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Publications (264)
The use of water as a weapon in highly industrialized areas in the Russo-Ukrainian war has resulted in catastrophic economic and environmental damages. We analyze environmental effects caused by the military destruction of the Kakhovka Dam. We link field, remote sensing, and modeling data to demarcate the disaster’s spatial-temporal scales and outl...
Nicotine is a ubiquitous emergent pollutant that primarily enters the environment through inappropriate disposal of cigarette butts. In a 7-week monitoring program, we collected 56 water samples from 14 lakes, 9 ponds, 9 rivers, 8 canals, and 2 canalized brooks in Berlin. Nicotine was detected in all investigated surface waters. Observed concentrat...
Die meisten Naturseen in Nord- und Mitteleuropa sind mit Ende der Eiszeit vor ca. 10.000 Jahren entstanden. Künstlich entstandene Abgrabungsgewässer, wie z.B. Baggerseen, sind dagegen in der Regel weniger als 100 Jahre alt (Zhao et al. 2016; Nikolaus et al. 2021) und stellen in einigen Regionen den dominanten Anteil der Standgewässer dar (Nikolaus...
In mobile animals, selection pressures resulting from spatio-temporally varying ecological factors often drive adaptations in migration behavior and associated physiological phenotypes. These adaptations may manifest in ecologically and genetically distinct ecotypes within populations. We studied a meta-population of northern pike (Esox lucius) in...
Climate change and human activities, for example, dam construction, largely affect hydrologic and hydrodynamic processes of river‐lake system, and hence exerted serious pressure on its aquatic ecology. It's challenging to restore its ecological environment without systematic investigation and knowledge about the features of hydrodynamics, water qua...
Habitat suitability modeling is a commonly used methodology to plan and assess in‐stream habitat enhancement in rivers, such as for the key fish life stages spawning and juvenile development. However, their use only allows modeling the spatial distribution of habitats, but not their connectivity. By integrating micro‐scale habitat modeling and a la...
In-stream habitat enhancement is widely used to improve ecological conditions in rivers, often prioritizing key fish life stages such as spawning and juvenile development. However, no standard approaches exist to predict their effects on fish recruitment and populations. Here, we use a spatially-explicit population dynamics model that integrates fu...
Funded by the German Working Group on Water Issues of the Federal States and the Federal Government (LAWA), this study (project 0 10.20) aimed to develop temperature reference values that, if complied with, would make it unlikely that fish fauna would fail to achieve good ecological status/good ecological potential. To this end, the project analyse...
Nicotine is a ubiquitous emergent pollutant that mostly enters the environment through inappropriate disposal of cigarette butts. In a seven-week monitoring program, we took 56 water samples from 14 lakes, 9 ponds, 9 rivers, 8 canals, and 2 canalized brooks in Berlin. Nicotine was detected in all investigated surface waters. Observed concentrations...
Climate change elevates the threat of compound heat and drought events, with their ecological and socioeconomic impacts exacerbated by human ecosystem alterations such as eutrophication, salinization, and river engineering. Here, we study how multiple stressors produced an environmental disaster in a large European river, the Oder River, where a to...
In Europe, climate change will increase hydrologic extremes, resulting in shorter flood peaks and longer droughts. Extended low flows will significantly alter physico-chemical water quality, paving the way for compound, novel impacts. We analyze the Oder River catastrophe of August 2022, where the complex interplay of increased salinity, temperatur...
Inland navigation in Europe is proposed to increase in the coming years, being promoted as a low-carbon form of transport. However, we currently lack knowledge on how this would impact biodiversity at large scales and interact with existing stressors. Here we addressed this knowledge gap by analysing fish and macroinvertebrate community time series...
Fish stocking is common practice in fisheries management, but its effectiveness to
support or increase stock size or catches is debated. In Lower Saxony, Germany, a
controlled, replicated stocking experiment of five native fish species in eight gravel pit
lakes <20 ha was conducted to examine the potential additive effects of fish releases
on abund...
Climate change elevates the threat of compound heat and drought events, with their ecological and socioeconomic impacts exacerbated by human ecosystem alterations such as eutrophication, salinization, and river engineering. Here, we study how multiple stressors produced an environmental disaster in a large European river, the Oder, where a toxic bl...
We bring together observations of a series of biological invasions in rivers and streams that
suggest a tight connection between biotic interactions and population dynamics on the one
hand, and ecosystem dynamics and flow regime fluctuations on the other. Invasions are
generally thought to be strongly related to, or at least responding to, ecosyste...
Der Europäische Fischgefährdungsindex (European Fish Hazard Index, EFHI) ist ein objektives und transparentes Werkzeug zur hoch aufgelösten Bewertung von Wasserkraftrisiken für die Leitbild-konforme, typspezifische Fischgemeinschaft des jeweiligen Flussabschnitts. Der EFHI liefert eine dreistufige Mortalitäts-Risikoabschätzung für Fische (gering, m...
Lakes offer important recreational sites for people; however, water-based recreation may interfere with conservation objectives. In this study, we examined the impact of recreational use of small stagnant water bodies (< 22 ha) on several aquatic and riparian biodiversity indicators (species richness, Simpson diversity-index, and number of endanger...
An increasingly globalised world has facilitated the movement of non‐native species (NNS) via the poorly regulated international pet trade. While focus is increasingly being placed on preventative action to combat invasive NNS—often cheaper and less difficult than the management of established populations—successful prevention requires controlling...
Freshwater navigation is expected to increase in the coming years, being promoted as a low-carbon form of transport. However, we currently lack knowledge on how this will impact biodiversity at large scales and interact with existing stressors. We addressed this knowledge gap by analyzing fish and macroinvertebrate community time series spanning th...
This dataset contains information on species presence in and at lakes in Northern Germany. Most of the lakes are gravel pit lakes. All lakes that contain "fish data" only are natural lakes (N=6). Depending on lake and biological taxa, lakes were sampled several times. This dataset contains information on species presence from the first sampling eve...
Die Gesamtartenliste der sich im Süßwasser reproduzierenden Fische und Neunaugen Deutschlands umfasst 111 etablierte Arten. Eine Rote-Liste-Kategorie wird für die 90 indigenen und archäobiotischen Arten ermittelt. Die bundesweite Gefährdungsanalyse beruht auf den länderspezifischen Einschätzungen von 59 Expertinnen und Experten aus allen Ländern un...
Ecosystem-based management is costly. Therefore, without rigorously showing that it can outperform traditional species-focused alternatives, its broad-scale adoption in conservation is unlikely. We present a large-scale replicated and controlled set of whole-lake experiments in fish conservation (20 lakes monitored over 6 years with more than 150,0...
The habitat quality of the littoral zone is of key importance for almost all lentic fish species. In anthropogenically created gravel pit lakes, the littoral zone is often structurally homogenized with limited fish habitats. We supplemented deadwood brush piles in the littoral zone of eight gravel pit lakes and investigated the diurnal and seasonal...
Protected areas are a common management tool to conserve habitats and species by controlling access and disturbances by humans. Whenever protected areas result in restricting access to riparian zones in lakes, they may have positive effects on habitats and taxa beyond fish by lowering influences of trampling or boating on plants, by reducing the de...
The worldwide increasing number of national guidelines and growing experience with realized green bank protections (constructions using insofar possible living or at least wooden construction material) in navigable waters, led to install a PIANC INCOM Working Group (WG) to collect and condense expert knowledge in this field of work and prepare it f...
1. Gravel pit lakes are common across Europe. These novel ecosystems serve as model systems to study human-induced and natural colonisation of isolated lakes by fish. Fisheries-management activities can quickly spread species over large distances, possibly homogenising fish communities across ecosystems, while fostering local fish diversity.
2. Ou...
The proliferation of hydropower development to meet obligations under the Renewable Energy Directive has also seen the emergence of conflict between the hydropower developers and the fisheries and conservation sectors. To address this trade-off between hydroelectricity supply and its environmental costs, this chapter introduces a series of tools an...
This open access book presents (selected) new and innovative developments for sustainable and fish-friendly hydropower. It offers unique insights into the challenges, practices and policies of hydropower developments across 8 European countries, providing examples from on-site studies and European-wide analyses. The case studies throughout the book...
This chapter very briefly outlines site and constellation specific direct and indirect impacts of a hydropower scheme primarily on fishes. It describes potential effects of single elements of a hydropower scheme, such as available migration routes up- and downstream, impoundment, hydraulic head, turbine type and mode of operation. It summarises the...
In context of transitioning towards renewable energy, hydroelectricity has gained global relevance. However, hydropower plants have severe impacts on aquatic habitat and biota: Dams disrupt migration routes of diad-romous and potamodromous fish species, degrade the hydro-morphology of streams and turbines cause high mortalities in fishes. To suppor...
Species distribution models (SDMs) have been widely applied to predict geographic ranges of species across space and time under the assumption of niche conservatism (i.e., species niches change very slowly). However, an increasing number of studies have reported evidence of rapid niche changes across space and time, which has sparked a widespread d...
The cover image is based on the Viewpoint A global agenda for advancing freshwater biodiversity research by Alain Maasri et al., https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13931. Image Credit: Solvin Zankl. image
The aim of this manuscript is to highlight the main elements of the resilience of riverine landscapes. These include factors that contribute to the resistance and recovery of rivers to environmental stress and the determinants of disturbance(s). These will reflect some combination of physical (based in geomorphological features), ecological (based...
Globally, policies aiming for conservation of species, free‐flowing rivers, and promotion of hydroelectricity as renewable energy and as a means to decarbonize energy systems generate trade‐offs between protecting freshwater fauna and development of hydropower. Hydroelectric turbines put fish at risk of severe injury during passage. Therefore, comp...
Rivers of Europe, Second Edition, presents the latest update on the only primary source of complete and comparative baseline data on the biological and hydrological characteristics of more than 180 of the highest profile rivers in Europe. With even more full-color photographs and maps, the book includes conservation information on current patterns...
Some of the main rivers of the Central European Highlands and Plains flow into the Baltic and North Seas, including the rivers Weser, Elbe, and Oder, drain the ecoregion of the central European highlands and plains. In addition to these rivers, this chapter describes some smaller but peculiar rivers such as the Em (Sweden), Skjern (Denmark), Spree...
Global freshwater biodiversity is declining dramatically, and meeting the challenges of this crisis requires bold goals and the mobilisation of substantial resources. While the reasons are varied, investments in both research and conservation of freshwater biodiversity lag far behind those in the terrestrial and marine realms.
Inspired by a global...
Abschlussbericht zur Überprüfung und Optimierung der bestehenden Vorgaben zu Temperaturerhöhungen und Maximaltemperaturen der Gewässer nach OGewV.
With the increasing importance of recreational activities in and around inland water bodies, there is a need for sound knowledge about their ecological impacts. This narrative review summarizes and analyses the ecological effects of the land-based activities walking, biking, nature observing and relaxing on the shoreline as well as the water-based...
Human presence at water bodies can have a range of ecological impacts, creating trade-offs between recreation as an ecosystem service and conservation. Conservation policies could be improved by relying on robust knowledge about the relative ecological impacts of water-based recreation. We present the first global synthesis on recreation ecology in...
The type and extent of habitats along the shoreline specify the distribution of fish in the littoral zone of lakes, but effects are likely species and size-specific and might be overwhelmed by lake-level environmental factors that drive fish abundance (e.g. trophic state). We applied a replicated transect-sampling design by electrofishing assessing...
Die Leopoldina Nationale Akademie der Wissenschaften legte im Jahr 2020 eine
Analyse zur Biodiversitätskrise in terrestrischen und aquatischen Ökosystemen
vor. Die in diesem normativen Bericht getätigten Aussagen zur Rolle und Bedeutung
der Fischerei und Aquakultur beim Rückgang der Biodiversität werden in
vorliegendem Beitrag einer kritischen Bewe...
Restoration of spawning and juvenile habitats is often used to restore fish abundances in rivers, although often with unclear results. To study the effects of habitat limitations on the common barbel (Barbus barbus), a riverine litophilic cyprinid fish, an age-structured population model was developed. Using a Bayesian modeling approach, spawning a...
Hydroelectricity is critical for decarbonizing global energy production, but hydropower plants affect rivers, disrupt their continuity, and threaten migrating fishes. This puts hydroelectricity production in conflict with efforts to protect threatened species and re-connect fragmented ecosystems. Assessing the impact of hydropower on fishes will su...
This study aims to complement existing fish-based assessment approaches by classifying European lampreys and fish species according to their probability of occurrence in six different longitudinal river regions and five types of floodplain water bodies under unimpaired conditions. The main objective was to provide for the first time harmonized occu...
Freshwater biodiversity is declining dramatically, and the current biodiversity crisis requires defining bold goals and mobilizing substantial resources to meet the challenges. While the reasons are varied, both research and conservation of freshwater biodiversity lag far behind efforts in the terrestrial and marine realms. We identify fifteen pres...
Freshwater biodiversity is declining dramatically, and the current biodiversity crisis requires defining bold goals and mobilizing substantial resources to meet the challenges. While the reasons are varied, both research and conservation of freshwater biodiversity lag far behind efforts in the terrestrial and marine realms. We identify fifteen pres...
Hydroelectricity is critical for decarbonizing global energy production, but hydropower plants affect rivers, disrupt their continuity, and threaten migrating fishes. This puts hydroelectricity production in conflict with efforts to protect threatened species and reconnect fragmented ecosystems. Assessing the impact of hydropower on fishes will sup...
Water wheels are low head hydropower converters considered fish friendly, although their ecological behavior has not been scientifically assessed. The results presented in the available reports are not generalized (thus hardly applicable in engineering applications), and they have not been performed at different hydraulic conditions or wheel charac...
• Humanity is facing a biodiversity crisis, with freshwater‐associated biodiversity in a particularly dire state. Novel ecosystems created through human use of mineral resources, such as gravel pit lakes, can provide substitute habitats for the conservation of freshwater and riparian biodiversity. Many of these artificial ecosystems are subject to...
Aim: Understanding response mechanisms to disturbances in river ecosystems.
Main concepts covered: Ecological, engineering and socioeconomic resilience.
Main methods covered: Assessment of flow thresholds for stability in engineering resilience, trait-based approaches for ecological resilience assessment, ecosystem services assessment for socioecon...
Vorliegende Studie erfasst erstmalig sämtliche Standgewässer in Niedersachsen und zeigt, dass künstlich ge-schaffene kleine Baggerseen der dominierende Gewässertyp der Region sind. Zudem legt diese Studie verglei-chende Ergebnisse zur Biodiversität anglerisch bewirtschafteter und unbewirtschafteter Baggerseen vor. Ob-wohl die anglerisch bewirtschaf...
The ongoing digital revolution in the age of big data is opening new research opportunities. Culturomics and iEcology, two emerging research areas based on the analysis of online data resources, can provide novel scientific insights and inform conservation and management efforts. To date, culturomics and iEcology have been applied primarily in the...
Ein Forschungsprojekt zeigt neue Wege für den Artenschutz an künstlichen Gewässern. Untersucht werden positive und negative Einflüsse von Angelvereinen und deren Gewässernutzung auf die gewässergebundene Biodiversität.
Wasser ist Leben – je natürlicher ein Gewässer, desto besser. Doch wo findet man in unserer Kulturlandschaft urtümliche Seen und T...
While fragmentation and habitat loss due to water infrastructure threaten freshwater biodiversity worldwide, historic canals have the potential to contribute to both cultural heritage and biodiversity conservation. Shifting management objectives regarding historic canals from development to recreation and conservation offer opportunities for achiev...
Significance
There has been a widespread debate whether the ecological niche of species is conserved across space and time. This niche conservatism hypothesis is of high practical relevance for conserving biodiversity. Here, we synthesized empirical evidence on this hypothesis for invasive species to investigate how their climatic niche changes bet...
The reliability of transferring species distribution models (SDMs) to new ranges and future climates has been widely debated. Biological invasions offer the unique opportunity to evaluate model transferability, as distribution data between species’ native and introduced ranges are geographically independent of each other. Here, we performed the fir...
BfN-Skripten. Entwicklung eines Mortalitäts-Gefährdungs-Index für Fische im Zusammenhang mit anthropogen-induzierter Mortalität an Wasserkraftanlagen inkl. einer vorhabenspezifischen Bewertung von Individuenverlusten sowie einem methodischen Bewertungsansatz zur Abschätzung wie konstellationsspezifische Risiken von Wasserkraft im Einzelfall unter B...
Although the invention and widespread use of artificial light is clearly one of the most important human technological advances, the transformation of nightscapes is increasingly recognized as having adverse effects. Night lighting may have serious physiological consequences for humans, ecological and evolutionary implications for animal and plant...
Species conservation, river rehabilitation, stock enhancement, environmental impact assessment and related planning tools require indicators to identify significant impacts but also mitigation success. Since river systems are shaped by disturbances from floods and droughts, typical riverine fish species should have evolved life history traits provi...
KW Korrespondenz Wasserwirtschaft
Die Erholungs- und Freizeitschifffahrt ist der am stärksten wachsende Zweig des Schiffsverkehrs. Das Bundesprogramm Blaues Band Deutschland (BBD) sieht eine Förderung von Erholungs- und Freizeitschifffahrt in Nebenwasserstraßen vor, welche zeitgleich revitalisiert und ökologisch aufgewertet werden sollen. Wie aber...
“Research for the Future of our Freshwaters“ is IGB’s guiding principle. This
involves giving objective and evidence-based information and advice to
policymakers, authorities, associations, industry, educational institutions and
the public. Within the institute’s publication series called IGB Outlines, which
includes the IGB Policy Brief, IGB disse...
Floods and droughts are key driving forces shaping aquatic ecosystems. Climate change may alter key attributes of these events and consequently health and distribution of aquatic species. Improved knowledge of biological responses to different types of floods and droughts in rivers should allow the better prediction of the ecological consequences o...
Modeling of fish population developments in the context of hydropower impacts and restoration planning requires autecological information on critical life stages (especially on juvenile stages and reproduction). We compiled and examined the current data availability in peer-reviewed and grey literature on autecological requirements of ten rheophili...
Gravel pit lakes are novel ecosystems that can be colonized by fish through natural or anthropogenic pathways. In central Europe, many of them are managed by recreational anglers and thus experience regular fish stocking. However, also unmanaged gravel pits may be affected by stocking, either through illegal fish introductions or, occasionally, by...
Humanity is facing a biodiversity crisis, with freshwater-associated biodiversity in a particularly dire state. Novel ecosystems created through human use of mineral resources, such as gravel pit lakes, can provide substitute habitats for conservation of freshwater and riparian biodiversity. However, many of these artificial ecosystems may exhibit...
The most widespread pressure impacting river ecological status is the degradation of key hydromorphologic elements, such as sediment type and flow rate. However, almost nothing is known about the quantitative relationship between benthic invertebrate abundance and these elements. This synthesis compiles quantitative data on physical requirements an...
Resilience in river ecosystems requires that organisms must persist in the face of highly dynamic hydrological and geomorphological variations. Disturbance events such as floods and droughts are postulated to shape life history traits that support resilience, but river management and conservation would benefit from greater understanding of the emer...
Longitudinal connectivity is one of the prime issues addressed in river restoration our days. At the same time, mitigation of climate change impacts by modes of renewable energy increasingly puts pressure on the remaining free flowing river stretches for hydroelectricity production. At the site level, this trade‐off manifests in the negotiation of...
Recreational and commercial navigation is omnipresent, rendering European large rivers highways for cargo vessels, passenger ships and sport boats. Any types of motorized vessels create waves and drawdown eroding shallow shore areas. Consequently, inland navigation alters the living environment of fish with specific habitat requirements on nursing,...
Large floodplain rivers (LFRs) are currently threatened by high levels of human alteration, and utilization is expected to grow. Assessments to determine ecological condition should address the specific environmental features of these unique ecosystems, while conservation management requires balancing maintenance of good ecological condition with t...
Females can adjust their reproductive effort in relation to their partner’s perceived fitness value. In zebrafish (Danio rerio), large males are typically preferred mating partners. However, females have been observed to reduce their reproductive output with exceptionally large males but it remains unknown whether it is due to sexual harassment or...
Gravel pit lakes constitute novel ecosystems that can be colonized by fishes through natural or anthropogenic pathways. Many of these man-made lakes are used by recreational anglers and experience regular fish stocking. Recreationally unmanaged gravel pits may also be affected by fish introductions, e.g., through illegal fish releases, thereby cont...
European large rivers are exposed to multiple human pressures and maintained as waterways for inland navigation. However, little is known on the dominance and interactions of multiple pressures in large rivers and in particular inland navigation has been ignored in multi-pressure analyzes so far. We determined the response of ten fish population me...
Recreational activities on, in, and along freshwaters (e.g., boating, bathing, angling) positively contribute to human well-being but can also concurrently stress aquatic ecosystems. While outdoor recreation, aquatic ecosystems, and human well-being form coupled social-ecological systems, inherent fluxes and interactions between these have rarely b...
Barriers represent one of the largest anthropogenic impacts on the ecological status of rivers, and they also potentially restrict fishes' ability to respond to future environmental changes. Thus, river management aims to restore the longitudinal connectivity of rivers to allow continuous migration and movement of water, sediments and biota. Howeve...
River restoration is a main emphasis of river management in European countries. Cross-national comparisons of its implementation are still rare in scientific literature. Based on French and German national censuses, this study compares river restoration practices and monitoring by analysing 102 French and 270 German projects. This comparison aims t...
Species dispersal and population dynamics determine the spatio-temporal patterns of species spread and thus, species invasions and recolonization following habitat restorations. However, the effects of stochasticity and spatial habitat heterogeneity on species spread are poorly understood. By coupling a fish dispersal model and a population growth...
Das vorliegende Buch fasst wesentliche Grundlagen des angelfischereilichen Managements („Hege“) und der Managementplanung vor dem Hintergrund aktueller wissenschaftlicher Erkenntnisse zum Thema zusammen. Das Buch entstand aus einem um einige Kapitel erweiterten Vorlesungs bzw. Seminarskript, das die Inhalte einer im Herbst 2016 an sechs Orten in De...
Compensating for the adverse ecological impacts of waterway development and improving their ecological functioning to achieve good ecological potential (GEP) have become mandatory within the European Union (EU). The technical rehabilitation measures presented here aim to functionally minimize the hydraulic impacts of navigation on aquatic biota in...
