Das Projekt "Water and global Change (WATCH)" wird/wurde gefördert durch: Kommission der Europäischen Gemeinschaften Brüssel. Es wird/wurde ausgeführt durch: Potsdam-Institut für Klimafolgenforschung e.V..The Integrated Project (WATCH) which will bring together the hydrological, water resources and climate communities to analyse, quantify and predict the components of the current and future global water cycles and related water resources states, evaluate their uncertainties and clarify the overall vulnerability of global water resources related to the main societal and economic sectors. WATCH project will: - analyse and describe the current global water cycle, especially causal chains leading to observable changes in extremes (droughts and floods) - evaluate how the global water cycle and its extremes respond to future drivers of global change (including greenhouse gas release and land cover change) - evaluate feedbacks in the coupled system as they affect t he global water cycle - evaluate the uncertainties in the predictions of coupled climate-hydrological- land-use models using a combination of model ensembles and observations - develop an enhanced (modelling) framework to assess the future vulnerability of water as a resource, and in relation to water/climate related vulnerabilities and risks of the major water related sectors, such as agriculture, nature and utilities (energy, industry and drinking water sector) - provide comprehensive quantitative and qualitative assessments and predictions of the vulnerability of the water resources and water-/climate-related vulnerabilities and risks for the 21st century - collaborate intensively with the key leading research groups on water cycle and water resources in USA and Japan - collaborate intensively in dissemination of its scientific results with major research programmes worldwide (WCRP, IGBP) - collaborate intensively in dissemination of its practical and applied results with major water resources and water management platforms and professional organisations worldwide (WWC, IWA) and at a scale of 5 selected river basins in Europe. Prime Contractor: Natural Environment Research Council, Centre for Ecology and Hydrology; Swindon; United Kingdom.
Das Projekt "Schwerpunktprogramm (SPP) 1162: The impact of climate variability on aquatic ecosystems (AQUASHIFT), Shift in the syncronisation of leaf decay processes in fragmented streams" wird/wurde gefördert durch: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. Es wird/wurde ausgeführt durch: Technische Universität Cottbus, Institut für Boden, Wasser, Luft, Lehrstuhl für Gewässerschutz, Forschungsstelle Bad Saarow.Climate change will increase summer droughts and cause both, premature leaf fall and temporary fragmentation of streams into a series of pools. This match of low flow situations with litter input is likely to alter litter processing. Based on results from Aquashift period 1, we hypothesise change of the invertebrate shredder community and shift among microbial and invertebrate leaf processing. These will change the dynamics of the energy supply of the benthic food web. In pools of summer-dry streams we will expose litter-bags (Alnus glutinosa (L.) Gaertn.) to assess mass loss, microbial colonisation (fungi, bacteria) and invertebrate shredding of leaves. Stepwise exclusion of larger invertebrates from litter-bags will assess the significance of suggested shift from dominance of large shredder (Gammarus) to small invertebrates (Chironomidae). In microcosm experiments we want to investigate the effect of factor combinations found in fragmented pools on microbial and invertebrate leaf processing. A leaf decay simulation model will be build in joint activity with the University Braunschweig to test significance of environmental factors. Linking the population dynamics model of Gammarus pulex at Univ. Braunschweig, the dynamics of FPOM production from leaves will be predicted under various climate change scenarios.
