Selected publications

Combining species distribution models and functional traits of Andean Amazon fishes, coupled with dam locations and climatic projections, the authors evaluated the potential impacts of future climate on species ranges, investigated the combined impact of river fragmentation and climate change and tested the relationships between these impacts and species functional traits.

The authors call the attention of researchers and policy makers to two immediate steps: acknowledge the conflict between economic growth and biodiversity conservation in future policies; and explore socioeconomic trajectories beyond economic growth in the next generation of biodiversity scenarios.

Mass development of cyanobacteria can deprive the water of oxygen and produce toxins. But cyanobacteria can become sick, when for instance infected by fungal parasites. The authors show that these infections do not only kill cyanobacteria, they also make them easier to consume for their natural predators. Fungal parasites thus help to slow down the growth of blue-green algae.

Potential sediment methane production rates increase along the reservoir cascade in the Upper Mekong River. Ebullition is an important but previously overlooked pathway for methane emission. Both diffusive and ebullitive fluxes show high intra and inter reservoir variability. Fluxes fall into the low-to-mid range of global estimates for hydropower reservoirs.

Eutrophication of Lake Stechlin leads to changes in the sediment by an intensification of internal matter cycles. The reductive dissolution of Mn in shallow areas and the precipitation result in the fixation of Mn as rhodochrosite in the sediment below 56 m depth. Geochemical Mn focusing indicates oxygen-free conditions in deep water and can be used to reconstruct former environmental conditions.

Under oxic conditions, iron hydroxide bound phosphorus is formed at the sediment-water interface, which is not stable in the long term. Laboratory tests show that under anoxic conditions (also under seasonal anoxia) this P form is converted to insoluble vivianite. The addition of Fe as a management measure can promote the formation of vivianite and thus the permanent storage of P in the sediment.

Urbanization is a complex process that impacts both the ecology and evolution of species. The researchers identified five key urban drivers of this change and highlight the direct consequences of urbanization-driven eco-evolutionary change for nature’s contributions to people. They subsequently explored five emerging complexities that need to be tackled in future research.

Associations with microbial communities are crucial for most plants and animals. The authors show that in Daphnia, host genotype does not only influence gut microbiome composition, but also the structure of free-living microbial communities, i.e. the bacterioplankton. This interaction is expected to lead to feedback loops where evolutionary changes in the host might impact bacterioplankton.