The project involves 18 participants spread across 10 countries representing three bioclimatic regions in Europe, and one CELAC country to test PONDERFUL ideas in the southern hemisphere. The PONDERFUL consortium is composed of participants with complementary knowledge, skills, and experience and brings established scientific and practice networks. The project is also working closely with the European Pond Conservation Network which brings together researchers and practitioners interested in the ecology and conservation of ponds across Europe
SpainThe University of Vic – Central University of Catalonia (UVic), whose titular entity is the Balmes University Foundation, is an independent university with public sector supervision that carries out basic and applied research, and upper education by means of teaching and continued formation. In PONDERFUL, UVic is represented by the Aquatic Ecology Research Group (GEA) and the Centre for Interdisciplinary Gender Studies. The research of the GEA focuses on the response of aquatic ecosystems and their biodiversity to global changes using the organisms’ size structure as an alternative to taxonomic approaches to assess biodiversity and ecosystem processes. GEA applies the research results to solving problems related to the conservation of aquatic ecosystems, especially those affecting autochthonous species and degraded habitats.
Aquatic ecologist. She is an ICREA Research Professor (https://www.icrea.cat/en) at University of Vic and the head of the GEA Group. She has participated in 7 European projects (2 of them as principal investigator) and was principal investigator of several national projects. She has more than 9 years of international research experience including long-term stays at the University of Oslo (Norway), Aarhus University (Denmark), European Commission-Joint Research Centre (Italy), and Middle East Technical University (Turkey). She was a Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship at the University of Aarhus. From 2009 to 2012, she worked in the European Commission-Joint Research Centre being a member of the Steering Committee of the Water Framework Directive Intercalibration Exercise, among other responsibilities. She is Lead Author of IPBES Regional Assessment for Europe and Central Asia.
Diana is Project Manager for the project, responsible for the coordination alongside Sandra Brucet. Starting as a Molecular Geneticist, her career spans 13 years of experience in European Research Management, predominantly in the coordination of projects funded through FP6, FP7 and H2020 in health and environmental sciences.
Dr. Mireia Bartrons is an Associate Professor and a freshwater ecologist, specialist in food web and ecosystem ecology. She has participated in 9 competitive international and 4 national projects and scientific coordinator of ERC-Synergy-IMBALANCE-P. She has more than 5 years of international research experience including long-term stays at the Center for Limnology UW-M (USA), University of Alberta (Canada), Mývatn Research Station (Iceland), METLA (Finland) and IGB (Germany). She has supervised 2 PhD students and 1 Master student. Committee member of 5 PhD and mentor of 34 more students. She has evaluated several projects for the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, Germany) and reviewed articles for >15 peer review journals. She was awarded the Best PhD from the Iberian Association of Limnology (biennial 2008-2010).
Dr. Anna Badosa. Associate Professor. Aquatic ecologist, specialist in planktonic food webs, diversity assessment and ecosystem ecology, conservation and restoration. She has participated in 4 European projects and several national projects. She has coordinated 2 national restoration projects, and supervised 1 PhD students, 14 Final Degree Projects and mentored 21 more students.
Dr. Lluís Benejam. Associate Professor. Freshwater ecologist, focused on the impact of global change on freshwater ecosystems using fish as ecological indicators. He has participated in 14 competitive research projects and several innovation contracts, mainly with public agencies to develop bioassessment tools for freshwater ecosystems using inland fish. He has supervised 2 PhD students, 1 Master student and 15 Final Degree Projects.
Dr. Àngels Leiva-Presa. Associate Professor. Bioinorganic chemist and Ecotoxicologist, focused on climate change and anthropogenic impacts on phytoplankton communities. She has 3 years of international research experience including a long-term stay at NTNU (Norway), and short-term stays at Karolinska Institute and Uppsala University (Sweden) and Middle East Technical University (Turkey). She has supervised 1 PhD student, 5 master students and mentored 4 more students.
Dr. Gerard Coll-Planas. Associate Professor. Director of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Gender Studies at UVic. Sociologist specialized on gender. He has been involved in several projects funded by the European Union and other national scientific institutions. The most recent projects deal with the incorporation of gender and intersectional perspectives into public policies. He has supervised 2 PhD students and is currently supervising other 6 PhD students.
Dr. Maria Cuenca-Cambronero is an aquatic ecologist specialized in zooplankton communities, eco-evolutionary dynamics, trophic interactions, and ecosystem functions. Her research focuses on understanding the impact of human-driven global change on species and ecosystems, with particular attention on freshwater ecosystems. After completed her PhD at the University of Birmingham (UK), she obtained an EMBO postdoctoral fellowship to work at Eawag, Switzerland. Currently, she is a postdoc as part of the PONDERFUL project and involved in WP2, leading the sampling camping, data collection, the laboratory analysis and the statistical analysis carried out in Spain. Maria investigates the effect of climate change and land use on ponds with different hydroperiods, and how the loss of biodiversity in those key environments could affect the ecosystems services they provide.
Katterin Rincón-Palau is a PhD student at UVic. She holds a Master in Sciences Biology from the National University of Colombia. In this, she evaluated the effects of factors to bring into play over the structure of macroinvertebrate community at different spatial scales in rivers on the Páramo ecosystem through taxonomic metrics and functional traits. In her Master, she showed the importance and the dependence on the ecoregional and local context of each river. For her PhD thesis, she will assess the zooplankton diversity and size structure including the hydroperiod, land uses’s effects, and interactions with ecosystem functions in Mediterranean ponds. She has a big interest in knowing the interrelation between biotic and abiotic factors, with an emphasis on freshwater communities.
Aquatic ecologist. Since 2008, she has a permanent position as a CONICET (Argentinean Council Science) Research Scientist at Universidad Nacional de Comahue, Bariloche, Argentina. She has participated in several national and international projects as a member and as a PI or Co-PI. She has done several short and long stays abroad in México, Denmark, USA, and now Spain by means of completive grants and fellowships (e.g., OTS, UNESCO-Lóreal fellowship for young women in science, Fulbright, among others). Currently, she is working in the GEA Group at Uvic-UCC Spain within the PONDERFUL project. She is part of the coordinating team and she is involved in WP2 and WP4 research activities, leading the investigations related to: the effect of hydroperiod on the interactions between pond functions, services and biodiversity, and the use of ponds as nature based solutions.
Serena Sgarzi has a degree in biological sciences at ‘Alma Mater Studiorum’ University of Bologna (Italy), and a master’s degree in marine biology at the same university. To prepare her master thesis she carried out an internship at Fiorenza Micheli’s laboratory at the Hopkins Marine Station in Monterey (Stanford University, CA, U.S.A.). Her MS thesis has been carried among different universities: Alma Mater Studiorum of Bologna, Università del Salento in Lecce, and Stanford University in Monterey. She has participated as collaborator in a mesocosm experiment led by AArhus University (Denmark) and UVic-‐UCC (University of Vic, Catalunya) about a possible top-‐down effect in the trophic chain of lake Myvatn, Iceland. She finished her PhD training in January 2022 at UVic University at GEA group. Currently she is working as a postdoc researcher at PONDERFUL project.
GermanyThe Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB) is the largest freshwater research institute in Germany. It is an extra-university research centre within the Wissenschaftsgemeinschaft Leibniz (WGL). IGB is part of the Forschungsverbund Berlin e.V. (www.fv-berlin.de), which represents eight research institutes in Berlin focusing on natural sciences, life sciences, and environmental sciences. IGB is an interdisciplinary research center dedicated to the creation, dissemination, and application of knowledge about freshwater ecosystems. Working in close partnership with the scientific community (universities and research institutes), government agencies, and the private sector guarantees the development of innovative solutions to the most pressing challenges facing freshwater ecosystems and human societies. IGB currently comprises about 40 research groups and about 200 researchers at all levels of academic careers plus about 60 staff members and carries out basic and problem-solving research on all aspects of aquatic sciences, including hydrology, chemistry, physics, biology, ecology and fisheries science. IGB runs several long-term monitoring sites (lakes and rivers), and performs field studies and meso- and macro-scale experiments in several large facilities and experimental ecosystems. The researchers of IGB collaborate with more than 100 international research groups and have been leading (INAPRO, AQUACOSM) and contributing to >20 EU-funded projects (MIRAGE; WISER; BioFresh; Aquacross, REFRESH; FloodPlain; REFORM; GLANCE) during the last years.
Dr. Thomas Mehner. Freshwater evolutionary ecologist. Senior Research Group Leader and Vice Director of IGB. Active researcher since 30 years, in biodiversity research, ecosystem ecology, fish evolutionary ecology, and fisheries management. Principal researcher of several national research projects (German Research Foundation (DFG), Leibniz-Pact for Research and Innovation (WGL)), has contributed to EU-project WISER. Frequent reviewer for scientific journals (>500) and international funding agencies (>80). President of the International Society of Limnology (SIL, www.limnology.org).
BelgiumKUL is currently by far the largest university in Belgium in terms of research funding and expenditure, and is a charter member of LERU (League of European Research Universities). KUL conducts fundamental and applied research in all academic disciplines with a clear international orientation. In the Reuters Top 100 of the World’s most innovative institutions, KUL is listed as the first European university. In Horizon 2020, KUL is currently involved in more than 400 projects. To date, over 100 ERC grants involving KUL researchers (including affiliates with VIB and IMEC) confirm that KUL is a breeding ground and attractive destination for the world’s best researchers. The success in the FP7 and Horizon 2020 Marie Sklodowska Curie Actions is a manifestation of the three pillars of KUL: research, education and service to society. In Horizon 2020, KUL is involved in 75 Innovative Training Networks, and hosts 47 MSCA Individual Fellows. The Section of Ecology, Evolution and Biodiversity Conservation is one of the three large sections within the Department. Because of its long-standing expertise in research on the ecology of ponds and lakes, on zooplankton ecology and evolution, and on research on ecological responses to global change of the research groups in the Section of Ecology, Evolution and Biodiversity Conservation, as well as the high profile research and application oriented environment provided by KUL, KUL fits very well as a partner in PONDERFUL.
Dr. Luc De Meester. Full professor in the Department of Biology, he has >25 years of experience in aquatic ecological research, including local and landscape perspective work on biodiversity, community composition and ecosystem functioning using ponds and shallow lakes as model systems. Much of his work is oriented towards responses of aquatic systems to global change (warming, urbanization, eutrophication, pesticide use) using zooplankton and the water flea Daphnia as a model system. LDM was main supervisor of 35 PhDs and hosted >20 postdocs for at least one year. He has also been deeply involved in the training of scientists of southern countries, notably Bolivia (2 PhDs under his supervision) and Ethiopia (6 PhDs under his supervision).
Dr. Luc Brendonck. Full professor in the Department of Biology, he has >25 years of experience in aquatic ecological research of temporary and ephemeral waters, taking a global perspective. He has sample experience in biodiversity research on temporary waters and on the effects of climate change and land use on temporary waters.
Dr. Pieter Lemmens is a postdoctoral researcher with ample expertise on the aquatic ecology of farmland ponds and fish ponds. He will be the day-to-day manager of the KUL activities, will be the main responsible for the assembly of the pan-European database, the organisation of the stratified survey and the DEMO-sites in Belgium, the KUL work on ecosystem services and the work on fish ponds. Pieter Lemmens has built a very effective network of collaboration and codesign with key stakeholders (fishermen in the fish pond area, the largest prive nature conservation NGO Natuurpunt, government agencies, pond owners).
Dr. Kristien Brans is a postdoctoral researcher with ample expertise on urban ecology, using urban ponds as a model system. She will be key to the subtasks on urban ponds.
Mariuxi Peso is a PhD student working on the development of ponds that are newly created ponds for the purpose of nature conservation. She will contribute to data collection on colonization dynamics. She intensively collaborates with Natuurpunt, the organisation that creates new ponds in its strategy to facilitate recovery of amphibian populations.
SwitzerlandHES-SO is the largest university of applied sciences (UAS) in Switzerland and the second largest higher education institution of the country. Education and research are oriented towards practical applications. HES-SO offers a large variety of education programmes. Strongly anchored in the regional economy, HES-SO collaborates closely with SMEs, and its R&D also extends to certain aspects of industrial scale production. HES-SO undertakes research projects with a wide range of partners in Switzerland and abroad. HES-SO has been involved in European Framework Programmes since 1998. In FP7 we participated in 32 collaborative projects, including 3 as coordinator. In H2020 they are beneficiaries in 25 projects, covering the three Pillars of the programme. In PONDERFUL, HES-SO will be represented by HEPIA (Geneva School of Engineering, Architecture and Landscape) and HEIG-VD (School of Management and Engineering Vaud), through the two research institutes inTNE (research institute Land-Nature-Environment) and INSIT (Institute of Territorial Engineering). The research of inTNE develops several topics related to freshwater ecosystems, in relation with human activities and the resulting local and global interferences. A particular strong expertise has been developed on applied research for conservation of freshwater biodiversity and for restoration of ecosystems and landscapes. The research of INSIT has a large expertise in territory management, characterized by an operational approach, with a focus on providing decision-making support. International relations are well developed for both institutes with the involvement in various European projects.
Dr. Beat Oertli is ordinary Professor at HEPIA, head of the Master Research Unit “Natural Resource Management”, and head of the laboratory of Ecology. He was leader of 18 programs of applied research conducted in relation with stakeholders (e.g. National or Regional Agencies for Environment; National or Regional Natural Parks), in Switzerland (14), Europe (3) and South-America (1). His research is mainly focused on small waterbody conservation, with the production of many tools directed to practical application by stakeholders: 3 management guides, 8 web-sites, 2 Smartphone applications, 10 electronic tools (e.g. on-line assessments, biodiversity identification), and about 100 educational popularization booklets. This applied aspect is also coupled with an international recognized scientific production, with several highly cited papers (100 to 600 citations) and several books or book chapters. He has several Editorial activities (Associate Editor Hydrobiologia (2008-2016), and Aquatic Conservation (2017-now) and reviewed about 400 papers (> 25 journals), and take actively part in organizations of international conferences (SEFS, Symposium of European Freshwater Sciences; INTECOL, International Association for Ecology; EPCN, European Pond Conservation Network). He has supervised 1 post-Doc, 2 PhD students (and 2 as co-supervisor), 22 Master students and he participated in the examination of 20 PhD thesis.
Dr. Aurélie Boissezon, research associate at HEPIA, freshwater ecologist, specialist of macrophytes ecology, focused on the development of identification guide books and practical techniques for the management and restoration of habitats and populations. She has coordinated and has participated to several applied research projects at national and regional levels, mainly in relation with national and regional agencies for environment in Switzerland and France. She also takes actively part in organization of international conferences (GEC meeting, Group of European Charophytologists, INTECOL, International Association for Ecology).
Dr. Florent Joerin is Professor of Territorial Governance, Director of INSIT (Institute of Territorial Engineering), and member of the Plani-D team (Planning & Development) at HEIG-VD. He is also private docent at the University of Lausanne and associate professor at Laval University (Canada). For almost ten years (2003 to 2012), he held the Canada Research Chair in Territorial Decision Support. His research and teaching focuses on decision-making processes related to the territory. In particular, he studies the use of spatial information in decision-making processes, including those involving some form of public participation. He focused on the use of geomatics tools (GIS), multicriteria analysis and indicator systems.
Dominique Bollinger is Associate Professor at HEIG-VD, specialist in environmental planning, waste management and decision aid, in charge of Environmental engineering research and responsible of the Environment Engineering course programs and Lab. He lead several programs of applied research conducted in relation with stakeholders. His research is focused on environmental decision aid, with multi-actor processes leading to practical recommendations and applications, as management tools.
Dr. Maryam Lotfian is a Postdoctoral researcher at HES-SO/HEIG-VD. She is specialized in spatial data analysis, spatial statistics, satellite image analysis, volunteered geographic information (VGI) and citizen science. She has contributed to several projects involving development of geospatial applications as well as statistical analysis of geospatial data using free and open-source software. Since 2017, she has mostly concentrated on data validation in citizen science projects, particularly employing species distribution models and machine learning algorithms to validate biodiversity data. To that end, she has made several scientific contributions to the field of citizen science from data validation to increasing public engagement.
Eliane Demierre is a technician at HEPIA, with 20 years of field and research experience in macroinvertebrates, odonata, amphibians and freshwater ecosystems. She has collaborated on numerous research projects on ponds biodiversity in Switzerland and France. She will contribute to data collection and macroinvertebrate identification for WP2 (and WP4).
Julie Fahy is a PhD student and assistant at HEPIA. She holds a Master in environmental sciences from the University of Geneva, where her thesis revolved around the use of adult dragonflies (Insecta: Odonata) as indicators of the diversity and ecological integrity of alluvial river ecosystems. She is notably interested in the conservation of aquatic communities and their use as ecological indicators. For her PhD thesis, she will address the long-term resilience and evolution of aquatic communities in ponds, as well as the potential of urban ponds to foster biodiversity, among other things.
Jens Ingensand (PhD EPFL 2010) is a full Professor and head of the geomatics group at HEIG-VD. He is a specialist in geographical information systems, spatial data processing & analysis and geoinformatics. He is the author of more than 70 scientific publications in the fields of citizen science & volunteered geographic information (VGI), standardization, spatial data processing as well as the development and evaluation of augmented-reality applications. Since 2014 he has lead more than 15 applied research projects and is currently co-directing two PhD theses (Politecnico di Milano, EPFL) in the fields of citizen science and urban decision support systems using 3D data. He is a member of several national and international scientific and professional associations
Jules Hornung is an assistant at HEPIA. He holds a Bachelor in Biology from the University of Geneva, and a Master in Behaviour, Evolution & Conservation from the University of Lausanne. He is interested in freshwater biodiversity, and more especially in macroinvertebrates communities and their use as ecological indicators. He’s participating in the field and laboratory work for WP2, in the synthesis of the NCPs indicators of the WP4 (DEMO-sites), and in the social surveys of the WP1.
Adrienne Sordet is an assistant at HEPIA. She holds a Bachelor in Environmental Engineering from the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland. She is interested in the conservation of terrestrial and aquatic invertebrates. She contributes mainly to the project (i) through the development of a template of the Leaflet, (ii) through working on the layout of the 20 leaflets (in 2 languages), (iii) and through her involvement in the presentation of success stories in the Handbook. These tools will serve to communicate the results of Ponderful to a large public.
SpainUniversity of Girona (UdG) is located in Girona city and is part of the Catalan public university system since 1992. The research at UdG is carried out in more than 100 research groups associated to 22 departments and 12 research institutes. UdG has a wide experience in management and coordination of International and European grants. The Research Group on Ecology of Inland Waters (GRECO) is the group GRCT0017 of UdG and is composed by the faculty and staff from the Ecology unit (Department of Environmental Sciences) of the University of Girona, which is attached to the Institute of Aquatic Ecology (IEA, UdG). GRECO is interdisciplinary group with extensive experience in numerous limnological research lines (particularly River ecology and ecotoxicology, Ecology and conservation of freshwater fish, and Limnology of Mediterranean lagoons and wetlands). With more than 500 publications in the last 10 years is the 4th research group of the UdG. Although to be a relatively small research group, accounting only with 11 full time researchers, GRECO has a large experience leading and participating in National and EU-funded projects (> 50 in the last 20 years). GRECO has experience in field sampling and mesocosms experiments, as well as laboratory experiments. GRECO transfers its knowledge at several stakeholders levels, from private users (like private companies) to local and regional administrations (for example carrying out natural restoration projects, and developing biological indicators for the assessment of the ecological status that are currently used to monitor wetland water quality in Catalonia. GRECO is included in PRISMàTIC a platform to transfer research knowledge for the Management of Natural Heritage and Biodiversity to the society.
Dani Boix. Associate Professor. Freshwater ecologist, focused on the ecology of aquatic communities in Mediterranean temporary ponds.He has published more than 90 papers in research journals and several book chapters. Current editorial board memberships of Hydrobiologia. He has participated in several EU-funded projects and as well as in competitive research national projects and innovation contracts, mainly with public agencies to develop bioassessment tools for freshwater ecosystems using macroinvertebrates and microcrustaceans. He has supervised 7 PhD students.
Xavier Quintana. Associate Professor. Freshwater ecologist, focussed in the ecology of aquatic communities in Mediterranean lagoons and salt marshes and the factors affecting planktonic species composition and community structure in these ecosystems, where changes in salinity and trophic state are strongly affected by irregularities in hydrology, as are characteristic of Mediterranean climate, 72 publications and several book chapters. He has participated and lead the scientific coordination of 3 LIFEs projects EU-funded, as well as in competitive research national projects and innovation contracts, mainly with public agencies to develop bioassessment tools for freshwater ecosystems using macroinvertebrates and microcrustaceans. He has supervised 6 PhD students.
Dr. Anna M. Romaní. Associate Professor. Freshwater ecologist, focused on microbial biofilm ecology and a functional approach to ecosystems, mainly focusing on organic matter cycling. Her study subjects are mainly Mediterranean fluvial ecosystems and their responses to drought, warming and pollution, and recently she has expanded her interest to lagoons and extreme habitats, infiltration systems and water distribution systems, 103 SCI papers, 1 book Edition, 14 book chapters. In the last 5 years, she has led 3 competitive research national projects, participated in 2 European projects and has several contracts with enterprises. She is Associate Editor for Limnology and Oceanography Journal and a member of the Editorial Board for Freshwater Biology Journal. She has supervised 7 PhD students.
Stéphanie Gascón. Associate Professor. Freshwater ecologist, focused on the ecology of aquatic communities in Mediterranean wetlands, including temporary ponds but also coastal marshes. Mainly interested on biotic and abiotic control of aquatic communities, from local to regional scale. To address she use taxonomic but also functional approaches. She is particularly interested in metacommunity dynamics, and how these dynamics coupled to biotic and abiotic factors shape biodiversity patterns, paying special attention to landscape configuration. Google Scholar statistics: 95 publications and several book chapters, >1600 citations, h-index =25. She has participated in several EU-funded projects and as well as in competitive research national projects and innovation contracts, mainly with public agencies to develop bioassessment tools for freshwater ecosystems using macroinvertebrates and microcrustaceans. She has supervised 6 PhD students.
Anna Ribas. Associate Professor. Environmental geographer, develops its research on the human dimension of natural risks (specifically on floods and droughts), the socio-territorial dimension of water management, and the management of protected natural spaces. She has participated in the planning of the fluvial spaces of the rivers Muga, Fluvià, Ter, Ridaura and Riera de Calonge promoted by the Catalan government (Catalan Water Agency). She is part of the research group “Water, Tourism, Territory and Sustainability” which since 2005 has been recognized as a Consolidated Research Group of the Agència de Qualitat Universitària (AQU) of the Government of Catalonia. She has participated in several EU-funded projects and as well as in competitive research national projects and innovation contracts. She has supervised 11 PhD students, 79 publications, 30 book chapters, >900 citations.
Anna Menció. Associate Professor. Environmental scientist, focused on the analysis of water resources availability and dynamics under human pressures. In particular, her research is mainly focused on the hydrochemistry and hydrogeology of aquatic ecosystems. Since 2006 she is part of the research group of “Applied and Environmental Geology”, a Consolidated Research group of the Agència de Qualitat Universitària (AQU) of the Catalan Government. She has participated in several competitive research national projects, innovation contracts, as well as EU-funded projects, 30 SCI papers and several book chapters, >700 citations.
Dr. Maria Anton-Pardo. Postdoctoral researcher. Freshwater ecologist, focused on the ecology of aquatic communities and how they are influenced by biotic and abiotic factors, and on drivers of ecosystem metabolism in coastal lagoons. She has participated in several competitive international and national projects. She has more than 5 years of international experience, including long-term stays at University of South Bohemia (Czech Republic), Czech Academy of Sciences, and Federal University of Goiás (Brazil), and short-term stays at University of Illinois (USA), Tour du Valat (France) and Ifremer (France).
Diego Lindoso. Postdoctoral Associate. Biologist with a Ph.D. in Sustainable Development (University of Brasília). Diego develops research on the human dimension of climate change and on territorial sustainable development. He spent one year as visiting researcher at the Geography Department, McGill University (Montreal, Canada) and has participated in both EU and Brazilian funded projects, supporting the development of integrated socioecological approaches and applying transdisciplinary methodologies to analyze climate change vulnerability and resilience. He has co-authored 21 SCI papers, 1 book and 13 book chapters, > 500 citations, h-index 12.
Dr. Luis Martín. Postdoctoral researcher. Freshwater taxonomist, focused on the taxonomy, biodiversity and ecology of aquatic communities, specially caddisfly, in the Iberian Peninsula and Macaronesian region. He has developed most of his research activity at the University of Santiago de Compostela and at CIBIO-UP (Biodiversity Center of the University of Porto) and is the author of several papers in national and international scientific journals.
GermanyECOLOGIC Institute is a private not-for-profit think-tank for applied environmental research, policy analysis and consultancy with offices in Berlin, Brussels and Washington DC. Since its founding in 1995, ECOLOGIC Institute has built a reputation for excellence in transdisciplinary and policy-relevant research. ECOLOGIC Institute has extensive experience and expertise in the nexus of agriculture, water, climate change adaptation, and nature-based solutions. This includes policy analysis and economic evaluations in the area of nature-based solutions, climate change adaptation, sustainable finance, analysis related to effectiveness, costs, and benefits of nature-based solutions, and broad policy-relevant knowledge on European environmental and agricultural policy. In addition, ECOLOGIC Institute offers considerable experience coordinating large-scale European research projects and service contracts (including H2020 project AQUACROSS), as well as stakeholder engagement, workshop coordination, and dissemination and exploitation of scientific results for policy impact, including for clients such as the European Commission, European Parliament, the European Environment Agency and German ministries.
Dr. Manuel Lago. Experienced researcher and consultant in environmental/natural resource economics and a Senior Fellow at ECOLOGIC Institute in Berlin, where he has been working since 2009. Manuel Lago specializes in the economic analysis of environmental policies and regulations, environmental economic valuation, and compliance cost accounting. His PhD thesis documented an analysis of regulatory efficiency for compliance with water legislation in Scottish agriculture. Manuel has coordinated the AQUACROSS project, a H2020 Research and Innovation Action lead by the ECOLOGIC Institute (with 16 international partners), which advanced knowledge and application of ecosystem-based management for aquatic ecosystems to support the achievement of the EU 2020 Biodiversity Strategy targets. Alongside coordination, Manuel actively participated in AQUACROSS work on economic evaluation, integrative assessments, policy evaluation, and exploitation of results. Manuel has been actively involved in a number of large European research projects sponsored by the European Commission Directorate-General for Research and Innovation (e.g. FP7 BIOFRESH, EPIWATER, REFORM, ECONADAPT, DESSIN). He has also worked as a consultant for the European Commission, the European Environment Agency, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) among others.
Hugh McDonald. Researcher at ECOLOGIC Institute, where he has worked for 3 years on projects related to water policy, innovation and ecosystem-based management from an environmental economics perspective. As part of the AQUACROSS project, a €7 million H2020 Research and Innovation project lead by ECOLOGIC Institute that advanced knowledge and application of ecosystem-based management (a nature-based solution) to protect biodiversity in aquatic ecosystems, Hugh McDonald coordinated the eight case studies and also lead a case study in the Azores, which included economic evaluation of NBS, workshops, and broad stakeholder engagement. Prior to ECOLOGIC Institute, Hugh McDonald worked for three years as a Research Analyst at Motu Economic and Public Policy Research in Wellington (New Zealand) There, he applied quantitative and qualitative approaches to investigate climate policy and water pollution, with a particular focus on agriculture, environmental policy evaluation, and collaborative stakeholder processes. He is a native English speaker and holds a Bachelor of Commerce with Honours degree in Economics from the University of Otago (New Zealand).
Isabel Seeger. International Fellow at ECOLOGIC Institute, which she joined in February 2021 to work on projects related to water and maritime politics, biodiversity and environmental economics. Besides her engagement with Ponderful, Isabel currently contributes to the H2020 project ‘UNITED’ on the development of multi-use platforms and consolidation of different activities in a marine and ocean space. Here, her focus lies on the German case study on the possibility of mussel and seaweed farming at an offshore windfarm. Before ECOLOGIC Institute, Isabel worked on marine and environmental policy at the Institute of Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) in Potsdam, the Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations (IDDRI) in Paris and the Environment Directorate of the OECD. She is a native German speaker, works in English, French and Dutch, and holds a Master’s degree in Environmental Policy and Political Sciences from FU Berlin and Sciences Po Paris.
United KingdomUCL has a global reputation for excellence in research and is committed to delivering impact and innovations that enhance the lives of people in the UK, across Europe and around the world. UCL was identified by the UK Research Excellence Framework as the top university in the UK for research strength (2018) and UCL is consistently placed in the global top 20 across a wide range of university rankings (currently =7th in the QS World Rankings). The Department of Geography is currently in the top 10 in the QS subject rankings and the Environmental Change Research Centre (ECRC), within Geography, is a world-leading interdisciplinary centre for research, teaching and public engagement. The ECRC is concerned with environmental change on a range of time scales, past, present and future, with particular emphasis on lake, pond, river ecology and palaeolimnology. Within the ECRC the UCL Pond Restoration Research Group (PRRG) specialises in pond conservation and restoration.
Dr. Carl Sayer. Leader of the UCL Pond Restoration Research Group. Freshwater ecologist who specialises in lake, river and pond restoration. Founder of the award-winning Norfolk Ponds Project (NPP). UCL Public Engager of the year (2015) and Norfolk Biodiversity Partnership “Outstanding Achievement Award” (2017). Steering committee member for European Pond Conservation Network (EPCN). Carl has supervised 18 PhD students to successful completion with 6 currently in progress. He has published 90 scientific papers, 6 peer-reviewed book chapters, 4 high impact factor (>5) papers.
Dr. Helen Greaves. Co-founder and secretary of the Norfolk Ponds Project. UCL Student Engager of the Year (2019). Secretary of the European Pond Conservation Network (EPCN). Expert in pond invertebrate ecology, pond restoration and public engagement. Helen has published 4 scientific papers.
TurkeyMiddle East Technical University (METU), founded in 1956, is an international research university which seeks excellence in serving the country, region and the world. The proof of concept of METU’s capacity to coordinate projects is given by the English Times Higher Education’s (THE) “World University Rankings Top 400 during 2012–2013”. According Associated with document Ref. Ares(2020)3947397 – 27/07/2020 53 869296-2 PONDERFUL – Part B to THE rankings of “Research (budget and reputation)”, “Impact of Research (citations)”, “Teaching and learning environment”, “Income from the industry” and “International dimension”, METU ranks 203rd in the world. METU is once again the only Turkish university which has entered the list of “Most Reputable 100 Universities of the World” by ranking in the 71–80 band in 2014, according to the Times Higher Education and Thomson Reuter. METU actively took part in and managed many projects under Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) following 2007, especially 7th Framework Programme, currently H2020, as well as other International Projects such as COST, Eureka, NASA, NATO, NSF, UN, UNIDO, UNEP, World Bank, etc.
Meryem Beklioğlu is a full professor in hydrobiology in department of Biological Sciences at Middle East Technical University in Ankara (METU) since 2007 and. She is the lead scientist of the Limnology laboratory at the Biological Sciences (www.limnology.bio.metu.edu.tr) as well as the head of Ecosystem Research and Implementation Centre (EKOSAM). She is actively working on the impacts of hydrology, nutrients and climate change on ecosystem structure and functions of Turkish lakes through using different approaches including long-term monitoring, paleoecology (using multiple proxies of cladocerans, pigments, diatoms, and plant macro-fossils) to space time substitute approaches. Moreover, She actively uses in-situ mesocosms for hypothesis testing to develop mechanistic understanding throughout her career. She has been the coordinator and the leader of many national and international research projects on structure and function of shallow lakes (e.g. the EU FP7 funded projects: REFRESH, WP2-co leader, MARS, NETLAKE- Cost activity, H2020 funded AQUACOSM). She has received both national (Turkish) and international (EU, Dutch and Greek funds) peer-reviewed fundings. ISI WoS statistics: 75 articles, 2544 citations, h-index: 27.
Zuhal Akyürek is a professor in Water Resources Management laboratory in Civil Engineering Department at Middle East Technical University in Ankara (METU) since 2013. She is affiliated to Geodetic and Geographic Information Technologies Division. She is actively working in snow hydrology, catchment modelling, GIS/RS integration with modelling. She has been the local coordinator of the project Satellite Application Facility on support to Operational Hydrology and Water Management (H SAF) funded by EUMETSAT since 2005. She took part as the MC member in a COST project “European network for a harmonized monitoring of snow for the benefit of climate change scenarios, hydrology and numerical weather prediction”. She was the guest editor of the Special Issue on Remote Sensing of Snow and Its Applications published by Geosciences. ISI WoS statistics: 39 articles, 654 citations.
Antoine Dolcerocca is assistant professor in Sociology at Middle East Technical University, where he specializes in environmental sociology. He is actively working on issues of property and use rights around common-pool natural resource management, notably studying institutional arrangements and how the distribution of different levels of rights on a resource (access, withdrawal, management, exclusion) between different actors impacts its conservation and the sustainability of its exploitation. He is currently leading a project on “Management of old-growth forests access rights and climate change mitigation in Turkey”, 3 articles.
Deniz Acet is PhD student in Earth System Science department at Middle East Technical University, where she specializes in Ecology and Ecosystem Services. She is actively studying on biodiversity – ecosystem functions and services relationships in freshwater ecosystems.
Feride Avcı is a PhD student in Biology department in Middle East Technical university, where she is a part of METU Limnology Laboratory. She is studying the relationships between microbial loop and GHG emission interactions.
Hilal Kıran is a PhD student in Biology department in Middle East Technical university, where she is a part of METU Limnology Laboratory. Her research is about the top-down and bottom-up interactions, and macroinvertebrates functional traits in pond ecosystems.
Gizem Oğuz is a MSc student in Biology department in Middle East Technical university, where she is a part of METU Limnology Laboratory. She is interested in the nitrous oxide emissions from ponds.
Berkay Akpınar is a MSc student in Water Resources Engineering at Middle East Technical University (Ankara). He specializes in Hydrology and Hydraulics. He is actively working on Hydrology of Ponds and Modelling.
PortugalCIIMAR (Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research of University of Porto) was established in 2000 and mobilises a multidisciplinary, highly skilled and motivated team (418 members, including 189 with PhD) that works at the frontier of blue knowledge and innovation. The CIIMAR mission is to promote transdisciplinary research, technological development and training, contributing to advances in scientific knowledge and sustainability of marine and freshwater environments. We provide innovative solutions towards aquatic ecosystems sustainability, driving biological resources value to tackle tomorrow´s societal needs. To deliver our mission and build a shared understanding and valorisation of the aquatic ecosystems, CIIMAR is strongly involved in partnerships, public engagement and science literacy. CIIMAR’s Communication and Outreach Office have a specialised team that coordinates several national and international science literacy projects, including Ponds with Life Project (Charcos com Vida), that focus on the use of ponds for science and environmental education of students, and Ocean Action Campaign, which was awarded in 2016 with the Green Project Award for the best Mobilization Initiative in Portugal. The long experience of CIIMAR’s Communication Office in science outreach directed to different target audience and using diverse and innovative communication tools will be of great value to the Dissemination of Results (WP5) of PONDERFUL Project. The Centre publishes annually about 420 ISI publications (60% Q1) and supports 120 PhD and MSc theses in European and national training programmes. CIIMAR has been able to attract significant funding through national agencies and competitive applications at EU level (e.g. H2020, INTERREG), with around 25M € in running R&D projects.
Dr. José Teixeira, PhD in Amphibian Biology and Post-doc in Science Communication, is the head the CIIMAR’s Communication and Outreach Office since 2014. He was head CIBIO-UP (Research Centre on Biodiversity) Communication and Outreach Office from 2008 and 2014. His interests are mainly focused on science outreach and dissemination of aquatic biodiversity and ecosystems. He’s responsible for the development of Ocean Literacy and Science Communication Campaigns, such as “Ponds with Life” and “Ocean Action”. He has long experience in the coordination of freshwater dissemination and conservation programs, including the ECfunded LIFE+ Trachemys project, and the production of Science Communication Exhibitions, such as: “Plastic Sea”, “Sea Monsters”, “Amphibians: a paw on water another on land”, “Museum’s Animals”, “Insects in Order” and “Darwin’s Evolution”. He’s the author of more than 20 scientific papers in international journals and coordinates advanced training in science communication and freshwater ecology.
Sílvia Martins is an agronomist currently working at the Environmental Sustainability Office of CIIMAR. She holds an MSc in Biological Resources, Territorial Enhancement and Sustainability from the University of Coimbra, as well as a BSc in Organic Agriculture. With a diverse professional background, her experience includes organic farming, pond management and aquatic botany. She has recently shifted her focus to plant biological invasions in aquatic ecosystems, aquatic plant management and pond ecological restoration.
In her current role, Sílvia is actively involved in Ponderful WP5 related to the project’s dissemination and the effective communication of the importance of ponds and its biodiversity, as well as pond management and restoration best practices.
Marisa Naia is a biologist currently working at the Communication and Outreach Office of CIIMAR. She obtained her Master’s Degree in Biodiversity, Genetics and Evolution from the University of Porto. During that time, she conducted scientific research in CIBIO/InBIO – Research Centre in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources, on systematic conservation planning and ecology of water-dependent vertebrates in arid regions. In the past years she developed particular interest in scientific communication, and currently she is collaborating in the “Ponds with Life” campaign from CIIMAR. Her main interests are applied conservation and sustainability and her main goal is to use science to achieve a sustainable future and a more informed society.
DenmarkThe Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University (AU) comprises >15 research groups and about 500 staff members and carries out basic research and strategic research as well as research-based consultancy services on all aspects of aquatic sciences. AU furthermore run the national survey program on aquatic ecosystems. AU has conducted numerous small to large scale experiments, as well as whole lake/stream experiments on many continents during the past 20 years, perhaps the aquatic group with most experience in the world on field experiments. AU also has key biogeochemical experience in carbon and nutrient cycling in fresh waters and has developed expertise in greenhouse gas dynamics. The modelling group, developing since 2009 is among the world leaders for developing and applying dynamic processed based ecological models. The group collaborates with more than 120 research groups from all parts of the world. Therefore, AU are excellently placed to carry out the tasks assigned in PONDERFUL, as their expertise covers biodiversity studies, modeling (both process based and empirical), ecological processes and services and biogeochemical cycles and they also host a unique experimental facility.
Dr. Thomas A. Davidson. Freshwater ecologist, specializing in shallow lake biodiversity and ecology and carbon dynamics. AU lead, coordinator and leader of tasks in AQUACOSM, AU PI in AQUACOSM-plus PRECISE and independent Danish Research project GREENLAKES. Google Scholar statistics: 90 papers, >3000 citations.
Dr. Martin Søndergaard. Participating in many national and international research projects on structure and function of lakes. Main contact person to the Danish authorities in relation to the implementation of the Water Framework Directive in lakes, 154 papers (>19,000 citations).
Tuba Bucak Onay (PhD 2017). Specialized in aquatic modeling, spatial data analysis, GIS and statistical data analysis. Google Scholar statistics: 18 papers, >1000 citations, h-index=13.
Eti Levi. Freshwater ecologist, specialising in shallow lake ecology, palaeoecology and experimental mesocosms. She has a wealth of field and laboratory experience, 16 papers, 181 citations.
Liselotte Sander Johannsen. Freshwater and lake ecologist specializing in lake monitoring and management, coordinator of the AU contribution to the National lake monitoring program in Denmark. She has over 20 year’s experience working with lake manager and environmental agencies in Denmark.
Dr. Anders Nielsen. Environmental engineer specialized in catchment and aquatic ecological modeling. Expert in GIS processing and spatial data analysis and data management. Key player in PROGNOS, 17 papers, 440 citations.
Dr. Joachim Audet, specialized in nutrient cycling and greenhouse gas emissions from fresh waters, including lakes and wetlands, 29 papers, 791 citations.
SwedenUppsala University (UU) is the Nordic region’s oldest university – founded in 1477 – and is ranked among the top 100 universities in the world. It is a comprehensive research-intensive university with a strong international standing. Its mission is to pursue top-quality research (both basic and applied) and education and to interact constructively with society. The research of UU team is broad and covers various interactions between people and nature. It spans the implementation of environmental and sustainability policies, environmental attitudes and conflicts, and planning and management of natural resources, with an emphasis on biodiversity conservation. They have been working with biodiversity and other environmental policy implementation, policy coherence, individual and organisational learning related to implementation of new policies and concepts (with focus on ecosystem services and natural capital), spatial planning for conservation, public participation in environmental decision-making, conservation conflicts, and ecosystem services. They have extensive experience in stakeholder engagement processes, using stakeholder workshops, interviews, surveys and Delphi study. Their is conducted in collaboration with stakeholders at different governance levels, from local communities and organisations to governmental authorities.
Assoc. Prof. Malgorzata Blicharska is a Senior Lecturer in Natural Resources and Sustainable Development and one of the key researchers in the Environment Nature and Society team. She has been working with biodiversity policy implementation, individual and organisational learning related to implementation of new policies and concepts (with a focus on ecosystem services and natural capital), public participation in environmental decision-making, conservation conflicts, spatial planning for conservation and ecosystem services, use of biophysical data for monitoring of ecosystem services, and effects of management and other socio-economic variables on urban ponds. She led and colead work packages in large interdisciplinary research projects (e.g. BESAFE, NILS-ESS), and has vast experience in interaction with stakeholders, through participatory workshops, seminars, interviews, surveys and Delphi method (e.g. BESAFE, NILS-ESS, SIM4NEXUS). She has published 42 peer-reviewed scientific articles (19 of them as first author), 13 reports and book chapters, and 10 short communications in Nature and Science. She has has supervised 12 master, bachelor and internship students and six PhD students, and acted as reviewer for 19 scientific journals.
Simon Otis Ryfisch is a PhD student at the Department of Earth Sciences at Uppsala University. He holds a Master’s degree in Water Cooperation and Diplomacy from the University for Peace (Costa Rica), IHE Delft (Netherlands), and Oregon State University (USA), having specialized in conflict management and transformation as well as collaborative natural resource governance. As part of the PONDERFUL project, he explores the policy context across governance levels to understand how policies can support or hinder the implementation of ponds. Additionally, he supports designing and implementing the project’s stakeholder interaction process that will help identify stakeholders’ needs and perceptions regarding ponds.
United KingdomThe School of Natural Sciences (SNS) at Bangor University (BU) has an active research program focussing on interdisciplinary research into agriculture, forestry, conservation, geography, policy, and ecosystem services. It was rated highly in the 2014 Research Assessment Exercise of UK universities (http://www.bangor.ac.uk/senrgy/; 78% of the submitted research was rated as either world-leading or internationally excellent, putting the school in the top 20 Universities in the UK. BU has a demonstrable record of high quality research in the environmental sciences (ranking 16th in REF2014) and academic expertise particularly relevant to this project.
Sopan D Patil (male, PhD 2011) is a Lecturer in Catchment Modelling at Bangor University. He obtained a PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology, USA and has co-authored 23 peer-reviewed publications. He has supervised 3 PhD students to completion, and his research group currently consists of 2 PhD students, 3 MSc by Research students, and 2 post-doctoral researchers. His research portfolio includes 3 ERDF funded projects (2 as Principal Investigator and 1 as Co-Investigator) on topics such as natural flood management, impacts of climate change on water industry, and land-use scenario modelling of hydrological impacts. Through these projects, Sopan has participated in collaborative research and knowledge transfer activities with external organisations like Dwr Cymru Welsh Water, Gwynedd County Council, and Forest Research.
Parinaz Rashidi (female, PhD 2018) is a Postdoctoral Research Officer at Bangor University. She was awarded an ERASMUS MUNDUS scholarship and a PhD in spatial ecology from the Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC) of the University of Twente, Netherlands. She has co-authored 10 peer-reviewed publications. She leads tutorials and cooperates within various projects. Parinaz has collaborated on research and knowledge transfer initiatives with external organizations such as the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) through these projects.
GermanyFounded in 1868, the Technical University of Munich (TUM) is one of Europe’s top universities. It is committed to excellence in research and teaching, interdisciplinary education and the active promotion of promising young scientists. The university also forges strong links with companies and scientific institutions across the world. TUM was one of the first universities in Germany to be named a University of Excellence. It regularly ranks among the best European universities in international rankings. TUM is organized in 14 departments, which provide an excellent environment for research and for the education of 40,841 students. The university has a total budget of EUR 1,329 mio. The partner in the present project is from the TUM School of Life Sciences Weihenstephan. This department is characterized by the interdisciplinary synergies amongst all fields of life science, which enables the exploration of the entire life cycle of foodstuffs and raw materials. Researchers at Weihenstephan examine the value chain from genetic and biological building blocks through production and processing to consumption.
Professor Johannes Sauer is full professor and head of the Chair Group of Agricultural Production and Resource Economics since 2013. The research work of Professor Sauer spans the fields of agricultural production economics, natural resource economics, and applied econometrics. Professor Sauer is part of the Agricultural Economics Department at TUM. Research at the Agricultural Production and Resource Economics Group has a primary focus on the productivity and sustainability of farms and companies in the agricultural sector, issues surrounding the adoption and widespread use of innovative technologies, the evaluation of agri-environmental programs and the economic evaluation of water resources and natural disasters. Professor Sauer leads a research group including currently two senior researchers, four postdocs, 21 PhD students, four administrative assistants and eight research assistants. He is a policy advisory expert amongst others for the OECD, the World Bank, the USDA and the FAO as well as associate editor and editorial board member of Agricultural Sciences, the Journal of Productivity Analysis and the European Review of Agricultural Economics respectively. He participated in several national, European and international research projects as a partner and as coordinator.
Dr. Maria Vrachioli. Maria Vrachioli is Senior researcher at the Chair Group of Agricultural Production and Resource Economics since 2018. She received her PhD from the Department of Food and Resource Economics at the University of Florida. She is trained as an applied economist focusing on issues at the intersection of water resources and microeconomic theory. Her interdisciplinary research contributes toward efficiency- and productivity-enhancing policies by estimating the magnitude of gains from the more effective use of water in agriculture, using integrated hydrological and economic models. Dr. Vrachioli has an extensive training and research background in applied water economics and policy. She has participated in several national, European and international research projects.
Dr. Amer Ait-Sidhoum is senior research staff at the Agricultural Production and Resource Economics in TUM School of Life Sciences. His research areas are: production economics; environmental and resource economics; firm sustainability; corporate social responsibility and applied econometrics.
TUM School of Life Sciences.
FranceISARA is a French “grande école” (graduate college) recognized by the French Ministry of Agriculture and is located in Lyon. ISARA is a French Higher Education Institution offering a wide range of Bachelor and Master level curricula in agronomy, food science, agribusiness and environmental science.Its scientific policy is oriented towards Agroecology and Sustainable Food systems. It comprises 30 researchers plus 12 staff members and an average of 10 PhD and PostDoc. Among Agroecology and Environment group, a team “aquatic ecosystems” focuses on limnology, ecology of aquatic systems and territorial approaches on water quality. This team performs field study on aquatic systems and particularly fish ponds. They develop a deep analysis of agroecological practices adapted to fish production and biodiversity conservation, according to ecosystem services and social aspects. The technical skills of the team include water and sediment chemistry, algal and aquatic vegetation biodiversity and quantification, hydrology and pollutant transfer, GIS, ecosystem services and social evaluation and co-design of innovations with stakeholders.ISARA has developed a partnership network at local, national and international levels, with more than 50 partners in Europe on agroecology and ecology topics. Researchers of ISARA participate regularly to EU-funded projects (COST, BIODIVERSA, H2020, EMFF).
Dr. Joël Robin is a limnologist-algologist of Agroecology and Environment unit. Vice director of Research activity in ISARA, he’s the leader of the team “aquatic ecosystems”. Since 25 years, he has developed a research activity in algal biodiversity, cyanobacteria blooms and toxic or off-flavor effects, algae-macrophytes alternative states and biodiversity conservation, ecosystem ecology, aquatic system and fish pond ecosystem services. He has recently contributed to EU-project TIPPINGPOND and to numerous national projects. He’s reviewer for 12 scientific journals and national and international funding agencies.
United KingdomFreshwater Habitats Trust (FHT) is a UK-based registered charity (Charity no. 1107708) which was originally founded in 1988 as ‘Pond Action’. The organisation’s mission is to protect freshwater life for everyone to enjoy. The charity is evidence-based with a strong science grounding, highly strategic, targeting its work where evidence suggests it will be most effective, concerned with all freshwaters including those that are small and undervalued like ponds, headwater streams, flushes and ditches. The charity works in partnership with people, communities and organisations to get the best results for freshwater wildlife. FHT undertakes a wide range of research, practical conservation, policy work and public engagement. Although based in the UK, the organisation has a wide network of European and international collaborators, is a co-founder of the European Pond Conservation Network and works closely with NGOs and freshwater specialists throughout Europe. FHT research is concerned with the whole of the freshwater network (ponds, lakes, streams and rivers), specialising in characterising aquatic biodiversity at the landscape scale. The organisation has played a significant role in developing understanding internationally of the ecological importance of ponds, has undertaken groundbreaking research on the importance of small waterbodies (still and flowing) generally, developed the world’s first national monitoring programme for a protected species using environmental DNA and helped to found the UK River Restoration Centre. In the UK, FHT has helped develop new legal protections for small waterbodies, including recognition in UK law of ‘priority ponds’, and undertakes a wide range of practical projects creating new ponds (‘Million Ponds Project) and managing the ‘best of the best’ sites known as Flagship Ponds.
Dr. Jeremy Biggs is co-founder and Director of the Freshwater Habitats Trust, which currently has 15 staff working throughout the UK as well as co-ordinating activities of c2,500 volunteers. He is also a Director of the South Midlands Newt Conservation Partnership undertaking practical pond conservation work for Great Crested Newts. He has supervised 4 PhD students; 108 publications. He has 25+ years of international research and practical conservation experience originating in LIFE funded collaborations with local authorities in Denmark in the mid-1990s. He has developed and project managed a wide range of national and international research and practical conservation projects including work in UK, France, Germany, Denmark, Poland and Hungary. He writes regularly for popular nature magazines, and has made multiple radio and TV appearances for FHT. He is a co-founder, former President and current Steering Committee member of the European Pond Conservation Network.
Dr. Pascale Nicolet. Technical Director of FHT. Freshwater ecologist with specialist knowledge of the ecology of temporary ponds and the practical design, conservation and management of ponds. Currently also the interim CEO of the South Midlands Newt Conservation Partnership. She also leads FHT’s national Million Ponds Project and manages two catchment projects protecting and enhancing freshwater biodiversity. She has substantial experience of European water and conservation policy and led FHT work campaigning for better protection for small waters in Europe. In addition to these practical project roles she has supervised 1 PhD student.
Penny Williams. Senior Ecologist at FHT. Freshwater biologist with substantial international expertise in landscape level freshwater biodiversity, monitoring and the protection of freshwater ecosystems. She was lead author for the Ponds Report of the UK Countryside Survey and is the lead author of The Pond Book, the UK national guide to the protection and creation of ponds, 42 papers. She has more than 25 years of international research experience including practical work in France, Germany, Denmark and Poland. She designed and oversaw construction of the the Pinkhill Meadow national pond demonstration site, now one of the longest running new pond creation schemes in the world, and has led its post-project monitoring over 25 years. She has co-supervised 2 PhD students.
Dr. Naomi Ewald. Director of Policy and Research at FHT. Freshwater ecologist specialising in the ecology and conservation of temporary ponds and the design and implementation of monitoring networks. She has substantial practical experience of the implementation of citizen-led monitoring of protected species and project manages the world’s first monitoring network using eDNA to assess the status of the great crested newt in England. She led the national People, Ponds and Water project for FHT from 2015-2017 and manages the organisation’s PondNet monitoring programme. She also represents FHTs interests in the New Forest National Park which is one of the most important protected landscapes for freshwater biodiversity in Europe. She currently manages FHTs internal and external communications programme.
UruguayUdelaR is the most important, oldest, and the only public, state university in Uruguay. It conducts more than 90% of the research and generation of new knowledge and is the main responsible of higher education in the county. Its mission is to produce high quality research, undergraduate and postgraduate education, promote culture and the socially relevant use of knowledge. The recently formed Ecology and Environmental Management Department is placed in the interdisciplinary centre CURE, which has a strong focus on research in theoretical ecology, aquatic ecology, anthropology, mathematics, coastal management, landscape planning, and different environmental problems and their management.
Professor Matías Arim. His research combines theoretical and empirical approaches for understanding the organization and stability of biodiversity. Temporary ponds have been the preferred but not exclusive model system. His actual focus is on metacommunity ecology. He has published ca. 50 papers on mainstream Journals. He has supervised ca. 19 MSc theses, 9 PhD theses (and 5 ongoing).
Dr. Ana Inés Borthagaray . Associate Professor. Ecologist specialized on metacommunity ecology. Her focus is on the effect of landscape structure on metacommunity structure and biodiversity patterns. To this aim, she combines empirical and theoretical approaches through graph theory tools, numerical simulations and statistical analysis. In the last few years, she was mainly interested in how to define community isolation in different metacommunity network configurations and evaluate its effects on local community structure. She has published around 25 publications on mainstream journals of Ecology as Oikos, Ecography, Proceedings of the Royal Society, Journal of Theoretical Biology and 4 book chapters. She has participated in several funded projects in Uruguay and Europe. She has supervised 2 PhD students and 4 MSc students.
Dr. Mariana Meerhoff is Agg. Prof. Her research focuses particularly on the potential effects of climate warming and land use changes on trophic dynamics and ecosystem processes in shallow lakes, wadeable streams and man-made reservoirs. She has published ca. 70 papers and several book chapters and edited books. She has led several science-to-policy oriented projects with guideline reports for the National Directorate of Environment and the State Water Works. She has supervised ca. 12 MSc theses, 6 PhD theses (and 4 ongoing). Associate Editor of 4 international scientific journals.
Dr. Franco Teixeira de Mello is Associate Professor at UdelaR. His international experience includes cooperation in different projects with researchers from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, the United States, Denmark, Portugal, Spain, and China. His current research includes freshwater ecology, biomonitoring of fish and invertebrates, the dynamic of pesticides, and organic decomposition in inland aquatic ecosystems, as well as studies of micro- and macro-plastic contamination. He also conducts Antarctic research. Lead coordinator and leader of tasks of pesticides dynamics in different matrices in several uruguayan watersheds, and Uruguayan leader of the IBEPECOR project (biomonitoring).
SpainRandbee Consultants (RANDBEE) is a private consultancy company based in Málaga (Spain). Randbee has been involved in several European and International projects providing consultancy services on Information Platforms, Geographical Information Systems (GIS), big data, modelling, indicators development, Web visualization tools and capacity building. Randbee team is composed of international experts with a solid experience in developing decision-support tools and applications for socio-economic and environmental monitoring.The team has been involved in the development of Information Systems and capacity activities in different domains including: water resources management, marine activities, ecosystem services and climate change issues in Europe, Latin America and Africa. In addition to this, Randbee is also actively involved in the Copernicus European Earth Observation Programme from the European Commission.
Juan Arevalo Torres is currently the CEO and one of the Co-founders of Randbee Consultants. He has more than 14 years of experience developing Environmental Information Systems and Decision Support tools. He was responsible for the development of regional and European information systems including the Marine Irish Digital Atlas (University of Cork, Ireland) the Environmental Information System (Andalusia in Spain), the Land and Ecosystem Accounting project (European Environmental Agency), the AquaKnow Water Knowledge Management Portal, Urban Development Platform (Joint Research Centre, European Commission), Rural Electrification Tools in Burkina Faso and The Gambia (DG DEVCO, European Commission) and AQUACROSS H2020 information platform. He also organized several capacity building activities on environmental information systems and climate change issues for the NEPAD Western African Water Centers of Excellence.
Dr. Beatriz Martín, PhD in Biology and data modelling scientist with over 15 years of research and consulting experience, with a relevant publishing record (37 publications in international ISI journals) and the participation in 12 different projects developed at public and private research and conservation organisations at regional, European and International level. Dr. Beatriz Martín has extensive experience in developing and coordinating GIS projects, including database management and spatial predictive models using machine learning techniques. Dr. Beatriz won the First-prize award-winning Master’s Thesis on Big Data and Data Science 2017/2018, UNED (https://www.uned.es/universidad/). Recently, she has been leading the development of a storytelling tool on migratory birds: http://birdmigration.climate.copernicus.eu/ on behalf of Randbee as part of the Copernicus Programme.
DenmarkAmphi International Aps is a Danish environmental consulting company with expertise in nature protection, conservation biology & management as well as urban ecology, water management and adaptation to climate change. The company is based in Denmark and has two branches (in Germany and Poland). During the last 25 years, we have been working all over Europe with nature restoration and management (especially pond and river restoration and creation, EIA and designing mitigation and compensation measures) and monitoring of fauna and flora. For the last 10 years, the expertise on water and biodiversity gained in the rural and natural landscapes has been transferred into urban realms. The company developed, patented, implemented and monitored innovative NBS products for biodiversity, sustainable water management and climate adaptation (e.g. Rainwater retention, biodiversity and urban heat island reduction, Biowater Climapond www.biowater.dk and Green Bus Stop http://zieloneprzystanki.pl/en/home). Since the late 90-ties, Amphi has implemented 13 EU LIFE NATURE and CLIMATE projects, nearly all of them concerning small freshwater ecosystems and biodiversity. Amphi is responsible in the project for investigation of Danish DEMO-sites as well as development of innovative NBS measures based on the results of the project research; developing business model to support commercialization of the project results; Contributing with a business perspective to all the project publications; Elaboration ‘good code’ for commercial design/construction of ponds, providing values/benefits based on ecosystem services (carbon sequestration, water cycle stabilization, biodiversity/species protection) in the range of land uses: from natural, through semi-natural managed, agricultural, suburban to urban areas.
Lars Briggs, Director of Amphi International ApS, biologist. Over 20 years of experience with conservation biology, specialized mostly on Amphibians, habitat management and restoration, project management. Author of scientific publications.
Marzenna Rasmussen, Biologist. Expert with over 20 years of experience in conservation biology and habitat management and restoration, development of NBS for climate adaptation as well as fundraising, co- ordination and administration of international projects (consultancy on EU provisions in number of EU LIFE projects). Experience in coordination of innovation process among different groups of professionals.
Dr. Iwona Wagner, Ecohydrologist with over 20 years of experience in catchment and, recently, urban ecohydrology, including stormwater management, NBS development and adaptation to climate change. Experience in facilitation of multi-stakeholder platforms and implementation of innovative transdisciplinary projects. Author of several scientific publications, practical manuals and students and practitioners’ handbooks; implementation of several international projects.
Alix Aliaga, Biologist with about 4 years of working experience in conservation biology, habitat management and restoration, rural and urban ecology, development of NBS for climate adaptation, GIS-mapping, statistical biodemography, communication, fundraising and project management. Experience in coordinating environmental projects & applications with different background expertise. Author of scientific publication.
Niels Damm, Biologist with over 20 years of experience in Amphibian conservation, habitat management and restoration, mostly in rural environments. Project manager, coordinator of national and international projects on nature protection and especially on protected Amphibian species.
John Frisenvænge, Biologist with over 20 years of experience in Amphibian and Bat conservation, pond monitoring, study of Amphibian migrations, EIA and development of compensation measures.
The EPCN is a European network of academics, practitioners and stakeholders united by their joint interest in the conservation of ponds. One of the vocations of the EPCN is to promote the sharing of knowledge with a group of international institutions. The EPCN was established to address the following issues: to strengthen, develop and coordinate existing initiatives for pond protection, and to build a common framework in order to establish a sound scientific and practical basis for pond conservation in Europe.
