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martes, 12 de julio de 2016

Presentation of AGRHYDROM, the second collaborative J-AIL project

After the success of DOMIPEX, in July of 2016 begins the second J-AIL project: “A timely look at effects of agriculture on fluvial dissolved organic matter: the role of hydrology (AGRHYDROM)”.

From now on, we will use the J-AIL Blog to disseminate all the information about the participant groups and the project advances and results, so we encourage you to follow the J-AIL Blog.

The AGRHYDROM project is going to be led by the PhD students Edurne Estévez, from the  Environmental Hydraulic Institute of the University of Cantabria, and Rubén del Campo, from the Department of Ecology and Hydrology of the University of Murcia. Edurne’s PhD is focused on the effect of land uses changes on stream food webs and ecosystem functioning. The main aim of Rubén’s PhD is to analyse the interactions between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems on fluvial C processing, especially focused on intermittent rivers.

The main objective of the AGRHYDROM project is to study the combined effect of agriculture and seasonal hydrology on nutrients and DOM quantity, composition and bioavailability in temporary streams. Three samplings will be carried out in spring, summer and autumn of 2017. The simple methodologies of the project (just collecting water samples) allow the participation of any researcher working in aquatic ecosystems. The are only three mandatory conditions to joint to the project:
·         Having access to a car for samplings.
·         Having access to portable oxygen, conductivity and temperature meters.
·         Commiting to carry out all the 3 samplings.

Despite the information you can find in our proposal, the characteristics of the study sites (obligation of intermittent rivers, types of agricultural activities, lithology of the catchment…) are not fixed yet. Both the characteristics of streams and the final protocol will be established in next months, depending on the study sites proposed by the people interested in joining the AGRHYDROM project.

We have created a participation survey to gather information of potential participants and their study sites. We encourage all of you to fulfil the survey and join us in this project. The success will strongly depend on the site selection, so the more accurate information regarding possible sites you provide us, the more opportunities to success we will have.

The deadline to fulfil the participation survey is the 31st of July.

You will have to look for:
·   Catchments with streams affected by any kind of agricultural practices and natural forested catchments.
·    Low order streams (1-2).
·    Streams with strong marked flow fluctuation over the year, especially a severe contraction period and a high discharge period. Intermittent streams are preferred (streams with summer dry phase) but are not mandatory.

Last but not least, we want to thank the AIL for continuing with this amazing initiative of the J-AIL projects and for letting us to continue with the DOMIPEX legacy and coordinate this new project. Beyond scientific results, the DOMIPEX project has demonstrated that young researchers can make excellence science through the power of collaboration. We hope to count again with the active and invaluable participation of all the J-AIL members and repeat DOMIPEX success!

WE HOPE YOU ALL JOIN THE AGRHYDROM TEAM!!

Edurne and Rubén