We are hosting at the University of Florida a one-week NSF-funded workshop focused on continental scale determinants of spatial and temporal patterns of water quality in May 2025. This workshop will bring together a small team of faculty mentors and advanced mentees to collectively write three interlocking synthesis papers. Mentors and mentees will also extend their network of close collaborators.
The hosts are the UF Landscape Hydrology Laboratory, the UF Ecohydrology Laboratory, and the UF Water Institute.
Workshop topics
- Spatial patterns: Geologic, climatic and network controls. Spatial heterogeneity of water quality is larger than temporal variation for many solutes, with spatial patterns persistent across flow and seasonal drivers. Given this primacy and stability of spatial patterns, we seek to identify the controls on spatial variation in solute mean values for constituents that span geogenic, biogenic, and anthropogenic provenance. New benchmark data sets enable hypotheses about network, geologic, climatic and land cover controls to be tested.
- Temporal patterns: Climate and land use controls. Temporal variation in water quality is integral to understanding the function of watersheds and thus to inform their management. Temporal variation is commonly partitioned into inter-annual trends, flow induced variation, and seasonal signals. Using new benchmark data sets that allow identification of sites spanning gradients of prospective controls, we seek to test hypotheses about the magnitude, coherence and synchrony of temporal signals across a suite of solutes with different provenance.
- Spatial vs temporal patterns: Information Content and Monitoring networks. The information content of environmental measurements varies in response to the sources of variation. Where temporal variation dominates, higher frequency measurements are necessary, whereas when spatial variation dominates, less frequent but more numerous sampling locations may yield more information. Using recently published benchmark datasets spanning continental scales and numerous solutes, we seek to develop a general framework for water quality sampling design customized to the myriad controls on variability including network position, temporal forcings, spatial patterns in solute sources, and solute reaction processes along watershed flowpaths.
Workshop tentative schedule: We will meet for a full work week with a one-day field trip.
| PRE-MEETING | Online discussions to enable data preparation. |
| DAY 0 | Arrival in Gainesville, FL USA |
| DAY 1 | – Introduction of research themes and data sets – Presentations by attendees on theme-related research (get to know the researchers) – Group brainstorming/discussions – Adjustments to the three themes to develop manuscript outlines Group dinner |
| DAY 2 | – Breakout sessions with themes of main interest – Group discussion of themes Group dinner |
| DAY 3 | – Morning: Ichetucknee River paddling – Lunch: Great Outdoors Restaurant (High Springs, FL) – Afternoon: Excursion to Devil’s Millhopper Group dinner: Catered tacos @ Chez Cohen |
| DAY 4 | – Group presentations to other groups – Manuscript outlines. Division of task responsibilities and timelines to complete the work. |
| DAY 5 | Departure |
Our workshop history. This will be our group’s 21st (!) international research workshop. Since 2011 we have hosted or co-organized workshops on three main themes. Since 2018, this will be the 6th workshop focused on water quality at large spatial and temporal scales. These recent workshops have produced more than 10 papers in high-impact journals including Nature Communications and Water Research.
| 21 | 2025 | Gainesville, FL | Space-time working group |
| 20 | 2022 | Magdeburg, Germany | TRACER 3 |
| 19 | 2021 | Leipzig, Germany | TRACER 2 |
| 18 | 2019 | Ispra, Italy | UN WWQA 2 |
| 17 | 2018 | Berlin, Germany | TRACER: Collaborative project launched between UFZ and UF, Trajectories of water quality |
| 16 | 2018 | Geneva, Switzerland | United Nations World Water Quality Alliance (WWQA) founding meeting |
From 2015 to 2018, 8 workshops focused mostly on complex networks, resulting in more than 15 papers in high-impact journals including Nature Communications and Earth’s Future.
| 15 | 2018 | Fort Collins, CO | Synthesis 6 |
| 14 | 2018 | Santa Marta, Colombia | GWEN 4 |
| 13 | 2018 | Gainesville, FL | Synthesis 5 |
| 12 | 2017 | Dresden, Germany | Synthesis 4 |
| 11 | 2017 | Purdue, IN | Synthesis 3 |
| 10 | 2016 | Dresden, Germany | Synthesis 2 |
| 9 | 2015 | Seoul, South Korea | Synthesis 1: Complex networks working group founded by UF, UFZ, Purdue, TU-Dresden |
| 8 | 2015 | Leipzig, Germany | Formalize Memorandum of Understanding between UF and Umwelt Forschung Zentrum (UFZ), Germany |
From 2011 to 2015, 7 were workshops focused on wetland ecohydrology and biogeochemistry, resulting in more than 10 papers in high-impact journals including PNAS and Nature Geoscience.
| 7 | 2015 | Wuhan, China | Hydrobiogeochemical processes workshop |
| 6 | 2015 | Navarino, Greece | GWEN 3 |
| 5 | 2013 | Jones Center, GA | Isolated wetlands working group |
| 4 | 2013 | Gainesville, FL | We hosted the Groundwater Quality 2013 conference attended by more than 150 global scientists |
| 3 | 2012 | Orlando, FL | GWEN 2 |
| 2 | 2011 | Navarino, Greece | GWEN 1: Global Wetland Ecohydrology Network (GWEN), founding meeting |
| 1 | 2011 | Stockholm, Sweden | GWEN 0: Wetland ecohydrology working group planning workshop |