Abstract

“Water is not a commercial product like any other but, rather, a heritage which must be protected, defended and treated as such” (first recital of the EU Water Framework Directive)

Global environmental changes have considerable impacts on the ecological properties of freshwater ecosystems. However, our knowledge about the direction of these changes in relation to living organisms’ response is limited. Understanding how changes shape aquatic plant species composition and performance is necessary to identify the effects on ecosystem functions, and can be a valuable tool to support environmental policy and management. The determination of cause-effect relationships between species response and stream ecosystem functioning via plant traits will be discussed.

Short bio

Paraskevi Manolaki is a freshwater ecologist interested in aquatic plant biology and their role in stream ecology, factors controlling vegetation abundance and species composition in freshwater ecosystems, interaction between streams and riparian areas and evaluation of ecological quality of aquatic ecosystems. Paraskevi received her PhD from Patras University, Greece, in 2012, and afterwards held a postdoctoral fellowship at the Open University of Cyprus. She is an AIAS-COFUND Junior Fellow and her current research interests focus on the effects of global changes on river ecosystem functioning aiming to understand the underlying mechanisms of multiple stressors applied in rivers, using aquatic plant traits.

Paraskevi Manolaki's project at AIAS

What is a Fellows' Seminar?

The AIAS Fellows' Seminar is a session of seminars held by the AIAS fellow or by other speakers proposed by the fellows. In each seminar, one fellow will present and discuss his/her current research and research project, closing off with a question and discussion session.

All seminars are held in English and open to the public. Registration to the seminar is not necessary.  Read more about the AIAS Fellows' Seminar here.