The study of freshwater ecosystems, from some of the wettest places on Earth to some of the driest, has provided the opportunity to both reach deeply into ecological theory and to directly address the challenges of policy and management. As ecologists, freshwater habitats provide the opportunity to address fundamental questions in landscape ecology, disturbance and ecotoxicology. In the applied realm, management of water quality and quantity is THE fundamental global challenge of this millennium. Through a series of case studies, I will describe how the healthy tension between the fundamental and the applied has enriched my career as a water scientist. As global water issues become still more profound, there are new challenges to reach across disciplines and embed ecology into the science of social-ecological systems to generate sustainable solutions for humanity.
Ross Thompson Is Professor and Foundation Director of the Centre for Applied Water Science at the University of Canberra. His research interests are biodiversity and restoration of landscapes, mainly in freshwater ecosystems. Ross is co-lead of the $8M basin-scale assessment of environmental watering in the Murray Darling Basin and has an active research program on aquatic biodiversity and ecosystem function in urban and rural landscapes. From 2016-2019 Ross sat on the Australian Research Council College of Experts and he is a past President of the Australian Freshwater Sciences Society. In 2021 Ross was awarded the Hilary Jolly Medal for Excellence in freshwater sciences, and his talk here is a practise for his medal address in October.
Zoom details:
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Meeting ID: 261 937 0043
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