It is a pioneering lab in the field of river ecosystem research in Spain. The Urban River Lab will contribute to the development of alternative strategies and innovative techniques that will improve the management of modified rivers. Researchers with an outstanding career in studying river auto-purification ability have been involved in the development of the system, coordinated by experts Eugènia Martí, member of the Department of Continental Ecology at the Centre d'Estudis Avançats de Blanes (CEAB) of the CSIC, Francesc Sabater, member of the Department of Ecology of the University of Barcelona (UB); and Albert Sorolla, from the company Naturalea Conservació SL, supported by the Consortium for the Defence of the Besòs River Basin, the Montornés del Vallès City Council and the project Cleanleach, centred on leachate treatment.
Some of the flumes at the Urban River Lab.
To improve river ecosystem management
The system includes a set of 18 artificial flumes (60 cm width and 12 m length) and 12 mesocosms wetlands. This system has been designed to experimentally approach a wide range of both ecological and applied questions in relation to how freshwater ecosystems respond to inputs from urban point sources. In addition, the system will allow testing how bioengineering structures can influence the transport and the cycling of nutrients.
Experts will analyse the effects of different natural systems (plants and substrata such as sand, gravel, stones, etc.) on improving the quality of effluent water treated at plants. The objective of the new system, inaugurated last December, is to understand better the role of the different parts of river ecosystem and to analyse the natural mechanisms that can contribute to reduce ecological impacts on receptor river biodiversity.
The Urban River Lab is part of the project Interfaces: Ecohydrologial Interfaces as Critical Hotspots for Transformations of Ecosystem Exchange Fluxes and Biogeochemical Cycling, a Marie Curie Initial Training Network (ITN) funded by the European Union.
Contact:
Eugenia Martí