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| The University of Athens Buildings on Penepistimiou Street this morning. |
The Ecoflow Project and specifically an initiative taken by both the University of Athens and HCMR are hosting a good friend of mine from Valencia who can teach us a lot about ecological flows in Mediterranean streams. This is really difficult and complicated applied science, it is a great privilege for us.
Today we had a great seminar at the Kostis Palamas University Building in downtown Athens. Tomorrow and the next day we will be doing field work in the streams of Charadros (downstream of Marathon Dam), Rafina river and Erassinos river.
For those who do not know my friend, here's a short blurb:
Francisco (Paco) Martinez Capel is a forestry engineer and Associate Professor at the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, Spain. He has studied river ecology and freshwater fishes extensively, and received his PhD at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. He is particularly interested in studying fish, invertebrates and riparian vegetation in environmental flow studies and water management, for the restoration of freshwater ecosystems, especially in Mediterranean rivers, in seasonally semi-arid environments. He has also explored the impact of dams on endangered species in rivers. Currently, his main lines of research include: a) Response curves for fish and aquatic invertebrates exploring the habitat-biota relationships at microhabitat, mesohabitat and regional scales; b) Modelling relations between stream flow regime and riparian vegetation; and, c) Application of habitat modelling in environmental flow studies at the segment scale and also methods for regional-scale assessments. He has worked both in Europe and in Greece with us; but also in Ecuador, Brazil, Tanzania and other exotic places. Paco lectures at the School of Civil Engineers, School of Agronomical and Forest Sciences (Valencia) and the Polytechnic School of Gandia, Spain. His principle teaching aspects include river restoration and rehabilitation, and also forest hydrology and watershed restoration.
Francisco (Paco) Martinez Capel is a forestry engineer and Associate Professor at the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, Spain. He has studied river ecology and freshwater fishes extensively, and received his PhD at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. He is particularly interested in studying fish, invertebrates and riparian vegetation in environmental flow studies and water management, for the restoration of freshwater ecosystems, especially in Mediterranean rivers, in seasonally semi-arid environments. He has also explored the impact of dams on endangered species in rivers. Currently, his main lines of research include: a) Response curves for fish and aquatic invertebrates exploring the habitat-biota relationships at microhabitat, mesohabitat and regional scales; b) Modelling relations between stream flow regime and riparian vegetation; and, c) Application of habitat modelling in environmental flow studies at the segment scale and also methods for regional-scale assessments. He has worked both in Europe and in Greece with us; but also in Ecuador, Brazil, Tanzania and other exotic places. Paco lectures at the School of Civil Engineers, School of Agronomical and Forest Sciences (Valencia) and the Polytechnic School of Gandia, Spain. His principle teaching aspects include river restoration and rehabilitation, and also forest hydrology and watershed restoration.
I thank Niki Evelpidou and her team from Athens University and Christina Papadaki from HCMR who helped to make this seminar a success.
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| Professors Niki Evelpidou and Paco Martinez-Capel. |
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| Paco descrives the first multivariate habitat suitability models developed in Greece! |
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| Pavlos Kottas from AVmap explaines the software tool being developed within the EcoFlow Project. |
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| Part of the good people at the Ecoflow Seminar. |
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| With Paco in the posh 19th century interior space of the University Building. |
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| The Kostis Palamas Building of the University of Athens on Academias Avenue. |
