The Global Lake Ecological Observatory Network (GLEON), coordinated by a researcher from CEAB-CSIC, is an international network of scientists who unite creativity, knowledge, and resources to understand the functioning of different types of lakes, the benefits they provide, how they respond to global change, and what works to conserve them. Additionally, researchers share technology, such as monitoring systems that allow data collection from lakes around the world.
The organization has about five hundred active members from all continents. Through joint projects, information exchange, the use of monitoring technology, and advanced ecological models, GLEON works to detect and predict changes in water quality, biodiversity, and the functioning of lacustrine ecosystems. The goal is to generate scientific knowledge that can be applied to improve the management of water resources and the conservation of these ecosystems.
The Centre for Advanced Studies of Blanes (CEAB-CSIC) is one of the research institutions involved in the network. Several researchers from the Centre are part of it, including Rafael Marcé, an expert in biogeochemistry and modeling, who is the coordinator. He carries out this task together with Lisette de Senerpont, a researcher at the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) and a member of the External Scientific Advisory Committee of CEAB-CSIC.
An open and horizontal scientific network
GLEON is made up of researchers with very diverse profiles: from young scientists to leading figures in their field. And from very varied geographical backgrounds: from countries with opposite socioeconomic realities and varying levels of investment in research. The organization aims to eliminate these differences by ensuring that everyone’s voice is heard equally. It does this through regular, inclusive work meetings, where everyone can propose ideas and, through an assembly, decide which ones will be implemented.
Rafael Marcé, the coordinator of GLEON, emphasizes that “within the network, everyone can feel secure, share ideas without fear, in working tables that combine established researchers with those who are just beginning, from rich and poor regions, with or without research resources. The choice of projects does not depend on any of this. If we collectively see that it is a good idea and that it is necessary, we unite efforts to move it forward, regardless of who proposed it.”
At the latest meeting – held in Toba, Indonesia, this February – GLEON decided to promote collaborative research to study lakes in tropical latitudes, underrepresented in the scientific literature. The climate of tropical areas, quite constant throughout the year and predominantly warm, causes the waters of lakes (both deep, medium, and shallow) to mix more easily than those of lakes in Northern Europe and America. It is known that this implies different ecological dynamics, but even so, polymictic lakes are little studied.
At the Toba meeting, a new technological network was also introduced for collecting data on various lacustrine parameters, which sends the collected information via satellite so that it is available in real-time. The network could represent a significant breakthrough, particularly in terms of prediction capacity and reliability.
The GLEON coordinator explains that this philosophy of joining efforts is yielding great results. He gives as an example the initiative that emerged from the 2022 in-person meeting. A young researcher proposed studying the presence of microplastics in the sediments of lakes around the world. The idea was chosen because of the lack of scientific evidence on this specific issue. The result of the collaborative project has been a prominent scientific article, published in the journal Nature, on the presence of plastic debris in lakes and reservoirs worldwide.
Enhancing the participation of the Spanish-speaking community
Another recent notable development is that GLEON has received funding from the Spanish government to promote a Spanish-speaking community within the network, with the goal of fostering greater participation from Spanish and Latin American scientists in this collaborative science platform.
