title: Assessing and forecasting the impacts of global change on Mediterranean rivers. The SCARCE Consolider project on Iberian basins.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The Consolider-Ingenio 2010 project SCARCE, with the full title "Assessing and predicting effects on water quantity and quality in Iberian Rivers caused by global change" aims to examine and predict the relevance of global change on water availability, water quality, and ecosystem services in Mediterranean river basins of the Iberian Peninsula, as well as their socio-economic impacts. Starting in December 2009, it brought together a multidisciplinary team of 11 partner Spanish institutions, as well as the active involvement of water authorities, river basin managers, and other relevant agents as stakeholders.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study areas are the Llobregat, Ebro, Jucar, and Guadalquivir river basins. These basins have been included in previous studies and projects, the majority of whom considered some of the aspects included in SCARCE but individually. Historical data will be used as a starting point of the project but also to obtain longer time series. The main added value of SCARCE project is the inclusion of scientific disciplines ranging from hydrology, geomorphology, ecology, chemistry, and ecotoxicology, to engineering, modeling, and economy, in an unprecedented effort in the Mediterranean area. The project performs data mining, field, and lab research as well as modeling and upscaling of the findings to apply them to the entire river basin.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Scales ranging from the laboratory to river basins are addressed with the potential to help improve river basin management. The project emphasizes, thus, linking basic research and management practices in a single framework. In fact, one of the main objectives of SCARCE is to act as a bridge between the scientific and the management and to transform research results on management keys and tools for improving the River Basin Management Plans. Here, we outline the general structure of the project and the activities conducted within the ten Work Packages of SCARCE.
authors.affiliation: IDAEA-CSIC, Jordi Girona, 18-26, 08034, Barcelona, Spain. alicia.navarro@idaea.csic.es
authors.forename: Alícia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Navarro-Ortega
authors.forename: Vicenç
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Acuña
authors.forename: Ramon J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Batalla
authors.forename: Julián
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Blasco
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Conde
authors.forename: Francisco J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Elorza
authors.forename: Arturo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Elosegi
authors.forename: Félix
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Francés
authors.forename: Francesc
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: La-Roca
authors.forename: Isabel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Muñoz
authors.forename: Mira
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Petrovic
authors.forename: Yolanda
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Picó
authors.forename: Sergi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sabater
authors.forename: Xavier
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Sanchez-Vila
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schuhmacher
authors.forename: Damià
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Barceló
mesh_terms: D057231:Climate Change; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D017753:Ecosystem; D004777:Environment; D019015:Geologic Sediments; D006802:Human Activities; D006801:Humans; D012107:Research Design; D045483:Rivers; D013030:Spain; D060753:Water Quality