomorphology related research is executed in the field, in laboratory facilities and includes development of mathematical models. Main areas of research are:
- Modelling-, field- and experimental study on biogeomorphology of river floodplains.
- Fieldwork in the Western Scheldt on interaction of saltmarshes with currents, waves and sediment transport.
- Fieldwork in the North Sea on relations between organisms and seabed.
- Flume experiments on interactions of waves and currents with plants.
- Process-based model development on flow, wave patterns affected by vegetation.
- Process-based model development on sediment transport and sediment composition in relation to vegetation and biological (de)stabilizers of the sediment.