GEO3BCN-UB Seminar

0
20230125_Join_the_GEO3BCN-UB_seminar_1
Category
Seminars & talks
Date
2023-01-25 11:00
  • Vítor Gonçalves, Faculty of Sciences and Technology, University of the Azores, Ponta Delgada, Portugal & Pedro Rasposeiro, researcher at CIBIO-Açores (Biodiversity and Islands)
  • 25 January 2023 at 11:00 h CET
  • YouTube & in person at GEO3BCN-CSIC
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Ecological shifts and resilience in Lakes: implications for ecological quality restoration, by Vítor Gonçalves

Abstract

Lakes provide numerous ecosystem services that are essential for the biosphere and humans. However, these systems are among the most threatened on the planet as they are subject to multiple environmental pressures, both climatic and anthropogenic. Oceanic island lakes offer privileged conditions to study the interactions between human pressures and climate variability. Their study can contribute to understanding these processes and developing better restoration and conservation strategies for lake ecosystems and their services. Using a multiproxy approach on a sediment core collected in Lake Funda (Flores Island), a paleoenvironmental reconstruction of the ecological state of this ecosystem during the last 1000 years was carried out. The results show that the first anthropic impacts deeply altered the pre-existing pristine ecosystem, going from a mesotrophic state, governed by the climate in interaction with the catchment, to a eutrophic state, maintained by positive feedback between internal processes, difficult to revert. This study highlights the importance of long-term studies for recognising changes in lake ecological states, contributing to improving the management and restoration of these ecosystems.

Paleolimnology in Azores – an overview, by Pedro Rasposeiro

Abstract

Paleolimnology emerged in the 19th century and developed towards the end of the last century as one of the key disciplines within limnology. Paleolimnological studies focus on reconstructing the paleoenvironments of inland waters, associated especially with events such as climate change, human impacts, and internal ontogenic processes. This multidisciplinary science uses the physical, chemical, and biological information preserved in sediment profiles to reconstruct past environmental conditions in inland aquatic systems. Some works already published demonstrate the importance of palaeolimnological studies in the Azores. Through this approach, it has been possible to clarify the native or introduced character of some species of Azorean flora, the impact of human activities in modifying ecosystems, the effect of invasive species on the trophic chains of lakes, the reconstruction of chemical characteristics of water in past times, the validation or rejection of candidate sites for quality references within the environmental assessment system implemented by the Water Framework Directive or the effects of climate on ecosystems. Despite the work already done, the potential of paleolimnology in the Azores is enormous. With the development of new techniques, new opportunities for future reconstruction are open. We will present some of the new techniques in paleolimnology and their applications.

 
 

All Dates

  • 2023-01-25 11:00

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