Up until now there has been little work done on the restorations of salt marshes. This means there is little to no information available on the impact of depoldering. The transition from fresh water to salt water and introducing sedimentation and erosion can bring forth quite some changes in ecology and geomorphology. The depoldering of Perkpolder gives researchers an opportunity to investigate those changes and get more information on these types of restoration projects. This will give them better opportunities of predicting ecosystem changes in the future.
The project will focus on the monitoring of geomorphological and geohydraulic processes, monitoring of changes in ecology (vegetation, birds, fish etc.), recreational use, societal changes and opportunities for education and overall development of the salt marsh. Besides this, techniques on how to use the gathered information in the future will be developed and the added value in terms of water safety will also be assessed.
