After almost 30 years, Brazil is once again hosting a SIL International Congress on Limnology. There are several special scientific sessions during the next SIL 2024 congress organized with the participation of the board members of the Intenational Society for Salt Lake Research.
The deadline for submission, editing, or deletion of abstracts is December 22, 2023 https://sil2024.org/
Please consider joining the next SIL, specifically sessions:
SS15 – Ecosystem structure and function along the saline continuum: from freshwaters to hypersaline inland waters
Co-chairs: Zadereev, E. (Krasnoyarsk Research Center, Institute of Biophysics, Russia, Federação Russa), Costa, D (Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, RN, Brasil), Beklioglu, M (Middle East Technical University, EKOSAM and Limnology Laboratory, Biological Sciences Dept. Üniversiteler Mahallesi, Turquia), Cunillera-Montcusí, D ( Institute of Aquatic Ecology, Centre for Ecological Research, Budapest, Hungary), Hungria); Fernandes, R T V (Federal University of Semi-Arid, Mossoró, RN, Brasil), Martins, M V A (State University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil)
Abstract: For years, studies on freshwater and saline ecosystems were partially disconnected. In our day’s salinization has emerged as a major driver in aquatic systems that can unify both approximations to salinized inland waters. While freshwater scientists are often concerned with small fluctuations of salinity that may affect the ecosystem structure and function, explorers of hypersaline waters test the limits of life tolerance to extreme concentrations of salt. However, these two systems should be considered as states along the same salinity continuum having different ecological and evolutionary contexts. Salinity as a major driver strongly affects species diversity, food web structure, ecosystem functions and aquatic ecosystems contribution to people. Nowadays, salinization is accepted as a global problematic, but despite its severity, not much attention has been paid to saline compared to freshwater ecosystems and thus our understanding is still limited. Major ecological and socio-economic threats are linked to and caused by salinization. That is why in this session we will focus not only on the causes of freshwater salinization, but also on the effects of drivers of salinization such as climate change, land use, and anthropogenic activities, and the response of biota and ecosystems to these effects and to salinity as a main driver of change. Also, we will discuss the dynamics and ecological processes in hypersaline aquatic ecosystems, as well as the potential alternatives for their management. Work is also expected on the analysis of physical-chemical parameters of the brine and sediments. All contributions that focus on impacts of salinity and tries to advance in its understanding with independence of the system (e.g. lotic, lentic, temporary), approach (e.g. diversity, functional, biogeochemical) and scale (e.g. local, regional, global) will be considered.
SS18 – Aquatic metacommunities: diversity patterns, assembly processes, spatial scales, and network connectivity
Co-chairs: Cunillera-Montcusí, D (Institute of Aquatic Ecology, Centre for Ecological Research, Budapest, Hungary, Hungria), Horvath, Z (Institute of Aquatic Ecology, Centre for Ecological Research, Budapest, Hungary, Hungria), Arim, M (Departamento de Ecología y Gestión Ambiental, Centro Universitario Regional del Este (CURE), Universidad de la República, Tacuarembó s/n, Maldonado, Uruguay, Uruguai)
Abstract: Metacommunity ecology provides an overarching theory where the main local and regional drivers of community assembly can be jointly assessed. In the freshwater realm, metacommunities have specific connectivity features, either by being discrete (ponds and lakes) or connected via waterways (streams and rivers). In this session, we invite talks that address how local and regional diversity are affected by spatial, environmental, functional, or stochastic drivers, set and define the limits of metacommunities, include eco-evolutionary dynamics, or account with biotic interactions in a metacommunity framework. Aquatic conservation themed works utilizing metacommunity theory are also welcome, just as laboratory, mesocosms, field or simulation experiments. We especially encourage studies that try break the boundaries between systems (e.g., lotic vs lentic, freshwater vs saline, riverine vs estuarine, aquatic vs land, theory vs conservation) using a metacommunity perspective. Even though metacommunity theory is well sedimented in aquatic ecology, there is still a wide spectrum of new insights that the coupling between limnology and metacommunities can provide at both the theoretical and the applied levels.