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- Pastor, Ada, et al.
(författare)
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Local and regional drivers of headwater streams metabolism : insights from the first AIL collaborative project
- 2017
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Ingår i: LIMNETICA. - : Asociacion Iberica de Limnologia. - 0213-8409 .- 1989-1806. ; 36:1, s. 67-85
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Streams play a key role in the global biogeochemical cycles, processing material from adjacent terrestrial systems and transporting it downstream. However, the drivers of stream metabolism, especially those acting at broad spatial scales, are still not well understood. Moreover, stream metabolism can be affected by hydrological changes associated with seasonality, and thus, assessing the temporality of metabolic rates is a key question to understand stream function. This study aims to analyse the geographical and temporal patterns in stream metabolism and to identify the main drivers regulating the whole ecosystem metabolic rates at local and regional scales. Using a coordinated distributed experiment, we studied ten headwaters streams located across five European ecoregions during summer and fall 2014. We characterized the magnitude and variability of gross primary production (GPP) and ecosystem respiration (ER) with the open-channel method. Moreover, we examined several climatic, geographical, hydrological, morphological, and physicochemical variables that can potentially control stream metabolic rates. Daily rates of stream metabolism varied considerately across streams, with GPP and ER ranging from 0.06 to 4.33 g O-2 m(-2) d(-1) and from 0.72 to 14.20 g O-2 m(-2) d(-1), respectively. All streams were highly heterotrophic (P/R < 1), except the southernmost one. We found that the drier climates tended to have the highest GPP, while humid regions presented the highest ER. Between the sampling periods no statistical differences were found. Partial-least squares models (PLS) explained similar to 80% of the variance in GPP and ER rates across headwater streams and included both local and regional variables. Rates of GPP varied primarily in response to the local variables, such as streambed substrate and stream water temperature. In contrast, regional variables, such as the mean annual temperature or the land use of the catchment, had more relevance to explain ER. Overall, our results highlight that stream metabolism depends on both local and regional drivers and show the positive experience of a young network of researchers to assess scientific challenges across large-scale geographic areas.
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| 2. |
- Sanchez-Montoya, Maria Mar, et al.
(författare)
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Women in limnology in the Iberian Peninsula : biases, barriers and recommendations
- 2016
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Ingår i: LIMNETICA. - 0213-8409. ; 35:1, s. 61-72
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Gender biases in science have received increasing attention in recent years. Underrepresentation at the highest academic levels and bias in publication are some of the factors affecting women in science. In this study, we assessed the situation of women in Limnology, a specific field of natural sciences, within the geographic context of the Iberian Peninsula. We used a multi-faceted approach to diagnose the situation, and we propose guidelines to reduce gender gaps in Limnology. The database of members of the Iberian Limological Association (AIL) was used to analyse the. variability between genders at different professional stages. Data was also compiled on plenary speakers who attended conferences organized by different associations (AIL, SEFS and ASLO) to assess women's visibility. A published data set was used to identify leadership patterns in publications with respect to gender. Finally, a survey of AIL members was conducted to understand their perception of the barriers in science that result in differences between the genders. This study recognized differences at the recruitment level (more tenured positions are held by men), visibility at conferences (fewer women are invited as plenary speakers) and publication as team leaders (men have more publications as first and last authors). Survey participants recognised the scarcity of grants/funding, difficulties in balancing life and career, and the scarcity of job opportunities as the three main barriers in science, regardless of gender. Yet, women identified family-related barriers such as having children and gender biases more frequently. Overall, our study indicates that there is a general gender bias in the field of Limnology in the Iberian Peninsula; however, it is slightly lower than the reported levels in Europe and for other disciplines in Spain. Finally, we provide a list of recommendations to balance the current biases based on suggestions made by the participants of a round table held at the XVII Congress of the AIL (Santander, July 2014). We encourage associations in natural sciences and the AIL in particular to use this study as a guideline for best practices as well as a baseline for future analysis of gender biases.
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