To increase the biodiversity in Degerhamn limestone quarry we plan to drill holes into the steeps surrounding a lake. And why would we do that? Well, there’s this bird called the Sand Martin that is nearly threatened in Sweden which usually builds burrows as homes in sand steeps. Due to the unstable nature of these habitats they're on the decline. So we want to help the birds to find new homes.

But that’s not all!

We also intend to focus on the lake. In the lake we will establish enclosures where we’ll experimentally add underwater plants and zooplankton, such as Daphnia magna. This will give us an indication of what kind of efforts that can be helpful in rehabilitation of a quarry site. By the lake shore we’ll, by manipulation, show a demonstration of what can be done to rehabilitate the area if you use directed succession (that is, controlling how different plant communities replace one another over time).

The quarry of Degerhamn is situated in the alvar of Öland, a very unique place partly because of the high quality limestone that make up the island, but also because of the unique flora and fauna. Because of this there’s a great value of rehabilitate the Degerhamn quarry.