Overview

"From Elements up to Ecosystems: Impact of Environmental Change on Wetland and Aquatic Systems"

This symposium is designed to bring together those actively engaged in applying principles of biogeochemistry to solve environmental and social problems in diverse wetland and aquatic ecosystems. Biogeochemistry involves cycling or exchange of materials between living and non-living components of an ecosystem. As an interdisciplinary science, biogeochemistry integrates biological, geological, and chemical processes with hydrological forcing to govern the movement and transformation of nutrients and contaminants between the soil, water, vegetation, and atmosphere. This international symposium provides a framework for scientists to share technical information on various topics related to coupled biogeochemical cycling of macro-elements and associated organic and inorganic contaminants. The goal is to improve our understanding of the role wetlands and aquatic systems perform in regulating and mitigating impacts of a changing world, from a mechanistic to whole ecosystem scales.

Symposium Theme

This year’s theme seeks to acknowledge the broad scale of biogeochemical research being conducted in wetlands and aquatic systems, from the micro and pore level up to the ecosystem scale. As local, regional, and global models progress, there is an urgent need for data across all scales to help train and validate these useful ecosystem models. To assess resilience and predict future change, laboratory, greenhouse, mesocosm and landscape scale studies are all needed to help link biogeochemical cycling up to ecosystem functions and services. Orlando serves as the backdrop for this year’s exciting conference. Florida’s tourism economy generates billions of dollars each year and relies heavily on outstanding water quality and healthy wetlands. Consequently, water quality of aquatic systems is a top priority for the state of Florida which supports beaches, fishing, and boating. Wetlands interact with these aquatic systems as they help improve water quality through various biogeochemical processes and provide valuable storage of clean surface water.

Overarching Themes

This symposium facilitates interaction and dialogue among those actively engaged in applying principles of biogeochemistry to solving environmental and social problems. If you are interested in or actively involved in wetland and aquatic system management, water quality, restoration, and nutrient and contaminant cycling, you will have an opportunity to propose a session for the symposium, and to submit an abstract for presentation as a talk or poster, so be thinking about how you might participate and be a part of the program!

Below is a broad list of topics to give examples of subject matter that may be covered at the symposium; however, presentations are not limited to these topical areas, as one of our objectives is to capture all emerging areas and new ideas.

Presentations will focus on a diverse range of topics including but not limited to:

• Biogeochemical indicators for wetland assessment
• Biogeochemistry of mangrove ecosystems
• Carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas emissions
• Coastal hypoxia
• Coastal wetlands
• Constructed wetlands performance and challenges
• Coupled biogeochemical cycles in wetlands
• Fate of toxic organic compounds
• Forested wetlands
• Freshwater wetlands
• Geospatial and multivariate methods to evaluate biogeochemical processes
• Hydrologic connectivity of wetlands with terrestrial and aquatic systems
• Impacts of large-scale disturbances on biogeochemical cycles
• Influence of sea level rise on cycling of macro-elements
• Land loss related to sea level rise
• Land use change including impacts of urban and agricultural practices