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BIodiversity and BioGEochemistry of Riverine landscapes @bigerscience.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Congratulations to Johannes Kowal on receiving the BOKU Leading Lights Award in the Ecosystem Management and Biodiversity category!🌿💧 A well-deserved recognition of his creative and engaging science communication. Keep making science shine, Johannes! 👏

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BIodiversity and BioGEochemistry of Riverine landscapes @bigerscience.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Fieldwork brings research questions to life! 💧 Thomas Hein joined Olena Bilous to wrap up a six-week MARITE experiment on how macrophyte-created microhabitats affect aquatic life. Using algae as indicators, the team explores river resilience under climate change. 🌿🔬

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BIodiversity and BioGEochemistry of Riverine landscapes @bigerscience.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

🎓🎉 Congratulations, Dr. Johannes Luca Kowal, on successfully defending your PhD! His thesis, “Impacts of Connectivity Changes on River Meta-Ecosystems,” advances our understanding of river-network connectivity and ecosystem preservation. A remarkable achievement—well done, Dr. Kowal! 👏

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BIodiversity and BioGEochemistry of Riverine landscapes @bigerscience.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

🌍 New study explores water, energy and food security in the Amu Darya and Syr Darya basins under climate and socioeconomic scenarios to 2050. Integrated, basin-wide planning could balance hydropower, irrigation and downstream flows while supporting the Aral Sea. 🔗 doi.org/10.3390/w181...

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BIodiversity and BioGEochemistry of Riverine landscapes @bigerscience.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

🐟 New study: Snow trout in Central Asian mountain rivers travel up to 18 km—downstream in spring and upstream in autumn. Many overwinter in the groundwater-fed Koksu River, highlighting the importance of river connectivity and habitat diversity. 🔗 doi.org/10.1186/s403...

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BIodiversity and BioGEochemistry of Riverine landscapes @bigerscience.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Congrats to Flavia Byekwaso on successfully defending her PhD! 🎓 Her thesis on how stormwater & wastewater impact GHG fluxes, nutrients, and pollution in tropical wetlands is a vital contribution to preserving ecosystem functions. Well done, Dr. Byekwaso! 👏

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BIodiversity and BioGEochemistry of Riverine landscapes @bigerscience.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Our paper finds non-toxigenic Vibrio cholerae (NTVC) in Eastern Austrian inland waters linked to temperature and conductivity; warming may raise exposure risks. The authors propose practical environmental thresholds and better monitoring. 🔗 doi.org/10.1016/j.wr...

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BIodiversity and BioGEochemistry of Riverine landscapes @bigerscience.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

💧New paper: Greenhouse gas fluxes across Lubigi Wetland, Uganda. Flavia Byekwaso and colleagues show how vegetation type and season shape CO2, CH4, and N2O exchanges. Methane ~56% of annual warming; dry seasons drive CO2/N2O hotspots. Read more: doi.org/10.1016/j.in...

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BIodiversity and BioGEochemistry of Riverine landscapes @bigerscience.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Congrats to Anthony Basooma on successfully defending his PhD, “Modeling biodiversity patterns and network connectivity in European streams, rivers & deltas,” supervised by Thomas Hein. Wishing you all the best in your next steps! 🎉

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BIodiversity and BioGEochemistry of Riverine landscapes @bigerscience.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

New study: Reconnecting the Johler Arm (Danube, Austria) turned a sidearm from lentic to year‑round lotic, lowered chl‑a & zooplankton, and re‑wired food webs—less detritus, more periphyton/biofilm—benefiting fish and habitat renewal. doi.org/10.1111/rec....

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BIodiversity and BioGEochemistry of Riverine landscapes @bigerscience.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

#DANSERProject General Assembly last week, hosted by Univ. of Zagreb at FAZOS (Osijek). We began with a field trip of site visits, then reviewed 18 months of progress. Focus: restoring the Danube’s sediment balance for a sustainable basin future. 🌱💧

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BIodiversity and BioGEochemistry of Riverine landscapes @bigerscience.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

New in Global Ecology & Conservation: a Delphi survey on European eel conservation 🐟 Priorities: EU‑wide recruitment monitoring, removing migration barriers to reopen habitats, and improving habitat quality. Findings guide evidence‑based action. 🔗 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

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BIodiversity and BioGEochemistry of Riverine landscapes @bigerscience.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

New data paper: Danube Fish Database 🐟 Unified, open fish‑occurrence data from agencies, NGOs, GBIF, JDS, EFI, and national programs. 133,131 records, 114 spp., 1856–2024. Supports conservation, invasive‑species tracking, and climate analyses. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

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BIodiversity and BioGEochemistry of Riverine landscapes @bigerscience.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

Colleagues from our BIGER working group presented at ASLO–SIL Congress 2026 (Montreal): -Meta‑ecosystem views on river restoration (Upper Danube) -Floodplain connectivity & ecosystem services -GHG fluxes from springs→streams (East Africa) -Floodplain GHG patterns 🔗 www.aslo.org/aslo-sil-2026/

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BIodiversity and BioGEochemistry of Riverine landscapes @bigerscience.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

📢New paper: Drivers of stream metabolism in Uganda’s tropical highland headwaters. GPP is light‑limited; ER rises with stream size and nutrient‑rich sediments. TSS is the key control of net heterotrophy. Heavier rains may boost sediment loads and anthropogenic impacts 🔗 doi.org/10.1016/j.ca...

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BIodiversity and BioGEochemistry of Riverine landscapes @bigerscience.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

New paper (Ecohydrology): Hydropeaking lowers young-of-the-year (YOY) brown trout and grayling in Alpine rivers. Key drivers: sub‑daily flow fluctuations, event frequency, and down‑ramping. Management should be oriented to reduce down‑ramping and events during YOY emergence. doi.org/10.1002/eco....

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BIodiversity and BioGEochemistry of Riverine landscapes @bigerscience.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

By 2050, Central Asia’s electricity demand may double. Our study maps sustainable hydropower potential with integrated ecological + geohazard criteria with a transparent workflow using public geodata—baseline for responsible development doi.org/10.1016/j.ap...

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BIodiversity and BioGEochemistry of Riverine landscapes @bigerscience.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

Welcome to our new colleague MSc. Mackarena Coronado! In her PhD, she will study how aquatic macrophytes buffer temperature and affect ecosystem functioning in lowland rivers under climate change 🌱💧

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BIodiversity and BioGEochemistry of Riverine landscapes @bigerscience.bsky.social · 12/02/2026

New paper: “Waves Under Control?”🌊 Ship-induced waves erode shores and reduce biodiversity. This meta-analysis shows mitigation must be ecosystem-specific; combining breakwaters with shoreline complexity is promising across trophic levels in rivers, lakes, and estuaries 🔗 doi.org/10.1111/fwb....

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BIodiversity and BioGEochemistry of Riverine landscapes @bigerscience.bsky.social · 09/02/2026

New paper out: Lateral hydrological connectivity (between rivers & floodplains) shapes the relative abundance of water frogs and common toads, shown via eDNA. Species respond indirectly and differently to connectivity, guiding wetland restoration and conservation💧🐸 🔗 doi.org/10.1007/s107...

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BIodiversity and BioGEochemistry of Riverine landscapes @bigerscience.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

Excited to share our new paper about water quality in Kampala’s Lubigi wetland. Stormwater/sewage overloads wetland’s treatment capacity, causing persistent microbial contamination. Wetlands are vital buffers, but robust infrastructure and source control are essential. 🔗 doi.org/10.2166/wash...

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BIodiversity and BioGEochemistry of Riverine landscapes @bigerscience.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

New paper out: This well-timed paper provides a European-scale framework integrating Habitats Directive + WFD indicators, using Bayesian Networks to identify restoration opportunities and spatial targets aligned with the Nature Restoration Regulation aims. 🔗 doi.org/10.1016/j.wa...

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BIodiversity and BioGEochemistry of Riverine landscapes @bigerscience.bsky.social · 03/12/2025

New in Microbial Ecology: A model–data fusion study shows how human impacts shape bacterioplankton in Taihu Lake river networks across the rainy season, integrating MIKE11 water-level simulations. By Zhao, Hein & Wang— the study provides insights for ecosystem health assessments

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BIodiversity and BioGEochemistry of Riverine landscapes @bigerscience.bsky.social · 01/12/2025

Last week our team held its annual retreat at Kalkalpen National Park. We shared project updates, exchanged ideas, and explored new collaborations—then enjoyed the winter wonderland outdoors. Feeling inspired and recharged! ❄️🌲

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BIodiversity and BioGEochemistry of Riverine landscapes @bigerscience.bsky.social · 17/11/2025

🎉 New Article Published! Excited to share ‘specleanr': an R package for flagging environmental outliers in ecological data. With 20 detection methods, it offers a user-friendly, reproducible tool for biogeographical modeling and data analysis. 🔗 Read more: doi.org/10.1002/ecog...

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BIodiversity and BioGEochemistry of Riverine landscapes @bigerscience.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

🎉Great news to end the week! Congrats to Nadija Čehajić on defending her Master’s thesis "Spatial patterns of greenhouse gas emissions in a floodplain system". Supervised by T. Hein, E. Bondar-Kunze & A. K. Sieczko, this work offers key insights into greenhouse gas dynamics in floodplains.

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BIodiversity and BioGEochemistry of Riverine landscapes @bigerscience.bsky.social · 28/10/2025

🚀More exciting news! Our new paper, "Introducing fwtraits – an R package for freshwater biodiversity traits," is out! Anthony Basooma & co-authors present fwtraits, a tool for accessing standardized ecological data for freshwater species via freshwaterecology.info doi.org/10.1016/j.ba...

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BIodiversity and BioGEochemistry of Riverine landscapes @bigerscience.bsky.social · 28/10/2025

🌟Exciting news! Our article "The dynamics of linked social–ecological action situations reveal governance changes in the Austrian Danube" is out! We analyze the shift in Donau-Auen National Park governance- from top-down to polycentric and participatory. 🔗 doi.org/10.1016/j.je...

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BIodiversity and BioGEochemistry of Riverine landscapes @bigerscience.bsky.social · 23/10/2025

📄New paper out: "Responses of Oligochaeta & Chironomidae to connectivity restoration in river–floodplains" published in Restoration Ecology. Sonia Recinos & coauthors explore restoration impacts on macroinvertebrates & lasting strategies🐛💧 doi.org/10.1111/rec....

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BIodiversity and BioGEochemistry of Riverine landscapes @bigerscience.bsky.social · 23/10/2025

Our colleague Anthony Basooma presented his research on how environmental and human stressors drive the diversity of functional diversity of fish at the Society Global Conference for Ecological Modelling in Kashiwa. Well done and greetings to Japan!

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BIodiversity and BioGEochemistry of Riverine landscapes @bigerscience.bsky.social · 23/10/2025

🎥Last Friday, filmmaker Christian Pfabigan filmed one of the final sessions for "The Voice of the Thaya" in Thayatal National Park. Ronald Pöppl shared insights on the river’s formation, meanders, human impacts, and sediment research in the Fugnitz River 🌊🍂 www.ukweli.at

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BIodiversity and BioGEochemistry of Riverine landscapes @bigerscience.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

Excited to share our new paper from our team highlighting the complex interactions between hydrological alterations and phytoplankton microbial communities. @Thomas Hein, @Olena Bilous rdcu.be/eLWCm

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BIodiversity and BioGEochemistry of Riverine landscapes @bigerscience.bsky.social · 03/10/2025

New Paper - ‚Drivers of metacommunity dynamics in river-floodplain fish: A Path Modeling Approach‘, by K Feng, I Czeglédi, A Funk, T Hein, D Pont, P Meulenbroek, A Valentini & T Erős, in Ecol Monographs doi.org/10.1002/ecm.... @fwf-at.bsky.social

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BIodiversity and BioGEochemistry of Riverine landscapes @bigerscience.bsky.social · 16/09/2025

Ronald Poeppl shared insights on the DANSER project and sustainable sediment management in the Upper Danube at the Regional Conference of the International Association of Geomorphologists in Romania🌍🌊

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BIodiversity and BioGEochemistry of Riverine landscapes @bigerscience.bsky.social · 15/09/2025

Ronald Poeppl shared insights from the DANube Sediment Restoration (DANSER) project in the Upper Danube with his talk, "Towards deployment and upscaling of sustainable sediment management across the Danube," at the Conference Geographies of a Changing Europe (EUGEO)

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BIodiversity and BioGEochemistry of Riverine landscapes @bigerscience.bsky.social · 15/09/2025

Ship-induced waves and habitat fragmentation from dams are key pressures on rivers. At the German Society of Limnology-DGL annual meeting in Frankfurt, Anna-Lisa Dittrich & Johannes Kowal shared research findings and mitigation strategies, sparking great discussions at the Senckenberg Museum dinner🌊

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BIodiversity and BioGEochemistry of Riverine landscapes @bigerscience.bsky.social · 02/09/2025

Kicking off the Sustainability in Hydropower Conference at BOKU University, Vienna! Our colleagues Johannes Kowal and Anthony Basooma presented their work on how human-made stressors, such as barriers, impact fish population connectivity in the Danube River and across European river catchments. 🌊🐟

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BIodiversity and BioGEochemistry of Riverine landscapes @bigerscience.bsky.social · 12/08/2025

Our colleague Ronald Poeppl engaging in outreach for the DANSER project, inspiring young minds by discussing river floods and the role of humans at the "Junge Uni Waldviertel-Vysočina." 🌊👏

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BIodiversity and BioGEochemistry of Riverine landscapes @bigerscience.bsky.social · 11/08/2025

An inspiring week on freshwater science & conservation! Colleagues from our BIGER team engaged with leading experts at the SEFS14 conference in Bolu, Turkey, shared ideas, and explored ways to preserve our vital freshwater ecosystems for the future. 🌊💧

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BIodiversity and BioGEochemistry of Riverine landscapes @bigerscience.bsky.social · 14/07/2025

eDNA meets the Danube! 🌊 IHG leads eDNA activities for #JDS5, Europe’s largest river monitoring campaign. Sampling ~3,000 km of the Danube in 3 weeks with 300 samples—a big step for biodiversity protection in one of Europe’s key river systems

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BIodiversity and BioGEochemistry of Riverine landscapes @bigerscience.bsky.social · 14/07/2025

BIGER members joined the CEEPUS–EcoManAqua Summer School in Osijek & Kopački Rit🌊 Prof. Thomas Hein lectured on floodplain ecology, and Dr. Olena Bilous on algae ecology. Students Nadija Čehajić & Bhargavi Nerikar gained hands-on experience in biodiversity & conservation

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BIodiversity and BioGEochemistry of Riverine landscapes @bigerscience.bsky.social · 07/07/2025

Our BIGER group participated in the 5th I.S. Rivers Conference (June 30–July 4), sharing research that included the topics of network connectivity (E. Bondar-Kunze), shipwave effects (A.-L. Dittrich), river restoration (A. Funk), and fish ecology in Central Asia (D. S. Hayes) 🌊

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BIodiversity and BioGEochemistry of Riverine landscapes @bigerscience.bsky.social · 01/07/2025

🌍💧 We wrapped up last week with the DANSER second general assembly! Partners discussed progress and next steps for this groundbreaking project tackling sediment management in the Danube River Basin. DANSER aims to restore sediment balance, improve water quality, and address climate and human impacts

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BIodiversity and BioGEochemistry of Riverine landscapes @bigerscience.bsky.social · 22/06/2025

Our new study from Uganda Lubigi wetland highlights wetlands as nature-based solutions in wastewater and stormwater treatment, but are ineffective when overloaded. Congrats to Flavia Byekwaso, Thomas Hein, Gabriele Weigelhofer, and other co-authors. doi.org/10.3390/w171...

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BIodiversity and BioGEochemistry of Riverine landscapes @bigerscience.bsky.social · 17/06/2025

Exciting news! Our colleague Paul Meulenbroek delivered an outstanding talk, 'Biodiversity in a Drop: Monitoring Nature with eDNA,' at the 50th Anniversary of IHP & 60 Years of UNESCO Water Sciences.' 🌍💧 #danube4all #DANUBElifelines #MERI

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BIodiversity and BioGEochemistry of Riverine landscapes @bigerscience.bsky.social · 10/06/2025

New study from Taita Hills, Kenya, shows how small highland wetlands are vital yet threatened ecosystems. The team highlights land-use changes & calls for regenerative farming. Congrats to Sharon Gubamwoyo, Thomas Hein, Gabriele Weigelhofer and other coauthors👏 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

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BIodiversity and BioGEochemistry of Riverine landscapes @bigerscience.bsky.social · 04/06/2025

"Urban challenges need natural answers". At the Biogeochemistry of Wetlands and Aquatic Systems Symposium in Baton Rouge, Flavia Byekwaso shared how wetlands act as nature-based solutions for urban environments. #BOKU #IHG

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BIodiversity and BioGEochemistry of Riverine landscapes @bigerscience.bsky.social · 20/05/2025

Anthony Basooma attended the AquaINFRA project workshop at Oulu University Finland Focusing on open-access datasets like Hydrography90m, WORLDCLIM, GBIF, and FishBase in addressing threats to freshwater biodiversity. #Biodiversity #AquaINFRA #OpenScience #FreshwaterEcology #Research #BOKU #IHG

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BIodiversity and BioGEochemistry of Riverine landscapes @bigerscience.bsky.social · 07/05/2025

Dams and river barriers have long disrupted aquatic ecosystems, but how have they shaped river connectivity over time? In this interesting study, Johannes Kowal and coauthors explored how barriers impacted Austria’s river habitats since the early 20th century: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

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BIodiversity and BioGEochemistry of Riverine landscapes @bigerscience.bsky.social · 06/05/2025

Would you like to know more about the effect of dams on riverine ecosystems outside Europe? This new paper offers an interesting reading taking the case study of the Nile River Basin: doi.org/10.1371/jour...

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