Dr. Dörthe Tetzlaff

Northern Rivers Institute, School of Geosciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen Scotland, UK AB24 3UF
Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries
Department of Ecohydrology (Fellowship Program)
http://www.abdn.ac.uk/

Tracing connections in changing catchments – conceptualising the links between catchment hydrology and instream ecology
Process conceptualization is fundamentally important to understanding and prediction in catchment hydrology and remains a major challenge that is the focus of a number of international initiatives such as Prediction in Ungauged Basins (PUB). It is increasingly recognised that progress towards such understanding and prediction can be made by integrating insights from field investigations within modelling frameworks. Diverse field data can be used as objective measures, which can provide additional criteria for evaluating model performance. Hydrochemical and isotopic tracers, in conjunction with GIS and modelling frameworks, facilitate the identification of dominant processes; conceptualisation at different spatial scales; and upscaling. This can also, facilitate greater integration between hydrology and ecology and contribute to a more holistic understanding of how catchments function as ecohydrological systems. This is needed to inform sustainable river basin management and facilitate meaningful predictions of the long-term effects of environmental change. This contribution will use insights from empirical and modelling studies in Scotland to conceptualise the ways in which the dynamics of hydrological fluxes from the landscape connect aquatic habitats and influence river ecosystems in a non-linear manner. The work demonstrates how hydrological connectivity facilitates ecological connectivity of different habitats utilized by adult salmon in a river channel network, and allows the identifications of threshold-like behaviour in ecosystem response.

Ort
23.03.2010 15:00 Uhr

Großer Hörsaal
Müggelseedamm 310
12587 Berlin-Friedrichshagen 








© IGB 3/10/2010