Jonas Schoelynck

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• Doctor of Philosophy
• Professor at University of Antwerp

The large‐scale movement behavior of European catfish (Silurus glanis L.) remains poorly understood, despite it being a species of interest for conservation management. We report the movement patterns of 13 native individual catfish, recorded using acoustic telemetry over 160‐km estuarine habitat free of migration barriers in the Scheldt River basi...

Silicon is a major driver of global primary productivity and CO2 sequestration, and is a beneficial element for the growth and environmental stress mitigation of many terrestrial and aquatic plants. However, only a few studies have examined the occurrence of silicon in seagrasses, and its function within seagrass ecosystems and the role of seagrass...

In summer 2021, a flash flood impacted a recently restored river valley in Belgium. Given the anticipated increased frequency and severity of summer flash floods due to climate change, it is imperative to understand their repercussions on aquatic ecosystems. Historical river alterations and nutrient pollution have diminished self-purification, posi...

In this chapter, we discuss major drivers and impacts of land-water connections in Afrotropical streams and rivers in the context of three primary regions of the watershed in which these connections are likely to occur—forested headwaters, sa‐ vannah grasslands, and wetland ecosystems. First, we discuss the role of forested headwaters. We provide a...

Understanding the interconnectedness between land and water is essential for understanding stream ecology, as landscape characteristics heavily influence stream habitats and biodiversity. The River Continuum Concept provided a conceptual model for rivers that emphasized the influence of physical, chemical, and biological factors along a river's cou...

Climate change is causing the alteration of atmospheric dynamics, leading to extreme precipitation events and floods. On the other hand, landscape modification and increased imperviousness due to urbanization exacerbate the impacts of flooding. In order to become more permeable, cities are increasingly embracing aquatic Nature-based Solutions which...

In freshwater streams, leaf litter decomposition is a crucial ecosystem function that provides energy and nutrients. Biological invasions by non-native decapods, like the common invasive Chinese mitten crab, could potentially alter decomposition rates and therefore affect this key ecosystem function. This experimental study sheds light on the detri...

The biogeochemical cycle of silicon has been extensively studied in terrestrial plants, revealing three beneficial effects of biogenic silica accumulation for this vegetation: structural, physiological and protective. However, its importance in marine plants, particularly seagrasses, which are essential for biogeochemical coupling between terrestri...

River restoration efforts are gaining momentum in response to the pressing need for resilient river systems, in light of escalating climate change impacts. However, achieving predefined restoration goals remains challenging due to insufficient understanding of river system responses. Of particular complexity is assessing the success of restoration...

Nature‐based solutions, through conservation or (re)creation of vegetated shorelines, are recognized to mitigate the impact of waves and erosion risks on shorelines. Wave attenuation is known to be dependent on plant traits, resulting in increasing wave attenuation rates with increasing shoot density, shoot thickness, height, and stiffness. However...

Freshwater ecosystems are increasingly exposed to anthropogenic eutrophication, including high nitrogen. In addition, climate change is leading to more intense and frequent heatwaves, which have enormous impacts on all trophic levels of the ecosystem. Any change in the lower trophic levels, e.g., the phytoplankton, also introduces stress to higher...

This short communication presents a practical tool for assessing the subsurface connectivity of animal burrows, with emphasis on its potential for early detection and evaluation of animal-induced damages in levees that can compromise the structure during high water emergencies. Drawing inspiration from fundamental biology research and plumbing leak...

Aquatic biota are threatened by climate warming as well as other anthropogenic stressors such as eutrophication by phosphates and nitrate. However, it remains unclear how nitrate exposure can alter the resilience of microalgae to climate warming, particularly heatwaves. To get a better understanding of these processes, we investigated the effect of...

In sight of a growing urban population and intensified extreme weather events, cities must integrate in their urban planning elements to both reduce their impact (i.e., air and water pollution, degradation of habitats, loss of biodiversity) and increase their resilience to climate change. In contrast to engineering solutions, which normally not onl...

The dissolution of silicate minerals on the seafloor releases an important amount of dissolved silicon (dSi), which is necessary for maintaining high diatom production in Coastal and Continental Margin Zones (CCMZs). However, the dissolution of silicate minerals along the continental shelves is variable, which hinders our understanding of the ma...

Short notes don’t have an abstract.

The emergence of flowers marked an important development in plant evolution. Flowers in many species evolved to attract animal pollinators to increase fertilisation chances. In leaves, silicon (Si) discourages herbivores, for example by wearing down mouthparts. Flowers are essentially modified leaves and hence may also have the capacity to accumula...

Anthropogenic land use alters soil properties and influences biological transformations in the root zone, thereby affecting the distribution and supply of soil nutrients. It is generally acknowledged that human land-use activities such as intensive cattle farming and cultivation of citrus products lead to a homogenization of soil nutrients. This re...

Enhanced weathering (EW) of silicate rocks is a negative emission technology that captures CO2 from the atmosphere. Olivine (Mg2SiO4) is a fast weathering silicate mineral that can be used for EW and is abundant in dunite rock. In addition to CO2 sequestration, EW also has co-benefits in an agricultural context. Adding silicate minerals to soils ca...

Leaf water repellency (LWR) is a very important plant trait that influences plant performance in many different ways in different habitats. Being always in contact with water, the conditions for aquatic plants (macrophytes) are very different than for terrestrial plants and many of the advantages of high water repellency are less relevant for subme...

Cities host an increasing share of the human population and are continuously pressured by global change drivers, namely climate change, land-use alterations, and pollution. Among the most important negative pressures are those related to water management, including excess water (e.g., floods), water scarcity (e.g., droughts) and water quality deter...

The geographic expansion and abundance fluctuations of invasive species offer unprecedented insights to investigate potential mechanisms underlying the distribution-abundance relationship, one of the most universal patterns in community ecology. However, the abundance of invasive species is rarely documented in the needed detail. Data from historic...

The Coastal and Continental Margin Zones (CCMZs) contribute to 40% of the total burial flux of biogenic silica (bSi) of the world ocean. However, the accurate determination of the bSi content (bSiO2%) in marine sediments remains a challenge. The alkaline methods commonly used to quantitatively determine bSiO2% can completely digest the amorphous si...

Short notes don’t have an abstract.

Riparian vegetation is frequently exposed to abiotic stress, which generates reactive oxygen species (ROS) caused by strong differences in a river’s hydrological conditions. Among different ROS, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is relatively steady and can be measured appropriately. Thus, the quantification of plant H2O2 can be used as a stress indicator f...

Nature-based strategies, such as wave attenuation by tidal marshes, are increasingly proposed as a complement to mitigate the risks of failure of engineered flood defense structures such as levees. However, recent analysis of historic coastal storms revealed smaller dike breach dimensions if there were natural, high tidal marshes in front of the di...

Cryptic biological invasions are largely unrecognised, leading to an underestimation of the number of invading taxa and their potential impacts. The Chinese mitten crab, Eriocheir sinensis, is a highly invasive species with serious economic and ecological impacts in Europe. Recently, mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) of the Japanese mitten crab, E. japonic...

In vegetation management, understanding the condition of submerged plants is usually based on long-term growth monitoring. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulate in organelles under environmental stress and are highly likely to be indicators of a plant’s condition. However, this depends on the period of exposure to environmental stress, as enviro...

Riparian vegetation is frequently exposed to abiotic stress generating reactive oxygen species (ROS) caused by strong differences in the hydrological conditions of the river. The current study examined the colonization by riparian vegetation communities across the elevation gradient of riparian zones, through quantification of environmental stress...

In recent years, an invasive macrophyte, Egeria densa, has overwhelmingly colonized some midstream reaches of Japanese rivers. This study was designed to determine how E. densa has been able to colonize these areas and to assess the environmental conditions that limit or even prevent colonization. Invasive species (E. densa and Elodea nuttallii), a...

Aim Variation in plant defence traits has been frequently assessed along large‐scale macroclimatic clines. In contrast, local‐scale changes in the environment have recently been proposed to also modulate plant defence traits. Yet, the relative importance of drivers at both scales has never been tested. We aimed to quantify the relative importance o...

Invasive species, E. densa, and Japanese native species, Myriophyllum spicatum and Ceratophyllum demersum were investigated in experimental tanks with different environmental conditions. Tissue hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) concentrations were measured responding to either individual or multiple environmental storessors of light intensity (PAR), and wat...

Riparian vegetation is constantly subjected to environmental stresses and reactive oxygen species are generated in the plant tissue due to the stress. The study examined the effect of elevation on riparian vegetation along the Hii River in Japan by quantifying the environmental stresses, using foliar hydrogen peroxide (H 2O2) concentration. In the...

Macrophytes are important organisms in running water systems, having a decisive role in ecological processes and interactions. Their temporal and spatial distribution in streams can be highly variable, and this is often determined by flow velocity. In this study, macrophyte growth, morphology and nutrient stoichiometry were studied monthly during o...

It is expected that climate change will cause more frequent extreme events of heavy precipitation and drought, changing hydrological conditions in riverine ecosystems, such as flow velocity, evapotranspiration (drought) or runoff (heavy precipitation). This can lead to an increased input of terrestrial organic matter and elevated levels of dissolve...

Climate change can result in multiple indirect alterations of the environment in riverine ecosystems, due to changes in precipitation and runoff. Flow velocity, concentrations of CO2 and nutrients are thereby expected to change, and consequences of the combination of those effects for macrophytes, a key organism group, are still poorly understood....

Although not essential to most plant species, silica plays an important role in the protection of plants against different types of stress. In monocots, the main role of silica is protection against herbivores. Although the mechanisms are not fully understood yet, it is clear that silica discourages the grazing of herbivores. Hence, high silica con...

The Chinese mitten crab is one of the top invasive species in Europe. In Flanders (Belgium), they are associated with river ecosystem degradation, especially the loss of aquatic vegetation and associated ecosystem services. Management measures have therefore been put in place to reduce the number of crabs migrating between the sea and freshwater ar...

Biotic interactions shape the community structure and function of ecosystems and thus play an important role in ecosystem management and restoration. To investigate how water temperature (related to the season) and water depth (related to spatial patterns of river morphology) affect macrophyte–bacterioplankton interactions in a groundwater-fed rive...

The giant panda is known worldwide for having successfully moved to a diet almost exclusively based on bamboo. Provided that no lignocellulose-degrading enzyme was detected in panda’s genome, bamboo digestion is believed to depend on its gut microbiome. However, pandas retain the digestive system of a carnivore, with retention times of maximum 12 h...

Globally, freshwater ecosystems are under threat. The main threats come from catchment land-use changes, altered water regimes, eutrophication, invasive species, climate change and combinations of these factors. We need scientific research to respond to these challenges by providing solutions to halt the deterioration and improve the condition of o...

The Chinese mitten crab (Eriocheir sinensis) is a damaging invader which is designated as a species of Union Concern within the European Union. A negative impact of the crabs on macrophyte vegetation in lowland rivers is suspected but not yet proven or quantified. We have performed a mesocosm study that combines a density gradient of Chinese mitten...

Transport and transformation of inorganic nutrients are influenced by abiotic-biotic interactions and determine downstream water quality. Macrophytes play an important role in these complex ecological interactions. The role of macrophytes was studied in three reaches of the groundwater-fed, oligotrophic River Fischa with different macrophyte covera...

The weathering of silicates is a major control on atmospheric CO2 at geologic timescales. It was proposed to enhance this process to actively remove CO2 from the atmosphere. While there are some studies that propose and theoretically analyze the application of rock powder to agricultural land, results from field experiments are still scarce. In ord...

Lagoons are shallow aquatic environments that typically show a broad variety in colonization by macrophytes. We present the biogenic silica (BSi) data obtained from 11 macrophyte species randomly collected in three small lagoons (Ono, Kodjoboue, and Hebe) of Ivory Coast during 12 consecutive months. BSi concentrations were different between species...

While the importance of grasslands in terrestrial silicon (Si) cycling and fluxes to rivers is established, the influence of large grazers has not been considered. Here, we show that hippopotamuses are key actors in the savannah biogeochemical Si cycle. Through a detailed analysis of Si concentrations and stable isotope compositions in multiple eco...

• Aquatic macrophytes can have a significant impact on their associated community of epiphytic algae and bacteria through the provisioning of structural habitat complexity through different growth forms, the exudation of nutrients and the release of allelochemicals. In turn, this effect on epiphytic biofilm biomass and nutrient content has a potent...

Many macrophyte species in lowland streams exhibit signs of grazing and herbivore damage, even though herbivory by aquatic macroinvertebrates and fish is generally considered to be of little importance. In this study, we collected evidence for the hypothesis that herbivory on macrophytes by macroinvertebrates and fish is more widespread than assume...

The weathering of silicates is a major control on atmospheric CO2 at geologic time scales. It was proposed to enhance this process to actively remove CO2 from the atmosphere. While there are some studies that propose and theoretically analyze the application of rock powder on agricultural land, results from field experiments are still scarce. In or...

Freshwater ecosystems are confronted with the effects of climate change. One of the major changes is an increased concentration of aquatic carbon. Macrophytes are important in the aquatic carbon cycle and play as primary producers a crucial role in carbon storage in aquatic systems. However, macrophytes are affected by increasing carbon concentrati...

The use of remote sensing for monitoring of submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) in fluvial environments has been limited by the spatial and spectral resolution of available image data. The absorption of light in water also complicates the use of common image analysis methods. This paper presents the results of a study that uses very high-resolution...

Habitat structural complexity provided by aquatic macrophytes in lowland streams affects the associated epiphytic macroinvertebrate assemblages in both direct (increased microhabitat diversity, refuge against predation) and indirect ways (e.g. current attenuation by physical structures). In a correlative field study carried out in two different yea...

A disadvantage of tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.) is its low voluntary intake, resulting in suboptimal performance under grazing. Ideally, selection for this trait is done using grazing animals, but their use in plant breeding programmes is costly and laborious. Repeatable, stable and quantifiable traits linked to animal preference could...

Patches are of central interest to many areas of environmental science because they provide a lower limit of structural detail in synoptic studies, and an upper limit of contextual structure for point measurement-based studies. Identification and delineation of macrophyte patches however, is often arbitrary and case-specific. In this paper we propo...

Tidal marsh vegetation is increasingly valued for its role in ecosystem-based coastal protection due to its wave dissipating capacity. As the efficiency of wave dissipation is known to depend on specific vegetation properties, we quantified how these morphological, biochemical, and biomechanical properties of tidal marsh vegetation are, in turn, af...

Aquatic vegetation forms an essential component in freshwater ecosystems but due to changed environmental and anthropogenic conditions often needs management to reduce nuisance for human land-use. In this paper, the authors looked at the regrowth of two macrophyte species (Potamogeton natans and Sparganium erectum) in two lowland rivers under diffe...

The presence of vegetation in stream ecosystems is highly dynamic in both space and time. A digital photography technique is developed to map aquatic vegetation cover at species level, which has a very high spatial and a flexible temporal resolution. A digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) camera mounted on a handheld telescopic pole is used. The low-a...

The presence of instream aquatic vegetation (macrophytes) has an impact on the ecological functioning of rivers through their effects on transport and retention of dissolved and particulate matter, and also on the hydraulic functioning of rivers by increasing the hydraulic resistance, which results in higher water levels and may induce an increased...

The role of in-stream aquatic vegetation as ecosystem engineers in the distribution of organic matter was investigated in the Okavango Delta, one of the world’s largest oligotrophic wetlands. The Okavango channel beds are covered up to 50% with submerged macrophyte patches. By accumulating and concentrating organic matter in the sediments below the...

Water chemistry is important for the maintenance of wetland structure and function. Interpreting ecological patterns in a wetland system therefore requires an in-depth understanding of the water chemistry of that system. We investigated the spatial distribution of chemical solutes both in soil pore water and surface water, along island-floodplain-c...

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0138086.].

Mean elevation relative to mean high water (MHW) including standard error, where Scirpus tabernaemontani (S. tab., n = 140) and Scirpus maritimus (S. mar., n = 140) are situated at the Elbe estuary. The point dataset was randomly sampled from a digital vegetation map (scale: 1: 5000) combined with officially certified digital elevation data, both m...

Wetlands fed by rivers can be a sink for elements depending on elemental concentrations, wetland hydrology, geochemistry, vegetation and climate. In the case of the Okavango Delta, northern Botswana, the outflow discharge is a small fraction (2–5%) of the inflow. This has strong potential consequences for the Delta, as it strongly affects element c...

Anthropogenic eutrophication of wetlands may have a significant impact on the global biogeochemical silicon (Si) cycle, as Si filtering by wetland vegetation codetermines fluxes of Si towards the oceans. We experimentally investigated how macronutrient (NPK) enrichment alters total Si storage and Si stoichiometry in litter from six wetland species...

A recent attempt at mapping submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) species composition of a clear water stream in Belgium from ultra-high resolution, multispectral photographs, using object based image analysis (OBIA), resulted in a low, but consistent overall classification accuracy (53-61%). Since the results were obtained with a single rule set they...

Eutrophication is a major threat for the persistence of nutrient-poor fens, as multilevel feedbacks on decomposition rates could trigger carbon loss and increase nutrient cycling. Here, we experimentally investigate the effects of macronutrient (NPK) enrichment on litter quality of six species of sedge (Carex sp.), which we relate to litter decompo...

This document contains a short summary and a link to a documentary on YouTube about an expedition to the Okavango Delta in Botswana.

In-stream submerged macrophytes have a complex morphology and several species are not rigid, but are flexible and reconfigure along with the major flow direction to avoid potential damage at high stream velocities. However, in numerical hydrodynamic models, they are often simplified to rigid sticks. In this study hydraulic resistance of vegetation...

Silicon (Si) use by plants has not always received the research attention of other elements. Yet today, the importance of Si for plant functioning is slowly becoming better understood. Si is a crucial element for many terrestrial plant species (especially grasses), yet a recent surge of research has shown that some species of aquatic plants contain...

In hydrodynamically stressful environments, some species – known as ecosystem engineers – are able to modify the environment for their own benefit. Little is known however, about the interaction between functional plant traits and ecosystem engineering. We studied the responses of Scirpus tabernaemontani and Scirpus maritimus to wave impact in full...