dr. OG (Oscar) Bos

About myself

As a marine ecologist I am interested in the functioning and conservation of the underwater world. As a scuba diver I know how special the North Sea is, and as a scientist, I have a knowledge of how the system works and which enormous datasets and expertise we have available to answer questions.

At Wageningen Marine Research, I work as a project leader and researcher mainly on projects related to the conservation and restoration of biodiversity in the North Sea. I work on marine protected areas (Natura 2000, Marine Strategy Framework Directive), flat oysters restoration in the North Sea, and monitoring and automatic image recognition of the benthic fauna. Much of mywork is commissioned by the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality.

I am internationally active within the OSPAR working group POSH (Protection and conservation of species and habitats) and within NORA (Native Oyster Restoration Alliance). In recent years I have also focussed on protected areas in the oceans (outside the EEZ), marine spatial planning, invasive species, seals and more, and I joined different field trips in the North Sea, Wadden Sea and Saba Bank.

Biodiversity of the Saba Bank. Every 3 years I join the Saba Bank expedition to assess the status of the reef. A summary of previous research can be found  Bos OG, Becking LE, Meesters HWG (2016) Saba Research 2011-2016 (http://edepot.wur.nl/400225). Wageningen Marine Researc

Internships

 1: Comparison of underwater monitoring methods (ROVs, AUVs) to inventory natural and artificial reefs. All kinds of techniques are currently being developed to inventory reefs with various underwater drones. In this internship you will conduct research into the current state of affairs by means of literature research, discussions with developers, etc. The aim is to make an overview of technical specifications (what can which drone do), application area (offshore wind, mussel beds, etc). We will also test our own drone for a day.

2: assessment of Ocean quahog. The ocean quahog is a long-lived shellfish that can live up to 100 years. For OSPAR we have to make an assessment of the status of the species in Europe. Where does it come from, what is the state of the population. You get data from different databases, make cards, write texts and you are in contact with researchers in other countries to get the right date. (only possible between April-August 2023).

STAGE costs/benefits of natural inclusive building. You participate in the KOBINE project in which we look at the costs and benefits of natural inclusive construction. For a number of artificial reefs we want to know the costs (euros) and benefits (ecosystem functions (fish nursery, shelter, food source), or nature points, or, for example, CO2 sequestration). First you make an overview of benefits. Then you will calculate what these benefits are for a case study, based on biodiversity data. If possible, you can also participate in fieldwork for one or more days.