NecoV Summersymposium – Thursday 18 June, Delft

Carrying capacity: Bonus or Burden?

 

Carrying capacity is a hot item in ecology, not only from a scientific point of view, but also from the perspective of policy makers. We are all quite happy to exploit the yield of ecosystems in terms of fisheries. How many tons of mussels can a system such as the Oosterschelde produce? However, we are also sometimes obliged to invest in ecosystems. EU environmental guidelines dictate that we have to make sure that a certain number of birds has to be maintained in particular conservation areas. This means that sufficient area of sufficient ecological quality has to be provided. If it is not there, we have to make sure that it is going to be there. All these issues link to carrying capacity. But what does carrying capacity actually mean? Scientists, fishermen, environmental campaigners and policy makers all have their own interpretation of this concept. This necov symposium will be focused on this. Several speakers on the delta area in Zeeland, on tropical ecosystems and on Flemish and Dutch Lakes will explain how they define carrying capacity and which factors determine carrying capacity in their systems.

 

The symposium will take place on Thursday 18 June at UNESCO-IHE in Delft (close to NS station Delft), start at 10:00. Registration form and complete programme will be available soon at www.necov.org. Fees: €15,- for students, €25,- for necov members and €30,- for non-members. The symposium will be in English.

 

Posters related to the central theme Carrying Capacity (with short abstract) can be sent to Luca van Duren (lvanduren@gmail.com) until 31 May. More information can be obtained from Diederik Rousseau (diederik.rousseau@gmail.com).

 

Draft programme

·  from 9:15: Registration

·  10:00 – 10:15: Opening

·  10:15 – 11:45: Session Zeeuwse Delta (3 speakers)

  1. Tom Cox (University of Antwerp): Primary production in the Scheldt estuary.
  2. Luca van Duren (Deltares): Feedback on feeding: Shellfish carrying capacity in shallow ecosystems
  3. Erika Van den Bergh (INBO): Carrying capacity for birds in the Scheldt estuary

·  11:45 – 12:30: NecoV meeting

·  12:30 – 13:30: Lunch + posters

·  13:30 – 15:00: Lakes in Flanders and The Netherlands (3 speakers)

  1. Edwin Hes (UNESCO-IHE): Quantifying Wetland Ecosystem Functions
  2. Lisette de Senerpont Domis (NIOO-KNAW): Climate induced shifts in freshwater communities: Combining models and experiments
  3. Ludwig Triest (VUB): Biomanipulation of hypereutrophic ponds: when it works and why it fails

·  15:00 – 15:30: Coffee + posters

·  15:30 – 16:30: Session Tropical Ecosystems (2 speakers)

  1. Michael McClain (UNESCO-IHE): Environmental Flows to Maximize the Carrying Capacity of Rivers
  2. Victor Langenberg (Deltares): On the limnology of Lake Tanganyika

·  16:30 – 16:45: Closing

·  16:45 – 18:00: Drinks and networking

 

Registration

Download a registration form here.