High mountain lakes and streams indicate a changing world
4 September 2000 - 4 September 2000
Austria
An open scientific international conference based on 'High mountain lakes and streams: Indicators of a changing world' will be held in Innsbruck, Austria, from 4 to 8 September 2000. The conference will focus on work funded under the European Commission's specific programme for research in the field of Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development.
'One fifth of the world is covered by mountains where one tenth of the population lives. Remote mountain ecosystems, especially lakes and streams, are becoming increasingly attractive, both for researchers and the public, as the only remnants of natural ecosystems in a densely populated world' say the conference organisers.
High mountain lakes and streams are valuable to researchers because they represent remote and extreme conditions of, for example, temperature, radiation, and biology. The sensitivity of these regions to fluctuations in the environment has contributed to scientists' better understanding of forces and responses and of action and reaction in aquatic ecosystems in general. 'Their sensitivity, however, poses a real threat to organisms, habitats and entire ecosystems arising, mostly indirectly, from human activities (such as global warming and air pollution)', warn the event organisers.
The symposium will cover six major topics:
- Physical forces: Climatic effects (glacial retreat, solar radiation, temperature, snow and ice as major forces in alpine environments); Habitat stability: floods and droughts (shaping morphology and biotic communities);
- Inputs and fluxes: Nutrients and pollutants (what is remote?); Acids and dust (competition at high elevation. Accumulation of metals and organo-chlorine substances); modelling and budgets;
- Biotic patterns and processes: Structure and dynamics (from viruses to invertebrates); Succession and communities (their impact on fluxes and cycling of elements and contaminants. Survival of endangered and rare species);
- Life under stress: How do organisms cope with elevated stress (combination of stress factors) in high mountain environments? Indicators of stress, from primary producers to the end users, including fish physiology.
- The historical view: From seasons to centuries (coring and dating); Inferring the past (natural changes vs human impacts);
- Gaps and perspectives: Linking catchments with individual lakes and streams and what has been forgotten in the past.
During the symposium, research results from many years of large-scale interdisciplinary projects on remote mountain lakes and rivers and funded within the EU Environment and Climate programmes will be presented. There will also be the opportunity to share experiences of researchers from around the globe and the lessons learnt will be transferred to decision and policy makers, and environmental managers.
For further information, please contact:
University of Innsbruck
Institute of Zoology and Limnology
Technikerstrasse 25,
A-6020 Innsbruck
E-mail: hmls2000@uibk.ac.at
'One fifth of the world is covered by mountains where one tenth of the population lives. Remote mountain ecosystems, especially lakes and streams, are becoming increasingly attractive, both for researchers and the public, as the only remnants of natural ecosystems in a densely populated world' say the conference organisers.
High mountain lakes and streams are valuable to researchers because they represent remote and extreme conditions of, for example, temperature, radiation, and biology. The sensitivity of these regions to fluctuations in the environment has contributed to scientists' better understanding of forces and responses and of action and reaction in aquatic ecosystems in general. 'Their sensitivity, however, poses a real threat to organisms, habitats and entire ecosystems arising, mostly indirectly, from human activities (such as global warming and air pollution)', warn the event organisers.
The symposium will cover six major topics:
- Physical forces: Climatic effects (glacial retreat, solar radiation, temperature, snow and ice as major forces in alpine environments); Habitat stability: floods and droughts (shaping morphology and biotic communities);
- Inputs and fluxes: Nutrients and pollutants (what is remote?); Acids and dust (competition at high elevation. Accumulation of metals and organo-chlorine substances); modelling and budgets;
- Biotic patterns and processes: Structure and dynamics (from viruses to invertebrates); Succession and communities (their impact on fluxes and cycling of elements and contaminants. Survival of endangered and rare species);
- Life under stress: How do organisms cope with elevated stress (combination of stress factors) in high mountain environments? Indicators of stress, from primary producers to the end users, including fish physiology.
- The historical view: From seasons to centuries (coring and dating); Inferring the past (natural changes vs human impacts);
- Gaps and perspectives: Linking catchments with individual lakes and streams and what has been forgotten in the past.
During the symposium, research results from many years of large-scale interdisciplinary projects on remote mountain lakes and rivers and funded within the EU Environment and Climate programmes will be presented. There will also be the opportunity to share experiences of researchers from around the globe and the lessons learnt will be transferred to decision and policy makers, and environmental managers.
For further information, please contact:
University of Innsbruck
Institute of Zoology and Limnology
Technikerstrasse 25,
A-6020 Innsbruck
E-mail: hmls2000@uibk.ac.at