EURO-LIMPACS: Integrated project to evaluate the impacts of global change on European freshwater ecosystems

• Forschungsstelle: EU FRP
• Projektnummer: 03.0513
• Projekttitel Englisch: EURO-LIMPACS: Integrated project to evaluate the impacts of global change on European freshwater ecosystems

Schlüsselwörter (Englisch)

Freshwater; global change; climate; ecosystem effects

Alternative Projektnummern (Englisch)

EU project number: 505540

Forschungsprogramme (Englisch)

EU-programme: 6. Frame Research Programme - 1.6.3 Urspr. Progr. Global change and ecosystems

Kurzbeschreibung (Englisch)

See abstract

Abstract (Englisch)

Freshwater ecosystems, already under stress from land-use change and pollution, now face additional pressures from climate change, directly and through interaction with other drivers of change. Euro-limpacs is concerned with the science required to understand and manage the ecological consequences of these interactions. It is relevant to the Water Framework Directive and other directives and protocols and supports the EU's Charter on Sustainable Development. The Project brings together a consortium of leading scientists aiming to integrate river, lake and wetland ecosystem science at the catchment scale. It focuses on the key drivers of aquatic ecosystem change and examines their interactions with global, especially climate, change using time-series analysis, space-for-time substitution, palaeolimnology, experiments and process modelling. It considers these interactions at three critical time-scales: hours/days, seasons, and years/decades. A central activity is the development of an innovative toolkit for integrated catchment analysis and modelling to simulate hydrological, hydrochemical and ecological processes at the catchment scale for use in assessing the potential impact of global change under different climate and socio-economic scenarios. A unified system of ecological indicators for monitoring freshwater ecosystem health, and new methods for defining reference conditions and restoration strategies will. also be developed. These will take into account the probable impacts of future climate change and the need for a holistic approach to restoration based on habitat connectivity. The Project will also develop other practical tools for management based on a decision support system. This will fully involve users and stakeholders and will be demonstrated at study catchments. A comprehensive training programme is fully integrated, and all products and information generated during the Project will be fully and freely disseminated.

Datenbankreferenzen (Englisch)

Swiss Database: Euro-DB of the
State Secretariat for Education and Research
Hallwylstrasse 4
CH-3003 Berne, Switzerland
Tel. [phone]
Swiss Project-Number: 03.0513