Fleur van Alphen

Fleur van Alphen works as a data specialist at Witteveen+Bos, specializing in
ecological projects. She closely collaborates with ecologists to study and improve
water quality. She uses techniques such as differential equations, statistics, and AI.
She is also interested in projects related to waterways, ranging from calculating the
impact of a boat on the shoreline to optimizing navigation routes for vessels. Fleur
obtained her master’s degree in applied mathematics at the University of Twente in
2023, with a specialization in System Theory, Applied Analysis and Computational
Science (SACS).

About the talk: Assessing water quality based on environmental DNA.
Water boards monitor their waters to gain insights into water quality and to evaluate
the effect of taken measures. One method to monitor their waters is through
environmental DNA (eDNA). eDNA is genetic material left behind by all organisms
and is present in water, soil, and air. By employing simple sampling equipment, we
can "capture" eDNA, enabling us to detect the presence of organisms in our
environment without needing to see or catch them directly. From a single water
sample of just one liter, we can extract over 5000 unique DNA sequences, each
representing an individual organism. With the captured eDNA, we can identify which
organisms are present in an ecosystem.
Since 2016, we have measured the eDNA at various sampling locations in
waterbodies. The gathered data gives us insight into the life present in an ecosystem.
With the gathered data, we
- establish a solid foundation for a system analysis by mapping all species
present at the specific sampling location;
- compare sampling locations to identify both temporal and spatial patterns.
The talk will focus on some of the methods we use to analyze the eDNA data. Of
course we will also show you interesting results.