Diana Katschnig Msc.

Hello! I am a PhD student at the department of Systems Ecology. I completed my MSc in biology at the Radboud University in Nijmegen. My first experience with research was in a project about the phylogeny of anaerobic methane oxidizing bacteria performed during my undergraduate years. In traineeships during my masters I looked into niche differentiation and dynamic soil heterogeneity at the department of Experimental Plant Ecology in Nijmegen and in a second traineeship at the School of Plant Biology in Perth, Australia I investigated the consequences of high CO2 levels on respiration in rice root tips. I started my PhD with the department of Systems Ecology on August 1st 2010.

PhD project: Adaptation to dry and saline conditions by crop cultivation exploiting brackish water and saving fresh water

My PhD project is part of the national research program Kennis voor Klimaat (KvK). Within theme 2 of this program (Fresh water supply and water quality at national and international scale) my project carries the title: Adaptation to dry and saline conditions by crop cultivation exploiting brackish water and saving fresh water. Part of the funding of my project also comes from the organisation for agriculture in saline environments (OASE foundation) and from a project with cultivation of saline crops as part of a marine aquaculture project with sustainable production of algae, fish and shellfish, coordinated  by Marc van Rijsselberghe, a Dutch entrepreneur involved in innovative saline agricultural projects.
As a result of global warming arable land may suffer from more saline and dry conditions. Fresh water is being used to flush saline polders and to decrease the amount of brackish ground water that seeps to the surface.
This project aims at saving fresh water by making use of brackish and saline water for agriculture. Adapting to the more dry and saline conditions instead of trying to combat them and thereby saving fresh water to be used for other purposes (drinking water, industrial use, maintenance of ground water levels). To develop the cultivation of salt tolerant crops, salt responses of various crops will be assessed in the field and with hydroponic cultures. Also yield, composition and quality of crops cultivated under varying salinities will be assessed with special attention to Salicornia species. The translation from hydroponics to field conditions can be quite difficult. I will try to add to our understanding of salinity effects in the field by adding to the knowledge about the physiology of plants grown under saline conditions. We cooperate with projects in Mexico and Tunisia. Topics within my project cover field experiments on Texel and coastal areas in the Netherlands and abroad, closely linked with (eco) physiological research in the greenhouse and climate room.