Summer school on lake ecology

Institute for Environmental Solutions is hosting the first international summer school on lake ecology and management in Latvia. It is aimed at transdisciplinary approach towards lake research and sustainable management.

The summer school is addressed to master and PhD students who are interested in life sciences, engineering, forestry and agriculture. The participants will obtain information and practical skills on collecting scientific information of lake ecosystem and developing recommendations for sustainable lake management in cooperation with various stakeholders – researchers, entrepreneurs, municipality, local community and others.

Lake Ungurs has been selected as the pilot territory. The lake is located in the Gauja National Park that includes a number of protected surface and underwater habitats. Thanks to its geographical location – next to roads of national impoartance and several towns, it has become a popular tourist area, as well as attractive territory for agricultural activities. The municipality, local community members and Institute for Environmental Solutions has made an agreement to develop a lake management plan. During the summer school, the students will take part in developing reommendations for sustainable management of Lake Ungurs.

Content

The course will provide the theory and practice on scientific research of lakes and its ecology, as well as development of sustainable lake management strategies in cooperatin with various stakeholders – lake ecology and remote sensing experts, researchers, representatives of municiplaity, entrepreneurs, local community members and others.

Main topics:

• Challenges of lake research and management;
• Scientific research of lake food-webs: nutrients, phytoplankton, zooplankton, zoobenthos fish community, water chemical composition;
• Different water regimes for different types of soil and land use;
• New technologies for lake research: remote sensing, drones, ground penetrating radar;
• Lake management issues and excpected solutions-examples around  Europe;
• Lake management cases from Latvia

Lecturers and trainers:

• Anne-Mari Ventela, lake management (Pyhäjärvi Institute, Finland);
• Petri Ekholm, land use types and their influences on lake ecosystem functioning (Finnish Environment Institute, Finland);
• Jouko Sarvala, lake ecology (University of Turku, Finland);
• Tiina Noges, Peter Noges, Priit Zingel, lake ecology Estonian University of Life Sciences, Estonia);
• Tiit Kutser, new technologies  (University of Tartu, Estonia);
• Matiss Zagars, lake ecology and Dainis Jakovels, remote sensing for lake research (Institute for Environmental Solutions, Latvia).

Program