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The University of Cantabria has been the beneficiary of different calls for grants from the Biodiversity Foundation with projects focused on the evaluation, monitoring, projections and monitoring of the effects of global change and climate change in mountain areas.

The SCRIPt project aims to characterise, assess and model the effects that global change generates on the aquatic ecosystems of the Picos de Europa National Park. The initiative is being developed in municipalities and areas of Asturias, Cantabria and Castilla y León.

The general objective of the project is to characterise, evaluate and model the effects that global change generates on the aquatic ecosystems of the Picos de Europa National Park (PNPE).

The specific objectives are:

• Obtain hourly series of flow and temperature/volume of water at 8 points of the PNPE river network.
• Characterize the atmospheric conditions and take continuous images at two points of the PNPE river network.
• To assess the integrity of river ecosystems by characterising bioindicator communities (fish, invertebrates and diatoms) of water quality and ecosystem metabolism (primary production and ecosystem respiration) at 13 points of the river network.
• Increase the database with year-on-year replication based on previously obtained data.
• To characterise aquatic biodiversity by applying a novel, comprehensive and non-intrusive technique, environmental DNA (eDNA). The technique will be applied at 13 points of the river network and in 25 lentic water bodies (lakes, lagoons, wetlands, fountains or watering holes).
• Maintain and improve the website where it is possible to consult, in real time and in open time, the information obtained on the flow of water, atmospheric conditions and different bioindicators.
• Collaborate with other initiatives to monitor global change in aquatic ecosystems in mountain National Parks.

• Maintenance of 8 gauges and 2 land stations in river ecosystems. The two land stations are on the banks of the Cares and Bulnes rivers and the 8 gauging stations are on the Deva rivers (in Fuente Dé and Beares), Sella, Bulnes, Duje, Urdón and Cares, in Caín and Valdeón. In the gauging, measurements of flow and water temperature have been taken, while atmospheric variables have been measured in the ground stations.
• Field campaign at 13 points in the National Park's river network to characterise invertebrate, fish and diatom communities, river metabolism and water quality.
• Application of the 'environmental DNA' (eDNA) technique to determine biodiversity in the aquatic ecosystems of the PNPE (13 points in rivers and 8 in lakes, lagoons, wetlands, fountains or watering holes).
• Maintenance and updating of the web portal to incorporate the new information generated in SCRIPt.
• Coordination with other initiatives to monitor global change in aquatic ecosystems in mountain National Parks in different European countries.
• Dissemination and dissemination of the project and its most relevant results through the two project websites (one to disseminate the objectives, actions and results, and the other interactive), profiles on social networks, participation in scientific congresses and the publication of informative and scientific articles.

• The SCRIPt project has supported the continuity and improvement of the monitoring network of the river ecosystems of the Picos de Europa National Park in the face of global change.
• SCRIPt makes available to any interested agent all the information captured by a complete system made up of 8 gauges, 2 ground stations and a biomonitoring network with 13 study points, which follows a control/impact design, on the www.picoseuropa.ihcantabria.com web portal. The portal works as a tool for managing and consulting data in real time and in open time.
• In addition, through the application of the technique called eDNA and coordination with other initiatives to monitor global change in aquatic ecosystems in European Mountain National Parks, a document has been prepared that collects information from 28 European National Parks.