Lecture series in Ecology and Environmental Research SS 2023

Final Habilitation lecture
The white plague: sources, causes and solutions for salinisation

Salinization of soils, groundwater and surface water is one of the most important environmental issues that ecosystems and human societies in dry climates face: Salt has devastated large tracts of previously productive agricultural land, reduced water quality to levels that can be no longer used for drinking, livestock, or irrigation, and degraded terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. The origin of salt in dry landscapes is a complex interplay between soil, hydrology, geology, geomorphology, atmospheric, and plants and thus requires an interdisciplinary approach to understand the problem, its effects and to develop sustainable solutions.

In this talk I will discuss the sources of salts in dry climates, with a focus on salinization of soils and groundwater, their consequences for agricultural productivity and ecosystem health, and finally present potential solutions to the salinization problem. The case of Australia will be used as an example of a country highly influenced by salt and salinization.

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Final lecture in the habilitation procedure at the Faculty of Biology, Chemistry & Earth Sciences, University of Bayreuth

Special event without post colloquium.

• BayCEER Colloquium Dr. Ben Gilfedder