INTERFACES contributes a supra-disciplinary training network to address the EC call [COM/2010/0047] for con-tinuous support from the scientific community for the elaboration, implementation and success of the EU-Water Framework Directive (Directive 2000/60/EC) and Habitat Directive (Council Directive 92/43/EEC).
The INTERFACES ITN tackles a critical problem of direct practical relevance – providing improved under-standing the processes controlling the dynamics of energy, water and biogeochemical fluxes across ecohydrological interfaces (such as terrestrial-aquatic, aquifer-river and lake-groundwater interfaces).
There is increasing evidence for dramatic alteration of energy and water fluxes and interlinked biogeochemi-cal cycles at ecohydrological system interfaces, which have significant impact on ecosystem responses to envi-ronmental change. Although variable in scale and design, all ecohydrological interfaces express characteristic similarities, including rapid state changes and extreme physical and biogeochemical boundary conditions that de-termine critical behaviour, transitions and phase shifts between ecosystem boundaries (Naiman & Decamps., 1997). Hence, supra-disciplinary training and joint-up thinking provide significant potential for improving mechanistic process understanding. Ecohydrological interfaces are characterised by marked spatial heterogeneity (Lewandowski et al., 2002, 2007) and represent hotspots (locations of increased activity) with hot moments (times of increased activity), which may alter disproportionately the fluxes of energy, water and solutes and cause in-creased biogeochemical reactivity compared with other locations or times, e.g. at biofilms, hyporheic and riparian zones (McClain et al. 2003; Battin et al., 2003; Harms & Grimm, 2008; Krause et al., 2011a, b).