STaRR

Key research areas 

• Protection, conservation and restoration of river systems
• Spatio-temporal analyses of riverscapes and their threats
• Long-term change of riverine ecosystems
• Global and climate change impacts on fluvial systems and their biodiversity
• Interdisciplinary historical river research
• Assessment methods of biophysical attributes and societal conditions of river landscapes
• Ecosystem services and sustainable development of riverscapes
• Strategic planning and socio-ecological river management

The research topics of the working group STaRR cover different aspects relevant to the protection, conservation and restoration of fluvial systems. Analyses of spatial and temporal patterns target the interplay between hydromorphological and ecological conditions as well as the impacts of human uses and global change on riverscapes. The temporal patterns include interdisciplinary historical river research on the long-term development of rivers as socio-ecological systems as well as future projections due to climate change. The investigation of biophysical conditions and processes in river-floodplain and catchment systems, such as river morphology, connectivity or thermal regimes, following a multiscale approach is highly relevant in the research of the working group. Furthermore, the diverse ecosystem functions and services of river landscapes and methods of their assessment are research topics of STaRR. The outcomes provide knowledge, evidence and data for fundamental as well as implementation-orientated studies and projects, as for instance the development of guiding principles and reference conditions, the evaluation of impaired or restored river landscapes and the elaboration of protection and management tools and concepts.