
Joachim PanderTechnical University of Munich | TUM · School of Life Sciences Weihenstephan
Joachim Pander
Dr. rer. nat.
About
90
Publications
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Introduction
The particular focus of my research is how rivers have been altered by humans and how to restore them. This includes the effects of morphological degradation, the effects of hydropower as well as other stressors such as invasive species or chemicl degradation on rivers and on their aquatic communities, particular fishes and macroinvertebrates. A new focus area of my research is, how river warming induced by climate change potentially can impair the success of morphological river restoration.
Publications
Publications (90)
This paper describes the development of the 'egg sandwich', a system for assessing stream substratum quality by linking measurements of depth-specific salmonid egg hatching success and physico-chemical water variables from the same sites within the interstitial zone.
Despite of structural deficits, highly modified water bodies (HMWB) contain remnant populations of endangered fish that have high conservation value. Restoration in HMWBs underlies different principles when compared to natural rivers because of impaired river dynamic processes. The objective herein was to assess the contribution of restored habitat...
European nase (Chondrostoma nasus) is a specialist riverine fish, characterised by a complex life cycle making it vulnerable to habitat degradation. Recent findings indicate that, analogously to salmonids, the interstitial zone quality may pose a serious bottleneck for successful recruitment of this species. In this study, nase eggs were exposed to...
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...
Hydropower structures hinder the movement and migration of fishes, impairing their life cycles. Additionally, downstream moving fish are often at risk of being injured during turbine passage. To improve hydropower production towards more fish‐friendly techniques and management, knowledge on timing and extent of natural patterns of fish downstream m...
Rivers and their fish populations are under threat, prompting diverse conservation efforts. Effective freshwater conservation requires collaborative projects involving multiple stakeholders, including scientists, practitioners, and government agencies. Knowledge produced in these projects can be used to guide the application of evidence‐based conse...
Animal growth is a fundamental component of population dynamics, which is closely tied to mortality, fecundity, and maturation. As a result, estimating growth often serves as the basis of population assessments. In fish, analysing growth typically involves fitting a growth model to age‐at‐length data derived from counting growth rings in calcified...
The return of beavers to the strongly structurally altered Central European stream systems results in a variety of conflicts, potentials and opportunities. Among monetary compensation issues for landowners, target species conflicts with fish conservation remain unresolved. This work investigated the impact of beaver structures of the Eurasian beave...
The restoration of rivers and their floodplains is complex, requires substantial financial efforts, intensive stakeholder involvement and long recovery times, making the identification of appropriate ecological indicators for restoration success a key challenge. Herein, one of the largest floodplain restorations along the European Danube was repeat...
Originating from the Black and Caspian seas, the Round Goby (Neogobius melanostomus) has become one of the most successful invaders of freshwater ecosystems. In this study, we provide a characterization of the reproductive strategy of an established population of Round Gobies in the Upper Danube river including sex ratio, fluctuations of gonadosoma...
Zusammenfassung
In der vorliegenden Studie wurden über einen Zeitraum von 10 Jahren neun Wasserkraftanlagen mit unterschiedlichen innovativen und konventionellen Kraftwerkstechnologien hinsichtlich ihrer direkten Auswirkungen auf passierende Fische (z. B. Mortalität und Verletzungen) und ihrer Auswirkungen auf den Lebensraum und die Zusammensetzung...
Water surface roughness (SR) is a highly relevant parameter governing data reliability in remote sensing applications, yet lacking appropriate methodology in riverine habitats. In order to assess thermal accuracy linked to SR of thermal imaging derived from an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), we developed the SR Measurement Device (SRMD). The SRMD us...
Preventing fish entrainment during their downstream passage at hydropower plants remains a major challenge in reducing the ecological impacts of hydropower production. We investigated fish behavior at the world's first innovative shaft hydropower plant with its novel screen concept, aiming at reducing fish entrainment due to the fully horizontal ar...
Science education often aims to increase learners’ acquisition of fundamental principles, such as learning the basic steps of scientific methods. Worked examples (WE) have proven particularly useful for supporting the development of such cognitive schemas and successive actions in order to avoid using up more cognitive resources than are necessary....
Ecological assessments of the effects of hydropower plants (HPPs) are often limited to aspects of entrainment, mortality, injuries, and passage of fish, whereas the effects on riverine habitats and biological communities in proximity to these structures are hardly documented.
In this study, aquatic communities comprising fish, macroinvertebrates, m...
Longer durations of warmer weather, altered precipitation, and modified streamflow patterns driven by climate change are expected to impair ecosystem resilience, exposing freshwater ecosystems and their biota to a severe threat worldwide. Understanding the spatio-temporal temperature variations and the processes governing thermal heterogeneity with...
Im Rahmen des durch Deutschland erstellten Aktionsplans der Verordnung (EU) Nr. 1143/2014 sind Maßnahmen für 14 prioritäre Pfade festgelegt worden, die die nicht vorsätzliche Einbringung und Ausbreitung invasiver gebietsfremder Arten verhindern sollen. In der vorliegenden Machbarkeitsstudie wurden auf Basis einer umfassenden Literaturrecherche und...
Efforts to increase the share of renewable energies and to reduce the negative ecological impacts of hydropower use are driving the development of novel hydropower technologies. Innovative hydropower concepts and turbine types should cause less fish damage and be more 'eco-friendly' than conventional hydropower plants. In this study, extensive ecol...
Freshwater fish populations are in steep decline, prompting conservation measures and a need for their evaluation. Fish are increasingly monitored with passive integrated transponders (PIT), although the suitability of this tagging technique has not yet been validated for most European target species of conservation. Consequently, this study tested...
Introduction: Hydropower plants are frequently equipped with physical and behavioral fish protection barriers to prevent downstream moving fish from harmful turbine passage and to guide them to alternative bypasses. As not only diadromous but also potamodromous fish species migrate and inevitably have to pass hydropower plants, knowledge on corrido...
Groundwater-influenced ditches, so called hinterland drainage systems (HDS), accompany many heavily modified water bodies (HMWBs). Herein, we evaluate the usefulness of including HDS as functional habitats in river restoration approaches by assessing their role as salmonid recruitment areas in HMWBs. We tested the functionality of spawning grounds...
Groundwater-influenced ditches, so called hinterland drainage systems (HDS), accompany many heavily modified water bodies (HMWBs). Herein, we evaluate the usefulness of including HDS as functional habitats in river restoration approaches by assessing their role as salmonid recruitment areas in HMWBs. We tested the functionality of spawning grounds...
Mitigating the adverse ecological impacts on stream ecosystems caused by hydropower expansion is a major challenge. To prevent fish from turbine entrainment and to reduce injury and mortality risk, physical barriers such as fine screens with horizontally or vertically oriented bars are frequently installed at turbine inlets. In this study, the spec...
Environmental pollution by lost fishing tackle is hardly considered in freshwater management. We collected and classified lost angling tackle during the dewatering of Lake Eixendorf, Germany. Based on the results, 1 item per 100 m2 lake area was found, resulting in 5442 items, with an overall weight of more than 65 kg. This included more than 5 km...
The freshwater biodiversity decline affects all trophic levels, prompting restoration efforts. While habitat restoration for fish is well‐studied, habitat restoration to benefit other sensitive taxa such as Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera (EPT) remains poor. Consequently, this study investigated the habitat function of a man‐made nature‐...
Hydropower use of rivers can exert multiple effects on aquatic species and habitats. Due to limitations of conservation projects in the main channels of hydropower-affected rivers, there has been an increasing focus on tributaries, side channels, and fish passes as target areas for conservation and restoration. However, some of these side channels...
Although the costs of fish-related mitigation measures can play an important role in the adoption of mitigation measures, there is relatively little information about this aspect. This chapter presents an overview of the range of costs for different mitigation measures and compares their magnitudes. As many mitigation measures are adopted in combin...
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...
Resolving the controversy about hydropower is only possible based on reliable data on its ecological effects, particularly fish welfare.
Herein, we propose a comprehensive assessment of conventional and innovative hydropower using a dataset of 52,250 fish.
The effects of hydropower on fish were most harmful at sites with Kaplan turbines, showing ≤8...
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...
An increase in river water temperatures is being detected worldwide, with some predictions of an up to 4°C rise by 2050. Such stream temperature increase is likely to affect aquatic communities, with predicted declines and range shifts of cold stenothermic species and a facilitated dispersal and population development in temperature-tolerant specie...
Hydropower is considered an important form of renewable energy, often involving hydropeaking. While the effects of hydropeaking on aquatic communities in areas downstream the dam are well understood, there is a lack of studies investigating potential impacts on tributaries located further upstream. In this study, we tested the effects of hydropeaki...
Assessments of aquatic ecosystem health rely increasingly on biological indicators such as fish community structure, but national approaches differ. To use bioindicators efficiently and to allow cross-country comparisons, standardized tools and methods are required. Within this study, currently applied procedures for stream ecosystem assessment in...
Atlantic salmon Salmo salar L. and brown trout Salmo trutta fario L. are species of high socio-economic and ecological value. Declining populations make them target species of fisheries management. This paper reviews the direct effects of deficient longitudinal connectivity, changes in discharge, high water temperatures, oxygen depletion, changes i...
Management of biological invasions strongly depends on early and accurate detection of non-native species, yet species identification is often complicated for various reasons. One prominent example relates to the controversy about the genetic specimen assignment of Asian and Oriental weatherfish species introduced into Europe. Weatherfishes, compri...
• Fish larval drift is an essential step in the life cycle of riverine fish species as it determines dispersal and colonisation. Anthropogenic flow alterations and interruption of longitudinal and lateral connectivity by river damming and straightening can severely affect larval drift patterns. In this study, we characterised spatio-temporal drift...
Bank habitats provide important functions for riverine fish. Yet, they have been heavily modified by land use, technical flood protection measures, and hydropower installations. Fish species requiring specific habitats to complete their life cycle have strongly declined and therefore become target species of river restoration measures. This study c...
Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) has been widely used to describe interspecific differences in egg quality of teleost freshwater fish, but potential intraspecific differences are poorly studied. Eggs of many rheophilic cyprinids are covered with adhesive structures such as attaching villi facilitating egg attachment at substrates of spawning grou...
Increased deposition of fine sediments in rivers and streams affects a range of key ecosystem processes across the sediment-water interface, and it is a critical aspect of river habitat degradation and restoration. Understanding the mechanisms leading to fine sediment accumulation along and across streambeds and their effect on ecological processes...
Increased deposition of fine sediments in streams affects a range of key ecosystem processes across the sediment-water interface, and it is a critical aspect of river habitat degradation and restoration. Understanding the mechanisms leading to fine sediment accumulation along and across streambeds, and their affectation to ecological processes is t...
Fish passes facilitate fish movement in fragmented river systems, yet they can also provide important habitat functions. This study investigated the fish community composition of different constructed habitat types (fluvial habitats, floodplain ponds) within fish passes in relation to habitat characteristics in order to deduce recommendations for f...
Understanding stream thermal heterogeneity patterns is crucial to assess and manage river resilience in light of climate change. The dual acquisition of high-resolution thermal infrared (TIR) and red–green–blue-band (RGB) imagery from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) allows for the identification and characterization of thermally differentiated patc...
Monitoring of fish passage at hydropower plants largely relies on stow-fyke-net captures installed downstream of turbine outlets, yet little is known about which fish behavior contributes to reduced catch efficiency. We studied fish-net interactions as well as biological and physical factors potentially influencing behavior in three experiments: (i...
To promote the sustainable management of hydropower, decision makers require information about cost trade-offs between the restoration of fish passage and hydropower production. We provide a systematic overview of the construction, operational, monitoring, and power loss costs associated with upstream and downstream fish passage measures in the Eur...
• Spawning substrate quality is a major factor influencing the early ontogeny of European nase (Chondrostoma nasus), a target species of conservation.
• Analogous to findings from salmonids, restoration of spawning grounds was hypothesized to enhance spawning, development and thus recruitment success of nase, by improving the substrate quality, and...
The forecast of warmer weather, and reduced precipitation and streamflow under climate change makes freshwater biota particularly vulnerable to being exposed to temperature extremes. Given the importance of temperature to regulate vital physiological processes, the availability of discrete cold-water patches (CWPs) in rivers to act as potential the...
Fishes in European rivers are threatened by manifold stressors such as structural degradation, water pollution, overexploitation, land-use changes in the catchment, invasive species and global processes including climate change. Identifying main stressors in a stream/river system is of utterly importance for efficiently utilizing the scarce funds f...
In contrast to the efforts made to develop functioning fishways for upstream migrants, the need for effective downstream migration facilities has long been underestimated. The challenge of developing well-performing bypasses for downstream migrants involves attracting the fish to the entrance and transporting them quickly and unharmed into the tail...
Dyke-based pumping stations have been linked with high fish mortalities during pumping events. Behavioural barriers like electric fish fences have been proposed as a promising solution to prevent entrainment of fish into pumps. In order to test the effectiveness of such barriers, the intake of a pumping station was equipped with a new generation el...
Floodplains were extensively altered by anthropogenic activities, resulting in modified flow dynamics essential for maintaining diverse riverine communities. There is growing interest in restoring environmental flows by artificially modulating discharge as a potential management option in regulated rivers. In the context of a large floodplain resto...
Many rivers in Central Europe are heavily affected by increased sedimentation due to erosion from agricultural land. High fine sediment loads can clog the interstitial system, increase turbidity, limit light penetration and potentially reduce primary productivity with negative impacts on stream biota such as reduced abundance and diversity. In this...
Pumping of water during floods from hinterland drainage systems into the main river poses a health risk to fishes and comparative studies are crucial to identify the most fish-friendly pump designs and operations. We investigated the effects on fish health of pump passages through four conventional and one ‘fish-friendly’ pump. All pump types cause...
Intensification of catchment land-use and the corresponding habitat degradation pose a threat to freshwater biodiversity and ecosystem health, yet few studies comprehensively quantified the effects of specific land-use variables on fish communities for different catchments within the same climatic region. Herein, we investigated the influence of ca...
Monitoring of fish movement is important in understanding and optimising the functionality of fishways and in restoring riverine connectivity. This study compared fish monitoring data (ARIS sonar-based and GoPro camera-based), with catches in a multi-mesh stow net following downstream passage in a small river in Bavaria, Germany. In terms of the nu...
Knowing the kinds of physical stress experienced by fish passing through hydropower turbines can help optimise technologies and improve fish passage. This paper assesses the hydraulic conditions experienced through three different low-head turbines (a very low head (VLH), Archimedes screw and horizontal Kaplan turbine), taken using an autonomous se...
Freshwater fishes are among the most threatened groups of vertebrates, with 39% of all European fish species facing extinction. Herein, we provide a comprehensive analyses of historical data as well as fish monitoring data from 1989 through 2013 from Bavaria, Germany. The results of this study indicate that the most pronounced species-turnover alre...
With the forecast of continued durations of warmer weather, reduced precipitation and stream flow under climate change, freshwater systems have been highlighted as particularly vulnerable ecosystems. Aquatic organisms have been identified to seek thermal refuge in areas of water, which are persistently cooler than the surrounding river and provide...
Rheophilic cyprinid populations are in decline in many European rivers and have become target species of conservation and river restoration. This is especially true for the European nase (Chondrostoma nasus), a lithophilic species for which the early life stages pose the first bottlenecks in successful population development. In this study, egg dis...
Hydropower-related damage to fish remains a great challenge, making objective monitoring of turbine-related fish injury a necessity. The catch of fish at turbine outlets is currently realised by net fishing, but potential catch-related injuries are largely unknown. Catch efficiency and fish-friendliness in relation to fish handling, exposure time,...
Floodplains have been strongly altered by human activities such as channelization and other river regulations. Globally, there is a growing interest in their restoration because of an increasing understanding of the ecological importance of these habitats for feeding, spawning, nursery or overwintering of aquatic species. In this study, a large flo...
Hydropower plants have been linked with high mortality and passage impairments during Silver Eel (Anguilla anguilla) downstream migration, but there is still a lack of effective and economically viable management options for safe power plant passage. This study used an Adaptive Resolution Imaging Sonar (ARIS) to investigate how undershot sluice gat...
The Oriental Weatherfish is considered a globally invasive fish species. In Europe, several reported feral populations of Oriental Weatherfish display an overlapping distribution range with native weatherfish Misgurnus fossilis, a declining species of international conservation and aquatic management concern. Morphologically distinguishing the diff...
This study compares the effectiveness and representativeness of electrofishing, snorkelling, seining, baited lift netting, multi-mesh gillnetting, baited fish traps, fyke netting, angling and longline fishing, considering three typical lentic flood-plain habitats at different times of day. Electrofishing was by far the most effective method yieldin...
Knowledge on the extent and mechanisms of fish damage caused by hydropower facilities
is important for their ecological improvement. Herein, a novel field-based
fish
injury assessment protocol is proposed that includes vitality and four general health
criteria, as well as nine lethal and sub-lethal
injury types across 18 body parts. The
protocol wa...
Heavily modified water bodies (HMWB) are characterized by monotonous and straightened channel morphologies with high degrees of bank enforcement. They often lack shallow bank habitats, which are considered important for critical life stages of fishes. In this study, three principle options to engineer shallow stream zones were assessed concerning t...
Modification of streams and rivers has mediated range expansions of several species into areas beyond their natural distribution. In this study, a newly created secondary floodplain channel (SFC), with three connections to the Danube, was used as a model system to compare colonisation by indigenous versus non-indigenous species of macroinvertebrate...
The hyporheic interstitial provides habitat for many different organisms − from bacteria to burrowing invertebrates. Due to their burrowing and sediment reworking behaviour, these ecosystem engineers have the potential to affect hyporheic processes such as respiration and nutrient cycling. However, there is a lack of studies that characterize the i...