Thirty years of sediment–water science: history, trends and future directions
Ellen L. Petticrew
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
University of Northern British Columbia, 3333 University Way, Prince George, BC V2N 4Z9, Canada. Email: ellen@unbc.ca
Marine and Freshwater Research 60(7) 611-618 https://doi.org/10.1071/MF08119
Submitted: 11 April 2008 Accepted: 27 March 2009 Published: 28 July 2009
Abstract
In 1976, an interdisciplinary group of international researchers met in Amsterdam to share their knowledge about sediment–water interactions, and subsequently formed the International Association for Sediment Water Science (IASWS). Since then, IASWS has met tri-annually at a variety of locations throughout the world. Over the last 30 years, over 1000 oral presentations have been presented at IASWS symposia, more than half of which have been published as books or special issues of scientific journals. As such, the publications provide an excellent record of developments in the field of sediment–water interactions over the last 30 years. This paper provides an overview of the history of the Association, and a qualitative and quantitative content analysis of the IASWS publications. Changing patterns of research in some of the dominant symposia themes, including sediment-associated nutrients, contaminants and metals as well as sediment dynamics and material cycling are presented. Temporal changes in the investigative scale of published studies and an eventual increase in papers addressing management considerations were observed. Potential directions for the future of IASWS and some directives for ensuring that future research informs aquatic ecosystem health are suggested.
Additional keywords: heavy metals, IASWS, interdisciplinary, nutrients, predictive models, remediation, restoration, sediment, sediment dynamics, sediment management.
Acknowledgements
This paper benefited from discussions with several members of IASWS in the past few years and during the period I was a member of the IASWS board of directors, including Ian Droppo, Brian Kronvang, Carolyn Oldham, Nives Ogrinc, Phil Owens and John Rex. Additionally, the perspectives and comments of three reviewers who played a role in earlier governance of IASWS are appreciated. I thank the MFR editor Andrew Boulton whose suggestions also helped to improve the paper.
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