DIRECTOR
RESEARCH TEAM
Adonis Giorgi, Alberto Rodrigues Capítulo, Anna Roani Cornet, Claudia Feijoo, Helena Guasch Padró, Isabel Muñoz Gracia, Magdalena Licursi, Nora Goméz, Anna Vilá Gispert, Lluis Zamora Hernández, Angela María Zapata Anzola, Arturo Elosegi Irurtia, Emili García-Berthou, Hooz Angela Chaparro Mendivelso, Jhon Donato Rondón, Mª Isabel Castro, Yairton Cuesta Logroño.
COLLABORATING INSTITUTIONS
DESCRIPTION
There is evidence that fluvial systems in temperate and tropical climates may be undergoing a decline in flow as a consequence of global change. Also, the unrelenting pressure of human activities has among its manifestations the entry of additional nutrients.
The GLOBRIO project will apply integrated methods based on calculations of the diversity and functioning of fluvial ecosystems. The study will involve the experimental simulation of the addition of supplementary concentrations of nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) into river stretches. The effects (impact) can then be examined via comparison over time with stretches having no such supplementary additions (control). The effects will be analysed with reference to communities of algae, macroinvertebrates and fish, before and after the addition of nutrients, over a period of 18 months. This diversity analysis will be combined with functional measures (microbial heterotrophic activity, fluvial metabolism, trophic structure of the community). Trophic interactions will be analysed though the study of fauna stomach contents and analysis of stable isotopes (carbon 13d and nitrogen 15d ).These analyses will be carried out in fluvial headwaters, in high-diversity areas exposed to human impact. The systems selected are located in Argentina, Colombia and Spain. The results obtained from the study of a number of fluvial systems will provide a benchmark for the effect of global flow variations and increased entry of nutrients on river conservation in sensitive areas with high diversity and intense human interference.