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Summer School "Ecology and Society: Frontiers and Boundaries" / 3 - 7 June 2019

Ecosystems societies Climate change Forests Hydrosystems Atmosphere Biodiversity Agrosystems Pressures Impacts Modelling Pollution Ecotoxicology Biogeochimical cycles Ecology Adaptability
Group 2018 - Crédits photo LabEx COTE
Group 2018 - Crédits photo LabEx COTE
Boat trip
Boat trip
Class room - Crédits photo LabEx COTE
Class room - Crédits photo LabEx COTE
Vineyards
Vineyards
Forests week
Forests week
Field Trip
Field Trip
Visiting Bordeaux
Visiting Bordeaux
Hôtel Chateau Latour - Crédits photo LabEx COTE
Hôtel Chateau Latour - Crédits photo LabEx COTE
Dune du Pyla
Dune du Pyla
Class room - Crédits photo LabEx COTE
Class room - Crédits photo LabEx COTE
Evening
Evening
Evening
Evening
Dune du Pyla
Dune du Pyla
Vineyards
Vineyards
Field trip - Salles
Field trip - Salles
Hydrosystems week
Hydrosystems week
Cellars
Cellars
Crédit, G.Loubota
Crédit, G.Loubota
Commodifying ecosystemic services
Commodifying ecosystemic services
Dune du Pyla
Dune du Pyla

Climate change impacts in European estuaries

Last update Thursday 22 June 2017

by Laure Carassou

Lobry J, Chevillot X, Carassou L*
National Research Institute for Science and Technology in Environment and Agriculture (Irstea), Bordeaux center, Research Unit Aquatic Ecology and Global Change (EABX), Estuarine Ecosystem Functioning team
*presenting author

Estuaries, as transition ecosystems between marine and freshwater habitats, are characterized by dynamic and complex environmental and biological properties. Direct effects of climate change in estuaries include an increase in water temperature and variations in salinity spatial patterns. Changes in salinity are directly linked with climate-related variations in precipitations, and, in some instances, indirectly linked with changes in agricultural water management practices on watersheds generated by this rain effect. Fish and crustacean assemblages respond to these combined factors, with observed modifications of species distribution and phenology. Additionally, many fish and some crustacean species in estuaries are targeted by commercial fisheries, and subjected to other anthropogenic disturbances such as pollution. As the largest macrotidal estuary in Europe that has been monitored for more than three decades, the Gironde estuary will be used as a case study for illustrating such climate change impacts in European estuaries.