Project Name: Saxon

Country: Germany

Project Manager: Alvaro Aguilera

The Free State of Saxony in Germany is not only the home of wonders like the Dresden Basin, the Frauenkirche or the Saxon Switzerland, but it also possesses over one hundred lakes that provide a sanctuary for animal life as well as an unreplaceable recreational destination for the general population. Many of these lakes are the flooded remains of gravel and coal mining operations in the region that were abandoned in the recent past. While the age of the lakes varies, some of them are still very young and this makes them especially interesting since we can document the fast evolution of their underwater ecosystems as the pH values increase over time towards neutrality. The goal of the project is to create a baseline and follow the evolution of the lakes in Saxony, while providing the environmental and scientific communities with reliable data to help in guiding said evolution as well as in preserving the already established ecosystems. PB: Saxon begins in the town of Ammelshain near Leipzig, where the nature reserve and protected area "Haselberg-StraBenteich" is located. There are four lakes in this area that are home to endangered bird species. Our first station will be placed in the biggest of them, where diving is permitted. We hope the station will not only provide useful data, but also serve as a show-case to get more divers from the region involved. We look forward to add new sites and stations to the project as soon as our manpower increases.

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