Research

We conduct hypothesis- and theory-driven research on the responses of microbial and invertebrate communities, food webs and ecosystem functions to anthropogenic stressors, with a strong emphasis on toxicants. Our general aim is to understand, and thereby expand our capacity to predict, how ecosystems respond to human influence and in particular how toxicant-driven biochemical changes in organisms propagate up to the level of ecosystems. Our research relies on a wide range of methods including molecular (e.g. barcoding, metabarcoding), physiological (e.g. enzyme analysis, fatty acid analysis), ecological (e.g. traits, metapopulations), modelling (e.g. meta-population/community modelling, machine learning, geospatial analysis) and chemical (e.g. sediment and water extraction, analysis for organic toxicants, stable isotopes) methods.

 

Research priorities

Community and food web ecotoxicology

  • Responses of freshwater and riparian communities/food webs (invertebrates and microorganisms) and ecosystem functions to toxicants in real world ecosystems and in controlled experiments to test hypotheses and assess risks

  • Theoretical and conceptual advances in the prediction of the response to toxicants and multiple stressors 

  • Characterisation of toxicant exposure in ecosystems 

Computational ecotoxicology and data analysis

  • Analysis of complex ecological and environmental data to identify large scale patterns of toxicant exposure and effects as well as sensitivity distributions

  • Development of software (e.g. R packages) for processing chemical and ecotoxicological data

  • Cross-species extrapolation of species sensitivity to stressors based on phylogenetic data and species traits

  • Evaluation of eco(toxico)logical statistical methods

Modelling of stressors and using models to predict the stress responses of populations, communities and food webs

  • Using process-based models to predict the response of individuals and populations of different organism groups to stressors including toxicants considering spatiotemporal dynamics 

  • Network, food web and ecosystem modelling from a systems perspective

  • Spatial modelling of the distribution of stressors such as toxicants on a larger scale and development of software algorithms

Stress ecology: Analysing and predicting the response of communities and ecosystem functions to non-chemical stressors

  • Response of freshwater microbial and invertebrate communities and ecosystem functions to stressors associated with land use and climate change

  • Using aquatic invertebrate species traits to predict community responses to stressors and ecosystem functioning

  • Establishing conceptual frameworks and trait databases for stress ecology

Ecosystem management and linking ecosystem status to human well-being

  • Frameworks and suggestions to improve ecosystem management 

  • Using ecosystem services to link ecosystem status and human well-being