Aquatic
systems and landscape ontogeny – temporal and spatial perspectives
Aim: to illustrate the extent to which
the functioning of contemporary aquatic ecosystems reflects a variety of
processes, including their landscape position, and the extent to which these
processes and interactions have changed over varying timescales as a result of
natural and anthropogenic forcing.
Responsible: John
Anderson
Form and duration of
course: residential,
intensive (4-5 days)
Location: to be decided
Date: December 2002
The structure and
functioning of aquatic ecosystems reflects a number of different factors –
internal - autogenic - processes, direct climate (meteorological) forcing and
(indirect) responses of surface water chemistry to soil and vegetation
processes (i.e. their location in landscape). The extent to which allogenic or
autogenic processes are predominant in controlling community structure depends
on a variety of factors, but the degree to which their importance has changed
can only be addressed by considering a variety data types (both contemporary
and palaeoecological).
Anthropogenic processes
today affect the great majority of the world’s biomes. However, the timescale,
rate and extent of our alteration of ecosystem processes and landscapes varies
in both space and time. While much of North America and NW Europe are instantly
recognisable as cultural landscapes, change in these two areas occurred over
different timescales (~200 versus 5000 years): what are the implications of
these different rates of change for biogeochemical processes and community
change? Rapid change is now occurring in the Tropics but palaeoecological data
indicate that in some areas, anthropogenic alteration requires us to reconsider
our use of word "pristine" in relation to these problems.
Land management changes
(deforestation and agricultural development) have had fundamental effects on
catchment hydrology and biogeochemical cycles and hence nutrient transfer from
land to water. Importantly, given the limited timescale of contemporary process
studies, it can be difficult to clearly separate natural from
anthropogenic-dominated processes. However, palaeoecological records can be
used both to extend the temporal perspective of these natural and anthropogenic
processes and their interaction, as well as to clarify the extent to which
inherent natural variability of systems has been altered as a result of
disturbance.
This residential course
will focus on both contemporary linkages between catchments and aquatic systems
(here defined as streams, lakes, estuaries and coastal embayments) and as well
our attempts to quantify ecological change at a variety of timescales. Our
attempts to quantify past and present fluxes of material (nutrients,
minerogenic matter) at the catchment scale and the affect of these changes on
e.g., internal nutrient cycling, anoxia and aquatic biota will be illustrated.
The course will address
questions fundamental to our understanding of aquatic ecosystem functioning,
such as the role of climatic variability, their position in landscape and their
interaction/response to terrestrial changes during the Holocene. Emphasis will
be placed on contemporary issues and process studies as well as conceptual
issues surrounding the use, interpretation and technical aspects of using
palaeoecological records as a tool for studying past and present ecological
change.
The course will address
questions such as:
New PhD students will also
be encouraged to present a brief synopsis of their projects, while those who
are further into their course of study will be asked to make a brief
presentation of their results to date. It is envisaged that these presentations
will be followed by group discussions.
Technical
details
Course convenor: N. John
Anderson (Department of Geography, University of Copenhagen)
Invited lecturers (to
date):
Bent
Odgaard (GEUS)
Daniel
R. Engstrom (Science Museum, University of Minnesota)
John
A. Dearing (Dept of Geography, University of Liverpool)
Daniel
J. Conley (DMU)
And more to come/follow