Objective
Within the Mediterranean area water abstractions strongly affect water-related organisms, increasing the duration and magnitude of droughts and impairing the capacity of streams to support the ecosystem. This alteration of the natural flow regime act on biota through an hydro-morphologic template. Consequently, the development of models and methods able to relate stream flow alterations and the ecological responses of aquatic and riparian species (such as vegetation, macroinvertebrates and fish) is a fundamental issue for water resources management, including the maintenance of water quality and quantity for wildlife conservation.
In response to the lack of available information and to the present scientific criticisms, this project aims to devise improvements for the environmental management of Mediterranean streams (i) for a comprehensive analysis of the various taxonomic and functional groups composing the riverine ecosystem, (ii) to represent rivers at large spatial and temporal scales and (iii) to provide knowledge and the ecological understanding of temporary and intermittent watercourses. Furthermore, flexible tools will be developed for the efficient implementation of the obtained methodologies and the applications within different Mediterranean river basins will contribute to the development of a sustainable water resources management at European level.
The project also represents a strong possibility for the fellow researcher to boost his competences in several disciplines (such as hydraulics, hydrology and ecology) and to foster multidisciplinary collaborations, in order to reach professional maturity, bring forth high-level research and establish long-term, high quality activities and education in Europe.
Fields of science
Topic(s)
Call for proposal
FP7-PEOPLE-2010-IEF
See other projects for this call
Funding Scheme
MC-IEF - Intra-European Fellowships (IEF)Coordinator
46022 Valencia
Spain