EuropeRegional Centre for Ecohydrology of the Polish Academy of Sciences - ERCE

Water resources, in the face of global climate changes, become one of the critical factors for achieving good ecological status of freshwater ecosystems and the Millennium Development Goals of the UN. Ecohydrology (EH) is a sub-discipline of hydrology focused on ecological aspects of the hydrological cycle. It refers specifically to two phases of the hydrological cycle: terrestrial plant - water - soil interactions and aquatic biota - hydrology interactions.

The background of "aquatic ecohydrology" was established in the framework of the UNESCO MAB "Ecotone" Programme (Zalewski, Schiemer, Thorpe 2001). The concept of integrating hydrology and ecology was formulated and developed in the framework of the UNESCO International Hydrological Programme IHP V and VI (Zalewski et al. 1997, Zalewski 2000, 2002, Zalewski & Robarts 2002, Chicharo et al. 2000, Wolanski et al 2002, Janauer 20004, Trepel 2006, Timczenko et al. 2002, Harper et al.2004).