Aquatic Ecology

Contact
University of Duisburg-Essen
Faculty of Biology
Aquatic Ecology
Universitätsstr. 5
45141 Essen, Germany
Head of research group
Prof. Dr. Bernd Sures
Prof. Dr. Daniel Hering
Office
Birgit Rieth
Jutta Schumacher

Current research
Read which research projects are currently being carried out by the Aquatic Ecology group or in which projects our scientists are involved.

Current PhD projects
Find out what exciting and interesting topics our doctoral students are currently researching in their work and projects.

Master, Bachelor & Internships
We offer doctoral, master, bachelor and examination theses as well as internships in all research areas, in a dynamic and internationally networked working group in a good atmosphere. If you are interested, please contact us or the persons mentioned in the text.

Film Cooperation UDE & NWU, South Africa
A short film about the cooperation and scientific exchange between the working group Aquatic Ecology and the Water Research Group of the North-West University in Potchefstroom, South Africa

Development of a Diagnostic Tool for Water Bodies The River Doctor
Lack of shade? Too many nutrients from adjacent fields? Modified banks? If a river or stream is not doing well, there are many possible causes, but they are sometimes difficult to detect.
Scientists from UDE have now developed a method that evaluates biological symptoms of rivers and calculates probable causes.

Online platfrom Water assessment tools
The platform serves to provide online calculation tools for determining the ecological quality of water bodies and is operated by Aquatic Ecology on behalf of the Federal Environment Agency.
Currently available are the methods Phytofluss (Phytoplankton), Phylib (Phytobenthos and Makropyhten), Perlodes (Makrozoobenthos) and fiBS (Fische).
The use of all services of gewaesser-bewertung-berechnung.de is free of charge.
At the moment the platform is only avalibale in German, but other languages are possible and might come in the near future.

Online platform European information platform for freshwater
The online platform bundles information and results from freshwater ecosystem research. It makes data freely available and is intended to stimulate new research approaches in this field. It offers a unique and comprehensive knowledge base for a sustainable and evidence-based management of our threatened freshwaters and resources. The Aquatic Ecology operates the platform together with three other European institutes.
Kail, J., Palt, M., Lorenz, A. & Hering, D. (2021) Woody buffer effects on water temperature: The role of spatial configuration and daily temperature fluctuations. Hydrological Processes, 35:e14008., link to article
Leitner, P., Borgwarth, F., Birk, S. & Graf, W. (2021) Multiple stressor effects on benthic macroinvertebrates in very large European rivers – A typology-based evaluation of faunal responses as a basis for future bioassessment, link to article
Poikane, S., Várbiró, G., Kelly, M.G., Birk, S. & Phillips, G. (2021) Estimating river nutrient concentrations consistent with good ecological condition: More stringent nutrient thresholds needed. Ecological Indicators, 121, 107017, link to article
Schmidt, H., Radinger, J., Teschlade, D., & Stoll, S. (2020) The role of spatial units in modelling freshwater fish distributions: Comparing a subcatchment and river network approach using maxent. Ecological Modelling, 418, 108937, link to article
Lorenz, A.W. (2020) Continuous riverine biodiversity changes in a 10-years-post-restoration-study—Impacts and pitfalls. River Research and Applications. , link to article
All publications



