Lake transformation Life at Lake Constance – yesterday, today and tomorrow (Q4297997)
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Project Q4297997 in Switzerland, Germany, Austria
| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Lake transformation Life at Lake Constance – yesterday, today and tomorrow |
Project Q4297997 in Switzerland, Germany, Austria |
Statements
3,016,094.87 Euro
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5,666,477.19 Euro
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53.23 percent
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1 June 2016
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30 June 2023
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Eawag - Eidgenössischen Anstalt für Wasserversorgung, Abwasserreinigung und Gewässerschutz
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47°19'11.03"N, 8°33'8.78"E
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47°24'17.39"N, 8°36'34.81"E
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47°41'40.45"N, 9°11'34.26"E
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47°35'24.65"N, 9°33'8.96"E
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48°42'36.76"N, 9°12'33.12"E
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47°15'51.59"N, 11°20'33.07"E
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The objective of the lake transformation project is to investigate the significance of the decline in nutrients, climate change, non-resident species and other stress factors for the ecosystem, its biodiversity and way of working, as well as human utilisation at Lake Constance. This contributes to being able to evaluate important questions with regard to the resilience of the Lake Constance ecosystem and potential changes in the performance of the ecosystem. Furthermore, the insights gained will make a contribution to a foundation, on which basis the scientifically substantiated decisions of water management and politics might affect the future of Lake Constance. In previous years, Lake Constance has gone through extensive changes: untreated water and intensive agriculture led to the severe pollution of the lake in the 1950s to 1980s. Lake Constance became richer in nutrients (eutrophication). Although the natural trophic status has been almost completely reinstated thanks to the introduction of countermeasures, there have been irreversible changes in the composition of the symbiotic community. A species of whitefish (kilch) died out in the eutrophication phase. Climate change and the immigration of non-resident species of fauna and flora potentially threaten the natural biodiversity. This may lead to changes in the food web and affect the way the Lake Constance ecosystem works. The fishing industry has flagged up decreasing catches, and concerns have been expressed with regard to increased maintenance costs for municipal water providers based on the proliferation of non-resident species of mussels (e.g. quagga mussels). Today there are more than 37 non-resident species in Lake Constance, e.g. three-spined stickleback (gasterosteus aculeatus), zebra mussels (dreissena polymorpha) and killer shrimps (dikerogammarus villosus). Seven institutes from the three countries are working together on various topics to understand how Lake Constance is responding to changing environmental conditions. This will involve the complex interaction between climate change, invasive species and reoligotrophication in particular, and how they affect the ecosystem. We are convinced that these research projects will help us answer important questions. We will provide the necessary insights so that water management specialists and politicians can make scientifically substantiated decisions on the future of the lake. (English)
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