IEBS 2023

ESTUARINE BIOGEOCHEMISTRY IN A WORLD OF GLOBAL CHANGE AND EMERGING CONTAMINANTS

About 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)!

Thematic areas

Authors are invited to submit their papers dealing with biogeochemical, toxicological and methodological studies related to the great diversity of estuaries and bays in terms of their morphology, geographical location, climatic conditions and anthropogenic influences. Specific topics include, but are not limited to:

Adaptation of coastal ecosystems to global change - how do global change threats affect the biogeochemistry of trace elements, nutrients and natural organic matter in estuaries and coastal areas?
Emerging inorganic and organic contaminants: identification, sources, distribution, fate, interactions with aquatic organisms
New analytical techniques and approaches for the analysis and monitoring of emerging contaminants: development and optimisation
Microplastics in the marine environment: distribution, impacts and interactions with other constituents
Processes affecting biogeochemistry, exchange and fluxes at estuarine boundaries: sediment-water, air-water, salinity gradient, subterranean estuaries.