Paleolimnological techniques applied to springs habitats: Challenges and limits as highlighted by the CRENODAT project (southeastern Alps, Italy)

Springs are vital resources for drinking water for human life. Yet in recent time they are seriously endangered, and most need intervention to preserve or recover their habitats, protect the aquatic environment, and prevent and reduce pollution. However, recognizing the original "natural" and pristine state of a spring can be difficult because the monitoring programs included in policies to promote sustainable water use are relatively recent. Within the frame ofthe CRENODAT Project, "Biodiversity assessment and integrity evaluation of springs of Trentino (ltalian Alps) and long-term ecological research," we had the unique opportunity to select study sites among a complete set of more than 100 monitored springs to test the feasibility of the paleo-approach. This work presents the sites selection criteria, methods, and preliminary results of our test study to help define challenges and limits for future paleo-springs research developments. As a preliminary conclusion, we can affirm that paleolimnological techniques are applicable to spring habitats, providing a careful selection of the sites is done.