Selected publications

Developed in the context of the European Water Framework Directive, 24 fish-based ecological assessment systems for lakes across 21 countries were analyzed by a team of European fish experts. In total, 177 metrics are applied, addressing multiple anthropogenic pressures, predominantly lake eutrophication, hydromorphological alterations, fisheries and occurrence of non-natives.

The study provides insights into how large-bodied marine predators react toward wildlife tourism associated provisioning and allows further discussion about daily energy uptake during provisioning dives, its potential impacts on the ecological role of the target species and associated management measures. 

The authors monitored and modelled feedbacks in the soil–plant-atmosphere continuum to the drought summer 2018 and the following 2 years. The isotope-aided model EcH2O-iso was applied to forest and grassland in a lowland, groundwater-dominated catchment. Such differences in ecohydrological feedbacks to drought in contrasting soil-vegetation units provide insights into Critical Zone water cycling. 

The authors state that the reproductive capacity of large fish is underestimated. Even worse, it is the large fish which are targeted and removed by fisheries. The study shows that the replenishment potential of many fish stocks is overestimated. This increases the risk of overfishing. Especially the largest fish should be protected to a greater degree than is presently the case.

The authors assessed the motivation and wildlife-related value orientations of outdoor recreations in a random telephone survey in Spain. Recreational fishers placed more importance on the motives “to be close to nature,” “to experience tranquility", “to get away from the demands of life", “to relax psychically”, “to stay with family”, “to get exercise”, compared to other recreational groups.

Urban green space is of great importance for sustainable water management and heat reduction in cities. Using field measurements and a highly advanced ecohydrological model, researchers have investigated how water pathways differ depending on vegetation type. The result: trees potentially provide the strongest cooling effect, while grass promotes more groundwater recharge.

Researchers have been studying the evolution of sex chromosomes for about 100 years. Yet many aspects of sex development in vertebrates remain a mystery. No wonder – the methods of reproduction are incredibly diverse, and some can only now be detected thanks to novel molecular methods. This special issue summarizes the knowledge. The result is a unique scientific overview: Part II.

Improving growth and health parameters by immunostimulants is widely used in older fish, but rarely studied in larvae. Using zebrafish as a model organism, the authors evaluated the effects of exposure to fulvic acids (FAs) on embryonic development. They showed that FA at low to medium concentrations can increase the health of larvae, but becomes detrimental at higher concentrations.