Workshop: Ecohydrology and Food Web Ecology on the Tonle Sap Lake- Lower Mekong, Sept. 25-28, 2012, -Santa Ynez, CA

湄公河是地球上最大的河流系统之一，并支持着世界上最具生物多样性的水生生态系统之一。湄公河上的洞里萨湖是世界上最多产的淡水渔场之一。在湄公河汛期被季节性淹没，湄公河的洪水填满了洞里萨湖盆地。与洞里萨湖及其洪水脉冲生态有关的渔业为柬埔寨数百万人提供了大部分蛋白质。尽管洞里萨湖的全球生态意义和渔业的区域重要性，但对生态系统的生态学及其生产力背后的过程的科学知识是初级的。该系统中大多数鱼类的生活史没有被记录下来，食物网关系的数据几乎完全缺乏，维持该系统令人难以置信的生产力的基本过程是未知的。这次研讨会将召集一个工作组来制定一项研究计划和建模工作，通过提供所需的科学基础设施和培训新科学家来提供基本的生态理解和发展当地的研究能力。该工作组将把重点放在洞里萨湖的生态研究上，目的是在该系统因气候变化、上游开发和集约化渔业而发生不可识别的变化之前，收集对健全管理至关重要的数据。研讨会的第二个重点将是一个工作组，专注于洞里萨湖食物网建模。该计划将整合由同行资助的Veasna Kum及其合作者的研究。本次研讨会将通过提供研究计划、建立一个研究伙伴联盟（国际和同行）以及通过培训和能力建设来补充对金博士的同行奖，从而产生更广泛的影响。

The Mekong River is one of the largest river systems on earth, and supports one of the most biologically diverse aquatic ecosystems in the world. The Tonle Sap Lake on the Mekong River is one of the most productive freshwater fisheries in the world. Seasonally inundated during the flood season of the Mekong, the flood waters of the Mekong fill the Tonle Sap basin. The fisheries associated with the Tonle Sap and its flood pulse ecology provide the majority of the protein for several million people in Cambodia. Despite the global ecological significance of the Tonle Sap and the regional importance of the fishery, scientific knowledge of the ecology of the ecosystem and of the processes underlying its productivity is rudimentary. The life histories of most fish species in the system have not been documented, data on foodweb relationships are almost entirely lacking and the basic processes sustaining the incredible productivity of the system are unknown. This workshop will bring together a working group to develop a research plan and modeling effort to provide the baseline ecological understanding and the development of local research capacity through provision of needed scientific infrastructure and the training of new scientists. The working group will focus on ecological research for the Tonle Sap, designed to gather data fundamental to sound management before the system is unrecognizably altered by climate change, upstream developments and intensive fisheries. A secondary focus of the workshop will be a working group to focus on Tonle Sap Foodweb Modeling. The plan will integrate the PEER-funded research of Veasna Kum and collaborators. This workshop will achieve broader impacts by providing a research plan, developing a consortium of research partners (international and peer), and by training and capacity-building to complement the PEER award to Dr. Kum.