Maya Mischa Daumal

Floodplains After severe flooding at the end of the last century, the river Maas needed to be made safer. By excavating gravel, the river was given wider floodplains, creating more space for water to be channelled away. The floodplains along the Grensmaas, the stretch of river between Maastricht and Wessem, initially consisted of bare, flat expanses. Nature quickly took over.

Introduction Decomposition of plant litter plays an important role in recycling and storage of carbon and nutrients, which affect primary productivity and ecosystem composition around the world (Swift et al. 1979, Wardle et al. 2004, Berg and McClaugherty 2014, Veen 2018et al. 2018).