Selected publications

The Nature Restoration Regulation (NRR) calls for restoring at least 25,000 kilometres of free-flowing rivers by 2030. Translating this ambition into implementation remains challenging due to differing restoration priorities across ecological, social, economic and governance contexts. This study offers a roadmap to support the implementation of the NRR's goal of restoring free-flowing rivers. 

This study shows: Over 40 percent of extant large freshwater animals (megafauna) have been deliberately introduced outside their natural ranges, often for economic gain. While these alien species can provide substantial benefits to certain groups in the introduced regions, they also posed profound and often underestimated risks to native biodiversity and local people. 

Since the 1980s mean discharge has declined by around 50% and - without aquatic vegetation – also the water level. Dense stands of aquatic plants have kept the water level high in recent summers despite lowered discharge. Most water was retained in adjacent floodplain aquifers rather than in the river channel.

Protected areas are meant to preserve endangered species and stabilize ecosystems. But for many European rivers, this protection falls short. The research team examined the condition of rivers at over 1,700 locations in ten European countries across a period of almost four decades. The result: Existing protected areas have only brought about measurable improvements in a limited subset of rivers.

In stream mesocosm experiments the authors tested how reduced flow and a sequence of controlled flushing events, with or without macroinvertebrates, affect periphyton community composition, algal biovolume, and ecosystem metabolism. Flow variability and macroinvertebrates control periphyton structure, metabolism, and carbon cycling, with macroinvertebrates stabilising responses to disturbance.

The authors present the first comprehensive and openly accessible compilation of freshwater species’ thermal tolerance, covering over 900 invertebrates and fish, and including English and non-English studies to expand representation and reduce biases.