Dear Colleagues, We are organizing a special session on Hydroclimatic Extremes (S08) at the 2016 Society for Freshwater Science meeting<http://sfsannualmeeting.org/> in Sacramento, California (May 21-26, 2016). Please see below for the special session abstract.
We encourage presentations from studies that span population, community, and ecosystem scales that specifically address how data-model integration can enhance understanding of the effects of hydrological variability. Deadline for abstract submissions is January 29, 2016. If you are interested in participating, please e-mail us by December 1st with 1) your commitment to submit an abstract to present in this special session at SFS, and 2) your tentative abstract title. We are looking forward to seeing you at SFS. Sincerely, Albert RUHI, Arizona State University ([email protected]) John S. KOMINOSKI, Florida International University ([email protected]) John L. SABO, Arizona State University ([email protected]) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Title: New approaches to assessing and predicting the impacts of hydroclimatic extremes of freshwater populations, communities, and ecosystems S08: Hydroclimatic Extremes Climate-driven intensification of the global hydrologic cycle is increasing the frequency and magnitude of extreme events (droughts and floods) and this increasing environmental variability poses threats on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. In lotic ecosystems, alterations to baseline discharge variation regimes may erode native biodiversity, affect food-web structure, and alter nutrient pulse dynamics. In lentic ecosystems, hydroclimatic extremes control hydroperiod length and timing, which are critical drivers of meta-population and meta-community structure and dynamics. Nevertheless, ecological impacts of increasing hydroclimatic variability are difficult to anticipate from discrete observations alone because the influences of extreme events occur through a wide range of mechanisms (abiotic and biotic) and spatio-temporal scales. Within this context, statistical models (e.g., state-space models on time-series data) may be important tools to increase understanding of these mechanisms and potentially anticipate effects of increasing hydroclimatic variability on freshwater biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Although the use of these models is still limited - partly due to the scarcity of temporally-extensive data sets - increasing availability of long-term ecological data sets and "big data" may open many opportunities in the near future. This session will be devoted to the discussion of statistical modeling approaches that may effectively link hydroclimatic forcing to ecological responses, and to their data requirements, potential, and limitations. Ultimately, we would like to exemplify and synthesize the range of tools that are available to freshwater ecologists to anticipate impacts of hydroclimatic extremes, across spatio-temporal scales and levels of biological organization.
