Selected publications

The authors monitored stable isotopes in-situ at high resolution in soil and plant water at an urban green space to understand the ecohydrological functioning of the Critical Zone, i.e., the thin, dynamic, life-sustaining skin of the Earth that extends from the canopy top to the active groundwater. At the end of the growing season deeper than upper soil water was used for plant water uptake.

When the last individual dies, species not only disappear from our planet. They also disappear from our collective memory, from our cultures and discourses. Researchers have now studied the process.

From the distribution of manganese, iron and phosphorus within sediment cores from 11 water depths of Lake Arendsee, changes in the trophic state and oxygen conditions could be reconstructed. The redox-controlled geochemical focussing induced authigenic vivianite formation under oligo-mesotrophic conditions about 100 years ago, resulting locally in strongly increased burial phosphorus deposition.

The authors explored the contributions of local vs regional processes and historical vs contemporary factors in establishing macroecological patterns, by assessing the distribution of taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic diversity of caddisfly across the latitudinal gradient in Europe. This shows the importance of regional environmental filtering and the origin of northern communities.

The goal was to develop a systematic, standardized and quantitative methodology for the synthesis of resistance and resilience relative to short-term lake and extreme storm conditions. Resistance and resilience following extreme storms are primarily shaped by antecedent turbidity and thermal conditions. Increased storm intensity and duration diminish resistance and resilience of the lake.

Radon in surface water is mostly used to localise and quantify groundwater discharge. The study presents the opposite approach and use radon to estimate travel times of infiltrated surface water in the aquifer. The spatial heterogeneity of radon production rates complicates this approach, but the problems can be overcome by additionally considering temperature and hydraulic heads.

The authors present a multigeneration harvest selection experiment with zebrafish as a model to understand the effects of size-selective harvesting on shoaling behavior. Using high-resolution tracking of fish behavior with computational agent-based modeling, they show that shoal cohesion changed in the direction expected by a trade-off between individual vigilance and the use of social cues. 

Despite significant progress in quantifying greenhouse gas emissions from dry inland waters, little is known about methane (CH4). The authors determined CH4 emissions from dry sediments across continents and found that the CH4 contribution ranged from 10 to 21% of the equivalent CO2 emissions. Therefore, CH4 emissions from dry inland waters should be considered for the global carbon cycle.