Research Ignace Pelckmans

Abstract

Mangroves are coastal forests that provide vital ecosystem services, including supporting fisheries, protecting shorelines, and sequestering large amounts of carbon. Despite increasing global restoration efforts, over half of mangrove planting projects fail due to low seedling survival, largely because key environmental drivers of establishment remain poorly understood. Restoration strategies typically focus on large-scale factors such as elevation and tidal inundation. However, tidal mudflats also contain small-scale microtopographic features—such as creeks, levees, and ridge-runnel systems—that vary over centimetres to metres and are often overlooked. Observations suggest these features may strongly influence natural mangrove expansion. This project hypothesizes that microtopography creates localized "windows of opportunity" for seedling establishment by reducing hydrodynamic stress, stabilizing sediments, and improving soil conditions. Elevated areas may enhance drainage and oxygen availability, while depressions may hinder growth through waterlogging and toxic soil buildup. Once established, mangroves can further modify their environment by slowing water flow and promoting sedimentation, creating positive feedbacks that expand suitable habitat. The EMMA project will investigate these processes by combining centimetre-scale UAV-LiDAR data from sites in Vietnam and New Zealand with field measurements, multispectral imaging, and transplantation experiments. It will also develop a novel biophysical model that incorporates fine-scale topography to simulate long-term mangrove establishment and guide restoration design. By revealing how small-scale topography influences mangrove survival, this research will improve restoration success and support more effective, nature-based coastal management strategies.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Temmerman Stijn
• Fellow: Pelckmans Ignace

Research team(s)

• Ecosphere

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Tidal and riverine wetlands are highly valued ecosystems, among others for nature-based climate mitigation through the sequestration of CO2 into carbon in the wetland vegetation and wetland soil. However, many wetland areas have been historically converted in human land use, leading to the loss of the CO2 sequestration function. Nowadays, projects are carried out to (re-)create tidal and non-tidal wetlands, such as in the Schelde river basin (Belgium, Flanders) through the Sigmaplan (https://www.sigmaplan.be/en). Yet it remains to be proven how efficient such newly created wetlands are for mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions, as they can be a sink for CO2 but also a potential source for CH4 and/or N2O. This project investigates the carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas balance across different types of tidal and non-tidal wetland restoration projects located in the Schelde river basin. It is based on a combination of (1) field measurements of greenhouse gas fluxes using flux chambers, (2) field sampling and lab analyses to quantify rates of carbon sequestration into soils and vegetation, and (3) geospatial upscaling of results to estimate the carbon and greenhouse gas balance of created wetlands across the Schelde river basin.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Temmerman Stijn
• Co-promoter: Janssens Ivan
• Co-promoter: Maris Tom
• Co-promoter: Pelckmans Ignace

Research team(s)

• Ecosphere

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

River deltas are hotspots of human activity, but their vulnerability to flood risks is increasing due to climate warming and worldwide conversion of natural floodplains into human land use (LU). Although previous studies have demonstrated that natural wetlands can play a key role in reducing extreme high water levels on small to intermediate scales (~1 – 10 km²), limited knowledge exists on how wetland conversion to human LU affects amplification of high water levels at the scale of whole deltas (~10² - 10³ km²). This particularly holds true for tropical deltas, where mangrove conversion to aquaculture is widespread and where extreme high water levels are caused by specific climate fluctuations such as El Niño. This project aims to yield a fundamental understanding on how the spatial configuration of mangrove versus aquaculture areas impacts the distribution of high water levels in the Guayas delta (Ecuador), where El Niño is the main driver of extreme high water level events. A combination of field measurements, analysis of existing data and hydrodynamic modelling will be used to reach novel scientific insights on the effects of El Niño and mangrove deforestation on high water levels in a tropical delta. Such knowledge is relevant to support sustainable development of delta societies.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Temmerman Stijn
• Fellow: Pelckmans Ignace

Research team(s)

• Ecosphere

Project type(s)

• Research Project