R. Kelman Wieder – författare

The BIOGEOMON conference, held in Prague, September 1993, was dedicated to the use of geochemistry and biology in the elucidation of biogeochemical processes in the context of research on small catchments, which are natural systems that lend themselves to the study of environmental problems at the ecosystem level. This text, which contains reviewed papers from the conference, includes long-term studies of nutrient cycling in forested catchments, effects of anthropogenic action on streamwater chemistry, stable isotope studies for tracing biogeochemical processes, determination of the process rates and mathematical modelling of ecosystem behaviour and mass fluxes. This book is intended for research scientists and students of ecology, biology, hydrology and geochemistry as well as professionals in natural resources management.

This volume contains reviewed papers from BIOGEOMON, The Third International Symposium on Ecosystem Behaviour, held at Villanova University in June 1997 and attended by over 240 participants from 28 countries. Earlier BIOGEOMON meetings emphasized mostly geochemical research conducted in small watersheds. As is evident from this collection of papers, BIOGEOMON has broadened its scope considerably to include research conducted in much larger watersheds, often assessing landscape or regional patterns and processes. Major themes include acidification of soils and waters, biogeochemical implications of nitrogen and sulfur deposition, and gas fluxes from the land to the atmosphere. Collectively, the papers in this volume present a variety of approaches to biogeochemical research at the ecosystem level, including monitoring, field and laboratory manipulations, stable and radioisotopic tracers, modelling, and geographic information system analysis. This book should be of interest to researchers in biogeochemistry, ecosystem ecology, global change, and anthropogenic pollution, as well as to natural resource managers and policy specialists.

This volume contains reviewed papers from BIOGEOMON, The Fourth International Symposium on Ecosystem Behavior, held at the University of Reading in August 2002, and attended by over 260 participants from 25 countries. The papers in this volume focus on themes that have always been strong at BIOGEOMON, such as: Beyond these traditionally emphasized themes, other papers focus on: Audience: This book will be of interest to researchers in biogeochemistry, ecosystem ecology, global change, and anthropogenic pollution, as well as to natural resource managers and policy specialists.

This Special Issue of Water, Air, and Soil Pollution offers original contributions from BIOGEOMON, The Third International Symposium on Ecosystem Behavior, which was held on the campus ofVillanova University from June 21-25, 1997. Previous meetings were held in Prague in 1987 and again in 1993. The BIOGEOMON series was initiated in 1987 when a group of researchers from the Czech Geological Survey organized a conference called GEOMON, Geochemical Monitoring in Representative Basins. GEOMON was fairly narrowly focused on monitoring of element pools and fluxes on a small watershed scale. As signalled by the change in name to BIOGEOMON, the second conference explicitly recognized that assessment of anthropogenic effects on ecosystem processes requires a combination of geochemical monitoring with other approaches, including watershed-level manipulations, use of radioactive and stable isotopic tracers, and both empirical and process modeling. The 1997 BIOGEOMON conference was the largest, with over 240 participants from 28 countries on five continents in attendance, and broadest in scope. The conference featured a plenary speaker, six keynote speakers, 35 invited speakers, over 60 oral contributed presentations, and over 75 poster presentations.

Fifteen years have passed since a small group of researchers at the Czech Geo­ logical Survey boldly convened a conference called GEOMON, Geochemical Monitoring in Representative Basins, held in Prague in 1987. The focus of the original GEOMON conference was rather narrow - monitoring of element pools and fluxes on a small catchment scale. Signaling a desire to broaden the focus to a more biogeochemical orientation, the 1993 meeting, also in Prague, was renamed BIOGEOMON. Tofoster wider international participation and cooperation, in 1997 BIOGEOMON was held at Villanova University in Pennsylvania. The most recent iteration of BIOGEOMON was held at the University of Reading in the United BIOGEOMON meetings to date. At Kingdom and was the largest of the series of Reading, BIOGEOMON hosted 43 invited speakers, 96 contributed talks and over 150 poster presentations. Over 260 delegates came to Reading inAugust 2002 from 25 countries around the world. At Reading, themes that always have been strong at BIOGEOMON were con­ tinued: catchment monitoring and manipulations, catchment and regional-scale modeling, nitrogen transformations and processes, and stable and radiogenic iso­ topes in the environment. Beyond these traditionally emphasized themes, other sessions focused on mercury and metal dynamics, phosphorus, scaling of biogeo­ chemical processes, terrestrial DOC and soil organic matter, rhizosphere biogeo­ chemistry, biogeochemistry of restored ecosystems, and archives of global change on the continents. Most of these themes are represented in this Special Issue, a collection of peer-reviewed articles.

Fifteen years have passed since a small group of researchers at the Czech Geo­ logical Survey boldly convened a conference called GEOMON, Geochemical Monitoring in Representative Basins, held in Prague in 1987. The focus of the original GEOMON conference was rather narrow - monitoring of element pools and fluxes on a small catchment scale. Signaling a desire to broaden the focus to a more biogeochemical orientation, the 1993 meeting, also in Prague, was renamed BIOGEOMON. Tofoster wider international participation and cooperation, in 1997 BIOGEOMON was held at Villanova University in Pennsylvania. The most recent iteration of BIOGEOMON was held at the University of Reading in the United BIOGEOMON meetings to date. At Kingdom and was the largest of the series of Reading, BIOGEOMON hosted 43 invited speakers, 96 contributed talks and over 150 poster presentations. Over 260 delegates came to Reading inAugust 2002 from 25 countries around the world. At Reading, themes that always have been strong at BIOGEOMON were con­ tinued: catchment monitoring and manipulations, catchment and regional-scale modeling, nitrogen transformations and processes, and stable and radiogenic iso­ topes in the environment. Beyond these traditionally emphasized themes, other sessions focused on mercury and metal dynamics, phosphorus, scaling of biogeo­ chemical processes, terrestrial DOC and soil organic matter, rhizosphere biogeo­ chemistry, biogeochemistry of restored ecosystems, and archives of global change on the continents. Most of these themes are represented in this Special Issue, a collection of peer-reviewed articles.

This Special Issue of Water, Air and Soil Pollution offers original contributions from BIOGEOMON, an international symposium on ecosystem behavior and the evaluation of integrated monitoring of small catchments, held in Prague, Czech Republic, in September 1993. The meeting attracted nearly 200 scientists from 27 countries on five continents. BIOGEOMON was a loose continuation of another international meeting, GEOMON, which was held in Prague in 1987. Both sym­ posia provided a forum for the discussion of ideas on environmental problems in western and eastern Europe, with important contributions from the American continent. With the dramatic collapse of the iron curtain, it was our hope that more so than GEOMON, BIOGEOMON would provide opportunities for the free exchange of ideas, fostering the development of research collaborations between its participants. With international openness comes the increasing realization that every indus­ trialized nation has its own legacy of environmental degradation. Anthropogenic impacts differ in severity and scale; air and water transport of pollutants transform local impacts into regional and global ones, ignoring political boundaries and eco­ nomic differences. Environmental consequences of anthropogenic activities often are detectable at the ecosystem level. Thus, the challenge of ecosystem science, and to the individuals who practice it, is to develop a comprehensive understanding of ecosystem function in the past and at present, and to apply such understanding toward minimizing future insults to the local, regional, and global environment.

This Special Issue of Water, Air and Soil Pollution offers original contributions from BIOGEOMON, an international symposium on ecosystem behavior and the evaluation of integrated monitoring of small catchments, held in Prague, Czech Republic, in September 1993. The meeting attracted nearly 200 scientists from 27 countries on five continents. BIOGEOMON was a loose continuation of another international meeting, GEOMON, which was held in Prague in 1987. Both sym­ posia provided a forum for the discussion of ideas on environmental problems in western and eastern Europe, with important contributions from the American continent. With the dramatic collapse of the iron curtain, it was our hope that more so than GEOMON, BIOGEOMON would provide opportunities for the free exchange of ideas, fostering the development of research collaborations between its participants. With international openness comes the increasing realization that every indus­ trialized nation has its own legacy of environmental degradation. Anthropogenic impacts differ in severity and scale; air and water transport of pollutants transform local impacts into regional and global ones, ignoring political boundaries and eco­ nomic differences. Environmental consequences of anthropogenic activities often are detectable at the ecosystem level. Thus, the challenge of ecosystem science, and to the individuals who practice it, is to develop a comprehensive understanding of ecosystem function in the past and at present, and to apply such understanding toward minimizing future insults to the local, regional, and global environment.