Principal Investigator: Assist. Prof. Korhan Özkan

Institution(s): METU

Strategic Target Name: In order to effectively manage our water resources, natural ecosystems and the risks increasing with climate change, integrated and smart ecosystem observation platform solutions will be increased to TRL 4-6 level and implemented at a pilot level in 2025 and the leading markers of ecosystem degradation will be identified.

Field of Activity of the Project: Ecosystem management, climate change, smart cities, green agreement.

Project Summary: In our age, natural ecosystems and human existence and activities are completely intertwined. The contributions of "ecosystem services" provided by ecosystems on a global scale to human welfare are great. Therefore, effective management of ecosystems is important for the continuation of the benefits that ecosystem services offer to humans and the human race. Traditional scientific studies based on retrospective analysis, especially after problems occur, are not sufficient for the proactive management of ecosystems that carry serious risks under great pressures such as climate change. Obtaining the right information at the right time and bringing it to the place where it is needed is a very important requirement in ecosystem management. Therefore, in scientific research for ecosystem management, there is a great need for the use of intelligent and autonomous systems and the ability to detect the precursor signals that ecosystems exhibit before they experience destruction or degradation.

With this project, it is planned to carry out technology development and R&D activities on the questions of how we can communicate with aquatic ecosystems such as inland waters and our seas in a smart and autonomous way and how we can test/determine the preliminary signals given by these complex ecosystems before the large-scale changes they experience. For this purpose, Eymir Lake in the Middle East Technical University (METU) Ankara campus, where we have over 20 years of significant knowledge and R&D experience, and the seaside areas in the METU Erdemli campus were selected as two pilot study areas. In these areas, the boundary conditions with which the aquatic ecosystem interacts will be defined, and a multi-node, autonomous, intelligent and integrated observation system platform that can best understand the ecosystem itself and these interactions will be designed and implemented.

Based on the results of the studies to be carried out within the scope of the project, it is most important to develop an innovative ecosystem monitoring platform that can be widely used in aquatic ecosystems, especially for natural resource managers and public authorities, and to implement the proof of concept of this platform in pilot areas on the Mediterranean coast of Eymir Lake and Mersin is our goal.

Project Team:

Prof. Dr. Meryem Beklioğlu - METU - Researcher

Assoc. Prof. Can Özen - METU - Researcher

Research Areas: Ecosystem monitoring and experiment systems

Dr. Gülce Yalçın - METU - Researcher

Research Areas: Climate change and human impact on aquatic ecosystems: microbial cycle

Nur Filiz - METU - Researcher (Climate change impact on aquatic ecosystems and restoration)

Ganiye Gel - METU - Employee

Gizem Aydın - METU - Researcher (Undergraduate Student)

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