3rd CLIMACT Seminar Series - Episode #7

Special seminar with 3 recipients of the 2021 CLIMACT Starting Grants!

Zoom link: epfl.zoom.us/j/63821341998

2000LAKES: alpine research and citizen science for the microbial conservation of high-mountain lakes

Alpine lakes are excellent sentinels of climate change as their chemistry and biology respond rapidly to environmental forcing. The Swiss alps are host to over 1500 alpine lakes, many of which have been newly mapped and thus never been studied. Microorganisms play major ecological roles in these lakes, for example in their primary production, the cycling of elements, and the environmental attenuation of contaminants. It is uncertain how physical climatic changes may affect microbial communities and consequently, their activities in alpine lakes. 2000LAKES is an innovative research project joining forces between scientists and citizens to jointly describe the unexplored microbial diversity in Swiss alpine lakes. In the first phase of the project, we sampled more than 60 lakes in the Alps and catalogued their microbial communities using metagenomics while building a culture collection of more than 200 bacteria species. In addition, we established a pilot program in which citizens can actively participate in our sampling campaigns and research. Our first results show that Swiss alpine lakes represent hotspots of microbial diversity and niches for the development of distinct bacteria communities. In the future, we aim to expand the 2000LAKES project by building an open research initiative which can contribute to expand the knowledge about the ecology of alpine lakes and to take actions to anticipate and respond to the consequences of climate change on Swiss alpine lakes.

Presented by Anna Carratala Ripolles, Research scientist at the Environmental Chemistry Laboratory of ENAC I EPFL

Climate change, air pollution, brain and behaviour

There is mounting evidence about the direct and indirect impact of climate change and air pollutants on human brain and behaviour. Stroke incidence and severity, exacerbations of multiple sclerosis, migraine and depression are among the well-documented brain disorders impacted by temperature extremes and variability. We sought to investigate the impact of global warming on individuals’ cognition and mood, whilst testing the interaction with demographic, socio-economic, cardio-vascular risk, and lifestyle factors. Building on data from the longitudinal Lausanne community-dwelling cohort CoLaus|PsyCoLaus (www.colaus-psycolaus.ch) we demonstrate an association between land surface temperature changes in the last decade and the Global Assessment of Functioning score as a variable sensitive to mental health in 2’677 study participants. We are still left with the final step that will link the georeferencing patterns of environmental changes with brain tissue microstructure estimates and derive characteristic anatomy fingerprints whilst accounting for the effects of demographic, socio-economic and cardio-vascular variables.

Presented by Bogdan Draganski, Professor and Head of neuroimaging lab (LREN) I UNIL CHUV

Effect of fluid composition on the brittle to ductile transition of rocks: implications for deep geothermal energy.

Deep high-enthalpy geothermal energy is one of the renewable energy sources that can help mitigate climate change. Rocks capable of hosting fluids at the necessary pressures and temperatures for deep high-enthalpy geothermal energy might be at or beyond the brittle to ductile transition, where the mechanical and hydraulic properties of fluid-hosting rocks are largely unknown. We developed a new 4-electrodes setup to measure complex electrical conductivity during the deformation of rocks in pressure and temperature. This, together with in-situ measurements of rock permeability, will allow us to investigate the role of fluid chemistry on the mechanical properties of rocks across the brittle to ductile transition, to better understand the behavior of deep geothermal reservoirs.

Presented by Francesco Lazari, PhD student at the Laboratory of Experimental Rock Mechanics I EPFL