IEBS 2023

ESTUARINE BIOGEOCHEMISTRY IN A WORLD OF GLOBAL CHANGE AND EMERGING CONTAMINANTS

The theme of the XVI IEBS symposium is "Estuarine Biogeochemistry in a World of Global Change and Emerging Contaminants". For a long time, we have been facing the consequences of various changes in the coastal environment caused by the (un)predictable climate change, intense activities at the land-sea boundary, large natural and human-induced changes. Coastal ecosystems are in transition from a natural to a human-induced conditions - the Anthropocene Epoch. A wide range of contaminants, including conventional ones such as metals, radionuclides, organic micropollutants and nutrients, as well as various (new) emerging inorganic and organic compounds with unknown biogeochemistry, are increasingly being introduced into coastal environments via continental, atmospheric and submarine pathways.

Detection of the presence of such contaminants, identification of sources, determination of spatial and temporal distribution, their estuarine and coastal biogeochemistry and ecological impacts are of utmost importance. To address the open questions, interdisciplinary work involving marine (geo)chemists, biologists, toxicologists, ecologists, physicists, and modellers is highly desirable. Understanding the transformation, fate, and transport of chemical substances in such dynamic and complex systems where natural and anthropogenic gradients and processes occur is still a challenging task.

In this context, we welcome studies that address the sources, behaviour and fate of nutrients, organic matter, and historical and emerging contaminants. A focus will be on the impacts of global changes on estuarine biogeochemistry and (new) emerging contaminants such as technology-critical elements, microplastics, less studied elements and various organic compounds.

See you in Šibenik at the XVI International Estuarine Biogeochemistry Symposium (IEBS 2023)!