BIGERScience

Stay updated on the latest from our team, "BIodiversity and BioGEochemistry of Riverine landscapes"! 🌊 Follow us on Bluesky: @bigerscience.bsky.social for news and updates. 🌿

📄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.70…

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.70… #FWF

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

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

🌊How do waves from ships impact freshwater biodiversity? Check out the interview with Christoph Hauer, Thomas Hein, and Anna-Lisa Dittrich, where they discuss how wave action affects aquatic ecosystems and the delicate balance of life in rivers. science.orf.at/stories/323125…

New paper out! In "Cascading effects of land use on ecosystem function in Afrotropical headwater streams," PhD candidate Florence Nansumbi & co-authors examine how human activities disrupt biogeochemical cycles in an Afrotropical watershed 🌍🌊 link.springer.com/article/10.100…

The new book integrates science and various sectors of society! Contrbiutions of several BIGER group members and from @BOKU_IHG

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) 🌊

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

#JDS5 is officially launched! 🌍 Today in Vienna, we kicked off the world’s largest surface water monitoring project! 🔬 At the kick-off-event: the Federal Minister Norbert Totschnig- bmluk.gv.at/themen/wasser/… 👉 danubesurvey.org

Less water, more extremes! Austria’s rivers face climate stress 🌊 Greenpeace data shows falling water levels & rising floods in rivers. Ronald Pöppl calls for restoring floodplains, boosting water storage, reducing soil sealing, & sustainable land use- orf.at/stories/339762…

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/w17121…

Well done Paul - looking forward to JDS 5 @ICPDR_ORG

At IHG, science isn’t just what we do—it’s what we live. Publishing is one of the key ways we contribute to the scientific community. In 2024, we published 57 SCI-indexed articles! Explore the full list here: forschung.boku.ac.at/en/department/… @BOKUvienna 📸@schmidtkloiber

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

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 #IHG

Do not miss our upcoming #SUSHP2025!

Exciting news! We started this week with a new paper out dealing with the effect of hydropower dams on river connectivity in the Nile River Basin. Congratulations Anthony Basooma and co-authors 🎉 doi.org/10.1371/journa…

Congrats to Johannes Schützenhofer & Massimiliano Sigfrido Grisorio on successfully completing their bachelor’s thesis! Supervised by Johannes Kowal & Thomas Hein, their research explores barriers & fish migration aids in the Austrian Danube system over time 🐟🌊

We end this week with more exciting news! Peter Bader successfully defended his master research on eDNA analyses on amphibian metacommunities in floodplains. This research explored innovative methods in dynamic ecosystems. Congratulations 🎉💧🐸🏞️