IberRios: A collaborative project to explore global change impacts on Iberian river biodiversity and ecosystem functions
The Iberian River Observatory (IberRios) brings together a multidisciplinary network of >80 scientists and practitioners to develop a large-scale observatory for the monitoring of multiple stressor impacts on river biodiversity and ecosystem functions.
Through this collaborative network, IberRios is collecting information on a wide range of river organisms (i.e. prokaryotes, fungi, algae, macrophytes, macroinvertebrates, fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals) and ecosystem functions (e.g. carbon and nutrient cycling, pathogen control, thermal regulation) over multiple years (LTER) and across a large spatial scale.
IberRios’ specific objectives are:
Through this collaborative network, IberRios is collecting information on a wide range of river organisms (i.e. prokaryotes, fungi, algae, macrophytes, macroinvertebrates, fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals) and ecosystem functions (e.g. carbon and nutrient cycling, pathogen control, thermal regulation) over multiple years (LTER) and across a large spatial scale.
IberRios’ specific objectives are:
- Testing and optimizing methodologies for collaborative long-term characterization of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in large-scale observatories
- Investigating long-term trends of river communities and populations in a multiple stressor context
- Exploring spatio-temporal variation of ecosystem functioning and its response to multiple stressors and biodiversity change
Surveys will be conducted annually, starting in 2022, at 63 Iberian river sites covering crossed gradients of climatic conditions, land-use intensification and riparian cover. We will also characterize biological invasion impacts and interactions with local abiotic stressors. The results of this project will assist in establishing stressor, biodiversity and functional thresholds to preserve and restore river health in the Iberian Peninsula.
Funding
The Iberian River Observatory is currently funded by "la Caixa" Foundation (ID 100010434) through a Junior Leader Fellowship Postdoctoral Contract (2022-2025, PI: Cayetano Gutiérrez Cánovas, Ref. LCF/BQ/PR22/11920005). Previously, it was funded by a "Juan de la Cierva - Incorporación" fellowship from the Spanish Agency of Research - MINECO (2020-2022, PI: Cayetano Gutiérrez Cánovas, Ref. JC2018-036642-I).
