General information

After the success of the first version, we would like to draw your attention to the second edition of the "Workshop on water partitioning and plant-soil interactions in forested and agricultural catchments" which will take place from 26 to 28 July 2022 in the beautiful Tuscany region, Italy. The workshop will be organized as Galileo Conference, sponsored by the Volkswagen Foundation and EGU.

Goals and topics

Over the last decade, there have been tremendous advances in both technological development and process-based understanding of ecohydrological processes; several long-standing assumptions have been questioned; and novel, highly debated hypotheses have been proposed. Our workshop addresses the urgent need to share experiences, discuss and advance knowledge about ecohydrological and physiological mechanisms that regulate the selection of different water sources taken up by plants.

We aim to gather scientists with different scientific background (hydrology, ecology, plant physiology, soil science, remote sensing, modelling...) but common research interests in using stable isotopes of water as tracers to study the cycling of water through the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum. We put a special focus on novel and innovative methods to measure and apply isotope-based methods, as well as on interdisciplinary studies.

The key themes of the workshop include:

  • Water partitioning at various interfaces
  • Methodological advances in monitoring water stable isotopes
  • Plant physiological aspects and constraints related to water partitioning
  • Isotopic labeling and multi-tracer applications to improve the understanding of ecohydrological processes
  • Novel approaches for upscaling isotope-based methods, with e.g. remote sensing
  • Development and application of isotope-enabled models

Workshop format

The programme includes oral and poster presentations plus the presentations by invited speakers (Adria Barbeta, Lyssette Muñoz Villers). However, the core element of the workshop is the creation of discussion groups (moderated by discussion group leaders) with the goal of defining a future agenda for isotope-based studies of water partitioning.

As a highlight, we will present a "360° interactive study site" from a tropical dry forest in Costa Rica. Using virtual reality (VR) goggles, participants will have the opportunity to experience the core study site of Isodrones interactively, visualize data and even experience an overflight over the experimental forest with a drone in 360°.

The workshop will also be strongly connected to the ongoing activities of the WATSON COST Action: Watson – Watson Cost.

Deadlines

  • Abstract submission: opens on 31 March
  • Registration: 13 April to 30 June 2022
  • HESS special issue: 1 September 2022

Financial support for Early Career Scientists

We particularly encourage Early Career Scientists (ECS) to apply. There will be financial support available for ECS in form of a sponsorship that will be given for a selected number of ECS participants.

Organization committee

You can contact us at WaterPartitioningV2@isodrones.de for further information. We look forward to seeing you in Tuscany for an exciting and productive workshop!

Matthias Beyer, Technical University of Braunschweig (Germany)
Daniele Penna, University of Florence (Italy)
Josie Geris, University of Aberdeen (UK)
Luisa Hopp, University of Bayreuth (Germany)
Francesca Scandellari, Isotracer srl (Italy)
Matthias Sprenger, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (USA)