The Section for River Ecosystem Management exists since January 1, 2012. It was established at the Research Station in Gelnhausen and emanates from the former Section Limnic Ecology.
Effective management and restoration strategies are necessary to promote and protect the functionality of our streams and rivers. Hence we need a solid knowledge of the habitat requirements of aquatic communities. Here, benthic invertebrates are of most interest for our team.
We are particularly interested in the environmental factors which determine the presence and absence of aquatic organisms at certain sites. Specifically, we analyse in the impact of anthropogenic disturbance on benthic communities. For example, what impact do stressors have, such as river constructions or high loads of nutrients on benthic communities? Are the effects of multiple stressors additive and do stressors interact with each other? And last but not least: What kind of measures do we have to take in order to ameliorate the condition of our streams and rivers?
Thus, the young team devotes themselves to investigating the loss of biodiversity, as well as developing effective management and restoration strategies in rivers and streams.
Our research is conducted in the research area of Biodiversity and Ecosystems.
