Selected publications

Hydrological and water stable isotope datasets within a modelling framework were utilized to evaluate the water flow paths and ages in the heavily urbanized Panke catchment in Berlin. Groundwater was the primary flow component in reaches with less urbanisation. Wastewater effluent dominated the mid-reaches with direct storm runoff and shallow subsurface contributions in the urbanized reaches.

This review paper by international female experts on urban hydrology identifies gaps in our understanding of how water flows through built landscapes. It focuses on key topics within urban hydrology related to water quantity, incl. runoff and streamflow generation, soils and soil water, groundwater, vegetation, and climate; describes challenges and opportunities in the field of urban hydrology.

To analyse the influence of vegetation on water partitioning under land management strategies, the authors used stable water isotopes with contrasting land covers and soil types in the Demnitzer Millcreek. The study underlined the need for long-term observations of land use changes and drought-sensitive vegetation to evolve a drought resilient land management considering time lags.

About 20 % of the newly sealed area is not in urban areas, but in rural areas, according to the model calculations of this study. Calculations of nutrient fluxes into water bodies have not taken these new sealings in rural areas into account, because these are often based on land use maps and consider urban areas. As a result, the nutrient loads of water bodies are systematically underestimated. 

The research team investigated the vertical oxygen flux through the halocline in the Baltic Sea using high-resolution temperature and oxygen profiles during different seasons. Oxygen transport showed a strong seasonality and was higher in autumn compared to summer and winter. The shoreline regions were responsible for >80% of the total oxygen transport through the halocline.

Phosphorus as scare raw material can be recovered from municipal wastewater treatment as iron phosphate mineral vivianite. Vivianite formation increased with higher iron and lower sulphur content. The study suggests that the use of sulphur-free precipitants for chemical P elimination may enhance vivianite formation. The new insights are also of high relevance for the research on aquatic sediments.

The spatial and temporal variability of stable water isotopes were investigated in the Schlei and in the Baltic Sea boddens. The data improve the understanding of hydrological processes behind those dynamics. Further they will be a helpful contribution to multiple IGB projects, e.g. in context of migration studies of pike and analysis of biochemical processes in macrophytes

Scientists integrated data about natural chemical compounds and the organisms they have been documented in, provided literature references and exposed the information both as a stand-alone database and via Wikidata.The database enables queries that relate natural chemical compounds to the taxa they have been found in and the literature documenting the evidence.