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(46-12) Pollution and climate change in remote mountain lakes - a regionalisation of physical and biological response. Kernan, Martin*,1, 1 Environmental Chanage Research Centre, London, United Kingdom ABSTRACT- The mountain lakes of Europe are generally perceived to be in pristine condition. However they are vulnerable to deposition of acidified precipitation, persistent organic pollutants and trace metals and they are sensitive to greenhouse gas-forced climate change. Much previous work on remote mountain lakes in Europe has focused on the structure, functioning and dynamics of individual systems. This presentation introduces a study of "European Mountain Lake Ecosystems: Regionalisation Diagnostics & Socio-Economic Valuation" (EMERGE). The aim is to use the knowledge derived from process studies to undertake a comprehensive evaluation of the status of remote mountain lake ecosystems throughout Europe, following the requirements of the EU Water Framework Directive. The extent to which these ecosystems are threatened by the separate and combined impacts of acid deposition, trace organic and trace metal deposition and climate change is examined, and the scientific data will be used to inform policies on the environmental protection of these systems. The project has two thematic programmes: first, the up-scaling of knowledge from individual sites to regions (Lake Districts); and second, the evaluation of regional data to enable the formulation of effective policies and sustainable management strategies. The up-scaling work combines further studies to improve understanding for some key processes, regionalisation methods and the use of empirical based models. The integrated regional and pan-European datasets that are generated from a wide ranging survey will be used to support an environmental and socio-economic evaluation. Preliminary results are presented from a survey of mountain lakes across Europe. The biological response to the main environmental gradients characterising these systems provides the focus of these analyses. Key words: mountain lakes, pollution, empirical modelling, regionalisation |
