Other
Biogeomorphology and Ecological Baselines: From Life–Landscape Interactions to Restoration
Dr Jana Eichel1, Dr Annegret Larsen2, Lisa Boterman2, Dr Susie Wood5, Professor Antony Brown5
1Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands, 2Wageningen University, Wageningen, Netherlands, 4Waterways Centre, Lincoln University, New Zealand, 5Museum, Tromso, Norway
Landscapes are shaped not only by geomorphic processes but also by the plants, animals, and other forms of life they sustain. Close interactions between life and geomorphic dynamics structure many environments—glacier forelands, rivers, deltas, saltmarshes, mangrove coasts, and coastal dunes. Yet, many of these biogeomorphic feedbacks remain poorly understood and quantified. At the same time, geomorphologically dynamic landscapes are under increasing pressure from climate and land-use change. Unravelling and quantifying these feedbacks is therefore crucial, both to safeguard geo- and biodiversity and to support ecosystem functions and services, as well as to develop nature-based solutions (NbS).
To understand and manage ecosystems under change, we must also look into their long- to medium-term drivers. Biotic drivers can be as strong, or stronger, than climatic ones, with shifts in community composition altering ecological niches in terrestrial and fluvial systems. Ancient sedimentary DNA (sedaDNA) has revolutionised our ability to reconstruct past ecosystems, enabling simultaneous identification of plants and animals within their environmental context. This allows us to explore trophic networks and species interactions over time. For instance, sedaDNA, bones, and archaeological evidence reveal that ecosystems in Northern Fennoscandinavia and the European Alps have never been static, but shaped by keystone species such as beaver and reindeer, as well as domesticated animals. These records also capture the immigration and establishment of species, information that pollen and other traditional proxies cannot provide. Crucially, they show that shifts in the niche-size of key species offer insights into future ecological change under warming climates and human pressures such as grazing, husbandry, hunting, and introductions.
Our biogeomorphology session therefore seeks to integrate contributions across scales—from individual organisms to global systems, and from mountains to the sea, and from Quaternary time scales to minutes. We welcome fundamental studies on biogeomorphic processes, feedbacks, and organism–habitat interactions, as well as applied research that uses these insights to manage and protect landscapes. Topics may include plant traits and ecosystem engineering, the use of biogeomorphology to address natural hazards, and the integration of novel techniques such as sedaDNA, AI, remote sensing, field experiments, and numerical modelling. Together, these approaches offer a way forward to better understand life–landscape interactions in the past, present, and future—and to support resilient ecosystems in a changing world.
Geoarchaeology: Interactions between people and the environment
Professor Jasper Knight1, Professor Dominic Stratford1,2, Professor Kathleen Nicoll3
1University of The Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, 2Stony Brook University, New York, USA, 3University of Utah, Salt Lake City, USA
Geoarchaeological research can inform the interplay between human societies, environmental resources and landscapes, and how societies have adapted to climate changes in the past. This can take place in a range of environmental and geomorphic settings and climates. This session seeks to explore different case studies of changing human-environment interactions through geoarchaeological records developed during the late Pleistocene and Holocene. Evidence may include geomorphology, sedimentology, palaeoecology, archaeology, geochemistry, dating, fauna, and modelling. Contributions are invited from different sites globally that illustrate human-environment interactions, especially those that exemplify human adaptations to changing and/or marginal environments.
Sediment-rich flows as extreme events: Triggers, dynamics, and environmental impacts
Dr Matt Westoby1, Dr Amy East2, Dr Greta Wells3, Dr Edwin Baynes4, Dr. Qiuyang Chen1, Prof. Jonathan Carrivick5
1School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University Of Plymouth, Plymouth, United Kingdom, 2U.S. Geological Survey Pacific Coastal Marine Science Center, Santa Cruz, United States of America, 3Institute of Earth Sciences, University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland, 4Geography and Environment, Loughborough University, Loughborough, United Kingdom, 5School of Geography and water@leeds, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
Extreme sediment-rich flows (SRFs) entrain, mobilise, and deposit vast quantities of sediment, have the potential to cause significant landscape change, and can have widespread environmental and societal impacts. Such events encompass hyperconcentrated flows, debris flows and floods, mudflows, lahars, and more. They can be triggered in a variety of ways, many of which can be climate-driven or conditioned. SRFs can represent (i) a major perturbation to the landscape, which can reset valley floors to a so-called ‘zero state’, (ii) a core or intermediate process within a wider hazard cascade, or (iii) a landscape response that can manifest sometime after a prior perturbation. SRF recovery can require a long timescale, involving re-establishment of fluvial connectivity, dispersion and/or translation of sediment pulses, and recovery of aquatic ecosystems. The timing and magnitude of SRFs and the time-scale over which a disturbance lasts can be highly unpredictable, presents a challenge for hazard practitioners, engineers, and communities.
Despite the anticipated increasing frequency and magnitudes of SRFs, driven to varying degrees by climate change, the generation of new knowledge surrounding these phenomena remains challenging. Many observational barriers that existed a century ago persist today, yet we have access to an increasing diversity of field- and remote-sensing based data, numerical and laboratory models, and AI- and machine learning enabled methods that can push the field forward.
We invite contributions which advance our understanding of SRF process-chains, including triggers, SRF dynamics and spatiotemporal evolution, or their immediate and longer-term geomorphic legacies and wider environmental impacts. We welcome case studies, especially where these lead to novel and broader insights. We also encourage contributions which showcase significant new methods, and those focusing on mitigation strategies aimed at managing SRF risks in a changing climate. Contributions that touch on multiple themes in a coherent and integrated manner are strongly encouraged.
