3b. Life below Water

Track chairs:

Francisco A. Comin. Instituto Pirenaico de Ecología-CSIC, Zaragoza-Jaca, Spain. comin@ipe.csic.es

Rafael Sarda. Spanish National Research Council, Department of Marine Ecology & Resources, Ciencias Marinas Operacionales y Sostenibilidad, Blanes, Spain. sarda@ceab.csic.es

Goals and objectives of the track:

All human populations depend on resources provided by natural ecosystems in the continents and the oceans. The conservation of the biodiversity in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems is essential for the Earth sustainability. The objective of tracks 3a Life on land and 3b Life below water, is to develop methods and proposals to manage and use biodiversity, terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems in a sustainable way, particularly linked to interactions with human populations. Studies and approaches at different scales -local to global, past, present and projected scenarios- are useful to understand and discuss efficient tools to keep and use life on land and below water in a sustainable way. Also interactions between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems are of key interest for planning and managing land and water uses in a sustainable way. The goals of tracks 3a Life on land and 3b Life below water are to compare and analyse case studies of sustainable biodiversity linked management of natural resources, and to identify frameworks and models of relationships between human societies and terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems in line with sustainability.

&nbps;