[08.12.2022] 5th Cycle of the Lecture Series “Women and Environmental Sciences”: Online public talk: ‘Aquatic Ecosystems and Global Change’

Climate change is particularly affecting the Arctic areas, and is causing drastic changes to the Arctic landscape. However, it is still unclear how these landscape changes modify the biology and biogeochemical constituents in the Arctic freshwaters. Professor Tenna Riis, Aarhus University, will deliver an online talk focusing on “Aquatic Ecosystems and Global Change” in the context of the 5th Lecture Series Women and Environmental Sciences, and will present a research aiming to explain the main climate induced landscape changes in Arctic areas.

The event will be held on Thursday, December 8, 2022 at 18:00 (GMT+2), and it will be broadcasted live through the OUC eLearning Platform at this web link: https://bit.ly/3fJUO3K.

The Lecture Series is co-organised by the Postgraduate Programme “Environmental Conservation and Management” and the Terrestrial Ecosystems Management Laboratory of the Open University of Cyprus, and is supported by the Office of the Commissioner for the Environment of the Republic of Cyprus.

The research to be presented by Professor Riis is analysed in the paper “Changes in dissolved nitrogen availability under climate change in Arctic streams, Zackenberg, NE Greenland” with the following key co-authors: Dr. Ada Pastor (University of Girona), Assist. Professor Shannon L. Speir (University of Alabama), and Professor Jennifer L. Tank (University of Notre Dame). The research aims to increase the understanding on how landscape properties in stream catchments influence stream nutrient availability in Arctic areas, and how this will affect the in-stream biology and the export of nutrient to downstream coastal areas, which may have substantial consequences for marine primary production and trophic relationships. In this talk, Professor Riis will explain the main climate induced landscape changes in Arctic areas and present results from studies quantifying the effect of these changes on in-stream nutrient availability and downstream nutrient export.

Dr Tenna Riis is Professor at the Department of BiologyAquatic Biology at the Aarhus University. She is a freshwater ecologist specialized in macrophyte ecology and stream ecosystem functioning. Her research group focuses on how natural conditions and human impact regulate macrophyte and biofilm communities in streams and how these communities regulate ecosystem functioning such as primary production, nutrient and carbon cycling. The group works primarily in agricultural streams and Arctic streams. Specifically in Arctic streams, this group studies the effect of a changing cryosphere on nutrient and carbon cycling. More specifically, it measures nutrient uptake, primary production, and organic matter decomposition in relation to climate change induced alterations in hydrological regimes, water sources and higher temperatures. 


Registration for certificates of attendance: https://forms.office.com/r/hbPwKpsGsK