Issue No.6
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Contents
Meet our team members
Dr. Pieter Lemmens works at KU Leuven with a post-doc position in the research team of Thomas Mehner at the Leibniz Institute für Gewasserökologie und Binnenfischerei (IGB) (Berlin, Germany). He is an aquatic ecologist working on the ecology of temperate, dryland and tropical aquatic systems. He is particularly interested on the processes underpinning community assembly, biodiversity and food web structure in relation to human induced ecosystem alteration. In PONDERFUL, Dr. Pieter Lemmens is involved in multiple work packages, but most notably in dealing with the collection and analysis of data that will be used for an overarching analysis of patterns of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in relation to land-use intensity along gradients of climate.
Updates on our work
PONDERFUL was a key attraction at the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB) Science Day in September, focused on informing and educating visitors about IGB’s research activities on lakes, rivers and ponds, as well as addressing freshwater issues of public concern. Around 600 people from across Berlin and beyond attended the public event.
The PONDERFUL consortium is producing 16 leaflets focusing on PONDERFUL results and success stories at PONDERFUL DEMO-sites in eight countries. Eight DEMO-sites were chosen for the PONDERFUL project, with 20 pondscapes where Nature-based Solutions have been successfully implemented. In total, around 40 success stories have been developed for the leaflets. Some of these will also feature in the PONDERFUL technical handbook.
Stakeholders are helping to shape the outputs of PONDERFUL at workshops being held across Europe and South America this autumn and winter, bringing together freshwater policy and conservation expertise and ensuring the voices of people with a strong connection to our DEMO-sites are heard. The third stakeholder workshops focus on co-creating some of the project’s key outputs, including the technical handbook, CLIMA-pond designs and decision support tool.
News and events
At the ASLO Aquatic Sciences Meeting, held in Palma, Spain, researchers from PONDERFUL got together to share their recent work on landscape degradation, where they explore the potential trends in diversity in response to freshwater degradation across Europe.
The first animation video produced by the project, was presented in the VII Lusophone Congress on Environmental Education, in Maputo, Mozambique.
At the XXX Argentina Ecology Meeting, in Bariloche, Argentina, PONDERFUL presented a recent work on the effectiveness of small waterbodies as nature-based solution.
During the second half of 2023, PONDERFUL is running a series of technical webinars about the value and management of ponds. In particular, the events were focused on their importance for aquatic species conservation, invasive species, carbon balance and pond construction and management. The webinars of one hour duration took place on Zoom. On December 7 at 4 pm (CET) we will have the last webinar of the year with Dr. Pascale Nicolet from the Freshwater Habitats Trust, United Kingdom, talking about “Creating clean water ponds for freshwater wildlife”. Registration link for the webinar here.
Freshwater reports
A new review of some recent research and policy events that caught our eye and got us thinking, or suggested some practical actions we could take. In addition, the PONDERFUL consortium is now publishing a growing number of papers with results from the project. Keep an eye on the scientific publications page of our website for updates.