Navigating Emerging Catchment Stressors Under Global Change

The 2025 GRS is focused on "Navigating Emerging Catchment Stressors Under Global Change". The study of catchments is complicated by global climate change and various other anthropogenic activities. Climate change is driving more frequent and severe hydrologic stressors, including wildfires, floods, and droughts. Concurrently, anthropogenic influences, such as microplastic pollution and nutrient loading, are increasingly encroaching on water resources. These and additional emerging environmental stressors create non-stationary conditions and impact interconnected ecosystem processes, often resulting in suboptimal conditions for data collection.

To better understand the rapid catchment transformations occurring under complex environmental conditions, innovative research approaches are essential, and catchment scientists must evolve their tools and techniques to address the unprecedented threats to water and ecosystem quality in the Anthropocene. The presentations and discussions at this GRS will explore how emerging challenges can be leveraged as opportunities for innovation in catchment science research. This seminar will highlight creative research approaches, including cutting-edge data collection and interpretation methods, interdisciplinary collaborations, and outreach beyond academia.