SUPERVISOR: Thomas HEIN

PROJECT ASSIGNED TO: Bhargavi Nerikar 

The dawn of the Anthropocene has witnessed the transformation of rivers into complex socio-ecohydrological systems dictated by human needs (Hein et al., 2021). The Austrian Danube serves as a prime example for this, where human activities and river regulation measures have transformed the river and its tributaries, consequently altering their Multifunctionality. While various restoration and management measures have been implemented along its entire course, their interconnections and future implications are still not fully understood (Bondar-Kunze et al., 2022). The concept of ecosystem services (ESs) is crucial to build a bridge between natural and social systems, enabling the management implications of restoration measures within these coupled systems to be explored and the change in Multifunctionality can be analysed.

This PhD thesis, under the Christian Doppler Laboratory for Meta-ecosystems in Riverine Landscapes (CDL-MERI) project, explores how different social actors influence the implementation of restoration measures at various scales, which in turn influences the ES- Multifunctionality and the ecological variables associated with it. It builds on the meta-ecosystem concept central to MERI, which looks at how adopting a process-oriented framework allows insights into the spatial flows of various biotic and abiotic factors at multiple scales and their influence on regional biodiversity patterns (Cid et al., 2022; Gounand et al., 2018; Hein et al., 2024; Loreau et al., 2003). It also addresses the need to study biodiversity and ecosystem service relationships at multiple scales (Truchy et al., 2015) to assess how restoration measures implemented at these scales create a ripple effect over the entire meta-ecosystem. Lastly, this thesis will use these identified patterns to predict the outcomes of future management scenarios for the meta-ecosystem of Austrian Danube. The interlinkages between different components of the meta-ecosystem will be analysed by incorporating Socio-ecological Network approaches within the Telecoupling Framework (Liu et al., 2013; Martín-López et al., 2019), whereas the outcomes of future scenarios will be assessed using predictive habitat modelling and building on previous analyses done within the project. 

Specifically looking into restoration measures that target the lateral, longitudinal or in-stream habitat connectivity, the research questions it explores are:

  1. How do different floodplain restoration approaches and their underlying conditions influence the ES supply and resulting Multifunctionality in the Upper Danube?
  2. How can Socio-Ecological Networks be used to study the interlinkages between the ES & different social, ecological and hydrological variables for restoration projects at different scales? How can these identified patterns create a ripple effect over the meta-ecosystem of Austrian Danube?
  3. How can these interlinkages be used to predict the outcomes of future management scenarios on the Multifunctionality of the meta-ecosystem of Austrian Danube?

References 

Truchy A., Angeler D.G., Sponseller R.A., Johnson R.K., & McKie B.G. (2015). Linking Biodiversity, Ecosystem Functioning and Services, and Ecological Resilience: Towards an Integrative Framework for Improved Management. In Advances in Ecological Research (Vol. 53, pp. 55–96). Academic Press. doi.org/10.1016/bs.aecr.2015.09.004

Bondar-Kunze, E., Funk, A., Haidvogl, G., Unfer, G., Muhar, S., Hohensinner, S., Borgwardt, F., Rauch, P., Meulenbroek, P., & Hein, T. (2022). Der Meta-Ökosystem Ansatz in der Praxis – Integration von hydromorphologischen Veränderungen und menschlichen Eingriffen in die Meta-Ökosystem-Theorie zur Entwicklung eines nachhaltigen Flussmanagements an der österreichischen Donau. Österreichische Wasser- und Abfallwirtschaft, 74(11), 501–509. doi.org/10.1007/s00506-022-00893-2

Cid, N., Erős, T., Heino, J., Singer, G., Jähnig, S. C., Cañedo-Argüelles, M., Bonada, N., Sarremejane, R., Mykrä, H., Sandin, L., Paloniemi, R., Varumo, L., & Datry, T. (2022). From meta-system theory to the sustainable management of rivers in the Anthropocene. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 20(1), 49–57. doi.org/10.1002/fee.2417

Gounand, I., Harvey, E., Little, C. J., & Altermatt, F. (2018). Meta-Ecosystems 2.0: Rooting the Theory into the Field. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 33(1), 36–46. doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2017.10.006

Hein, T., Bondar-Kunze, E., Bilous, O., Borgwardt, F., Funk, A., Grohmann, M., Haidvogl, G., Kowal, J., Meulenbroek, P., Neuburg, J., Pelz, D., & Unfer, G. (2024). How can the meta-ecosystem approach improve the management of large river networks? doi.org/10.5281/ZENODO.10535176

Hein, T., Hauer, C., Schmid, M., Stöglehner, G., Stumpp, C., Ertl, T., Graf, W., Habersack, H., Haidvogl, G., Hood-Novotny, R., Laaha, G., Langergraber, G., Muhar, S., Schmid, E., Schmidt-Kloiber, A., Schmutz, S., Schulz, K., Weigelhofer, G., Winiwarter, V., … Wang, C. (2021). The coupled socio-ecohydrological evolution of river systems: Towards an integrative perspective of river systems in the 21st century. Science of The Total Environment, 801, 149619. doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.149619

Liu, J., Hull, V., Batistella, M., DeFries, R., Dietz, T., Fu, F., Hertel, T. W., Izaurralde, R. C., Lambin, E. F., Li, S., Martinelli, L. A., McConnell, W. J., Moran, E. F., Naylor, R., Ouyang, Z., Polenske, K. R., Reenberg, A., de Miranda Rocha, G., Simmons, C. S., … Zhu, C. (2013). Framing Sustainability in a Telecoupled World. Ecology and Society, 18(2). www.jstor.org/stable/26269331

Loreau, M., Mouquet, N., & Holt, R. D. (2003). Meta-ecosystems: A theoretical framework for a spatial ecosystem ecology. Ecology Letters, 6(8), 673–679. doi.org/10.1046/j.1461-0248.2003.00483.x

Martín-López, B., Felipe-Lucia, M. R., Bennett, E. M., Norström, A., Peterson, G., Plieninger, T., Hicks, C. C., Turkelboom, F., García-Llorente, M., Jacobs, S., Lavorel, S., & Locatelli, B. (2019). A novel telecoupling framework to assess social relations across spatial scales for ecosystem services research. Journal of Environmental Management, 241, 251–263. doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2019.04.029