CWEST Seminar: John Melack

The Center for Water, Earth Science and Technology (CWEST) presents 

Ecosystem processes in Amazon floodplains: Linking hydrology and ecology

by John M. Melack - University of California, Santa Barbara

Over the last decade the roles of inland waters in continental-scale carbon fluxes has become recognized as significant based on new measurements and synthetic analyses complemented by applications of remote sensing. Within the tropics, high rates of productivity and extensive inland waters indicate that this region is of particular interest. Floodplains and associated lakes and wetlands are the dominant aquatic habitat in the Amazon and are important on other tropical continents. Deciphering the complex interactions among the hydrology, ecology and biogeochemistry of these systems has benefitted from intensive studies, extensive surveys, remote sensing and hydrological and hydraulic modeling. Results are these studies and projections of changes resulting from variations in climate and land uses will be presented.