The effects of climate change make sustainable management of our inland waters an urgent necessity. It is causing prolonged droughts and floods and, in combination with land-use changes and urbanisation, is affecting the quantity and quality of our water resources. Due to the great diversity of organisms and multiple feedback mechanisms at different spatial and temporal scales, it is difficult to make reliable predictions of how ecosystems will respond to environmental change.

In the programme area 'Predictive Ecology in the Anthropocene', we aim to predict the responses of freshwater ecosystems and their organisms to global change under projected conditions. In doing so, we aim to contribute to policy advice and provide critical impetus for the sustainable management of our inland waters. We use robust and novel scientific methods, including the consideration of socio-ecological couplings, the investigation of functional and mechanistic processes, and the combination of the analysis of large data sets with statistical and mechanistic modelling.

Speakers

Lynn Govaert, Sami Domisch, Markus Venohr and Sabine Hilt