2017 Gordon Research Conference on Catchment Science: Interactions of Hydrology, Biology & Geochemistry

Gordon Research Conferences, East Greenwich RI

Investigators

Abstract

The Gordon Research Conference (GRC) on Catchment Science was conceived on the idea of improving the understanding of interaction among hydrology, biology and geochemistry in catchments (also known as watersheds), which are hydrologic drainage areas that act as systems and encompass interconnected physical, chemical, and biological processes that determine the composition, regime, and value of water. No other hydrologic science meeting is focused on this goal. The Catchment Science GRC, has taken place biennially since 1991 and continues to represent a unique opportunity for scientists from academic institutions and government agencies from around the world in this field. The GRC on Catchment Science and the associated Gordon Research Seminar (GRS, for early career scientists and students) includes members from broad ranging disciplines but maintains a focus on interactions among hydrology, biology and geochemistry in catchment science. The conference will identify new research opportunities and define new research questions in catchment science from an integrative, multidisciplinary standpoint. Unraveling catchment functions from an integrated physical, chemical, and biological perspective, requires interdisciplinary research and information exchange among hydrologists, ecologists, engineers, soil scientists, and biogeochemists. Scientists from these disciplines need to have a common framework and language to be in a position to solve and understand today's water resource and ecosystem grand challenges. The specific conference theme in 2017, "Crossing Boundaries and Seeking Synthesis in the Catchment Sciences," is to enable catchment scientists from different disciplines and who work on different aspects of catchments to share and learn from one another in order to identify opportunities for research and advancement of the science as a whole. The focus on "boundaries" (physical, institutional, disciplinary and conceptual) highlights the need to cross those various boundaries related to catchment science because many critical processes and solutions to problems occur at the boundaries which represent the intersection of the various contributing systems. Importantly, this conference, with its associated GRS, provides opportunities for the exchange of ideas among early career investigators and an occasion to build relationships with peers that will form the next generation of scientists who will be better positioned to work across boundaries in catchment science.