BIGER

Key research areas

• Nutrient and carbon cycling in aquatic ecosystems
• Ecohydrology
• Biodiversity
• Algal ecology
• Multiple stressors
• Riverine landscape - Human Society Interactions
• Restoration ecology

Riverine systems are exposed to multiple natural and anthropogenic stressors, such as changes in the hydrological regime, river regulations, nutrients and organic matter inputs from the catchment, and climate change.

The group “Biogeochemistry and Ecohydrology” studies the interactive effects of these stressors on the biogeochemical processes at the water-sediment-interface of streams, rivers, and floodplains as well as on their biodiversity at different scales. Our research focus lies on the resilience and resistance of these aquatic ecosystems to both, human impacts and restoration measures, and on the development of perspectives for a sustainable use and, thus, an improved ecological state of these systems.