Former & partner projects
WISER
WISER will support the implementation of the Water Framework DirectiveDirective 2000/60/EC to establish a framework for water policy and management in Europe (WFD) by developing tools for the integrated assessment of the ecological status of European surface waters. The project will analyse existing data from more than 90 databases compiled in previous and ongoing projects, covering all water categories, organism groups and environmental stressor types. Field-sampling campaigns will supplement the data on lakes and coastal systems. The data will be used to test and complement existing assessment schemes with a focus on uncertaintyMeasure of confidence to express the degree to which a result is subject to chance affects on classification strength.
Biological recovery processes after release from hydromorphological and eutrophicationEnhanced primary productivity caused by nitrogen and phosphorous pressures will be analysed. Therefore, large-scale data will help to identify linkages between pressure variables and organism’s responses. Selected case studies, using a variety of modelling techniques, will address pressure-response relationships and evaluate the efficacy of restorationActivity to improve the status of degraded waters, be it waste water treatment or structural improvements. WISER will provide guidance for the next steps of the intercalibration exercise by comparing different intercalibration approaches.
The applicability and swift implementation of results will be facilitated by cooperation of project partners and stakeholders from the very beginning of the Collaborative Project.
WISER Website
Euro-limpacs
Integrated project to evaluate impacts of global change on European freshwater ecosystems
The
project addresses the impact of climate change on lakes, rivers and
wetlands in Europe, through the pathways temperature increase, impact on
hydromorphology, eutrophication, acidification, the release of toxic
substances, and invasive species.
Euro-limpacs applies a wide
variety of methodologies, including the investigation of freshwater
ecosystems along climatic gradients in Europe, the analysis of sediment
cores and modelling approaches. The Department of Applied Zoology /
Hydrobiology of the University of Duisburg-Essen is particularly
involved into studies on hydromorphology, and on freshwater ecosystem
assessment.
By means of pairwise comparison of river sections
characterized by multiple- and single-channel patterns we investigate
the effects on hydromorphology, fish, benthic and riparian
invertebrates. Similarly, we compare river stretches heated by power
plants to unimpacted sections, to predict the impact of increasing water
temperatures on river assemblages.
For large-scale assessment
of climate change impacts on freshwater inhabiting organisms we have
compiled knowledge about distribution patterns, habitat preferences and
life cycles of selected freshwater organism groups into an online
database (www.freshwaterecology.info).
We use these data to extract species most sensitive to climate change
and to compare the sensitivity of the biota of the European ecoregions.
These
results and extensive literature studies have lead to a compilation of
indicators for the impact of climate change on freshwater ecosystems (www.climate-and-freshwater.info).
In February 2009, the Euro-limpacs project came to an end. Output from Euro-limpacs (including answers to the key research
questions and access to Project deliverables) will be incorporated into
the REFRESH project (see below).
REFRESH
Adaptive Strategies to Mitigate the Impacts of Climate Change on European Freshwater EcosystemsAdaptive Strategies to Mitigate the Impacts of Climate Change on European Freshwater Ecosystems
The challenge
The future status of freshwater ecosystems is dependent on changes in land-use, pollution loading and water demand. In addition the measures that need to be taken to restore freshwater ecosystems to good ecological status or to sustain priority species need to be designed either to adapt to future climate change or to mitigate the effects of climate change. Building on a previous EU FP6 Project, Euro-limpacs, REFRESH is concerned with generating the scientific understanding that enables such measures to be implemented successfully.
Objectives
The key objective of REFRESH is to develop a framework that will enable water managers to design cost-effective restoration programmes for freshwater ecosystems. This will account for the expected future impacts of climate change and land-use change in the context of the Water Framework and Habitats Directives. REFRESH will evaluate a series of specific adaptive measures that might be taken to minimise adverse consequences of climate change on freshwater quantity, quality and biodiversity.
The focus is on three principal climate-related and interacting pressures; i) increasing temperature; ii) changes in water levels and flow regimes; and ii) excess nutrients. REFRESH brings together rivers, lakes and wetlands scientists with expertise in hydrology, hydrochemistry and ecology, aquatic modelling and social science. Many of these have worked together previously on EU funded projects under FP5 and FP6. Of the 25 partners in REFRESH, 17 were involved in the FP6 Project Euro-limpacs which brought together these scientific communities in an Integrated Project for the first time.
Visit the REFRESH website