Catchment Science: Interactions of Hydrology, Biology and Geochemistry

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Catchments (also known as watersheds) are fundamental landscape units that contain interpretable physical, chemical, and biological signals in their plants, soils, drainage waters, and ecosystems. Catchments are responsive to the local, regional and global environment: the effects of climate variability, atmospheric deposition, land use shifts, episodic events, and other drivers of global change can often be detected in catchment water, soils, and plants. Catchment Science, which is the focus of a June 2015 Gordon Research Conference (GRC) and associated Gordon Research Seminar (GRS, for early career scientists), is a truly interdisciplinary and international endeavor conducted by (among others) hydrologists, ecologists, engineers, soil scientists, and biogeochemists, whose goal is to explore and understand catchment processes and responses to chronic and episodic signals in order to better anticipate the future challenges facing water and ecosystem managers. It is critical to improve understanding of catchments in the face of predictions for serious threats to water resources in the future.The purpose of this upcoming GRC is to bring together established and developing (early career) experts from around the world in the field of Catchment Science, from academic institutions, research institutes, and government agencies, in order to share the results of cutting-edge research, develop new collaborations, and assess the current and future state of catchments and catchment science. The Catchment Sciences GRC has taken place bi¬annually since 1991 and continues to represent a unique opportunity for scientists in this field as there are no other focused conferences related to this topic. Indeed, while large catchment network programs such as CUAHSI and the Critical Zone Network have workshops for their program participants, scientists from those programs find that attendance at the Catchment Sciences GRC is their opportunity to interact with a broader range of catchment scientists and to expand their vision beyond focused programs. Importantly, the GRS provides the opportunity for new catchment scientists to initiate lifelong collaborations with their peers as well as to network-- and have substantial interactions with and mentoring from experts in their field. This kind of networking has been shown to be of crucial importance in advancing the science and early career scientists.