November 10th, 10 hrs (GMT-6)
Humans are now plumbers of the world’s hydrologic cycle through irrigation, dam construction, inter-basin transfer, wetland drainage, groundwater extraction, and myriad other activities.
The science that explores the consequences of this plumbing for aquatic carbon cycling is now emerging. We have yet to understand, how massive manipulation of surface and ground waters is impacting carbon cycling in inland waters at the global scale. This requires an integrated, whole network perspective.
Recognition of the significance of inland waters to the global carbon cycle has led scientists to redouble their efforts to understand how much carbon is being transported, transformed, or stored by inland waters.
These efforts have boosted the global-scale importance of limnology for generating the knowledge needed to sustain the ecosystem goods and services provided by freshwater ecosystems in a rapidly changing world.
Questions of “how much?”—need to be complemented with the questions “how?”.
Session Chair: Martín Picón Nuñez, University of Guanajuato