Projects

People want water for different uses but rarely ask the question where it is coming from. Our studies focus on how to manage watersheds better so that they can perform their role in the global water cycle under changing climate regimes. This includes a reinforcement of the natural sponge effect of landscapes, by restoring, protecting and re-creating wetlands that can absorb precipitation and contribute it to the aquifer, increase carbon storage, and buffer the discharge of streams and rivers. This also means that dynamic space of river floodplains, allowing erosion and sedimentation of sediments needs to be restored to maintain essential ecosystem functions and biodiversity. Management and conservation should form a continuum of different use intensity to “make our catchments great again”.

Projects on eco-strategic management and conservation of hydrosystems

Ongoing:

• since 12/2024:  PhD thesis by Silvia Cardascia on harmonizing global riverscape conservation & management
• since 12/2024 PhD thesis by Thomas Wendt on efficiency improvement in river restoration
• since 2021 PhD thesis by Felix Beer on Carbon dynamics and conservation strategies for riparian wetlands in the Brazilian Cerrado (co-supervision with Sebastian van der Linden, Uni Greifswald/Global Mire Center, Leila Maria Garcia Fonseca, INPE Brazil)

Concluded:

• 2013-2018 Pauline Hervé: Restoration ecology of forest mires and temporal wetlands in Central France (PhD project, co-supervision with Francis Isselin (PI), CNRS, Tours)
• 2010-2014: Carbon sequestration, biodiversity and social structures in Southern Amazonia: models and implementation of carbon-optimized land management strategies (CarBioCial) financed by BMBF (Germany) and CNPq (Brazil)
• 2008-2014 Luisa Ordus Vega (Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá, Colombia): Comparative ecology and carbon dynamics of two tropical seasonal wetlands: the sabanas in Colombia and the Pantanal in Brazil, (PhD project, co-supervision with K.-O. Rothhaupt, Uni Konstanz, financed by DAAD)

All hydrosystems have a natural rhythm of periods with higher and lower water levels. The River Culture Concept < provide link to the concept on this page> analogises adaptive strategies of non-human biota and human culture to these rhythms, aka. flood pulse, environmental flows or the natural flow regime. Climate change requires landscape redesign towards risk-resilience but the social inertia is high. In this context we study the drivers of human motivation/decision-making/action-taking for wise management and conservation. This includes environmental psychology: How can intangible elements like cultural connectivity, feelings, and well-being be engaged to improve motivation to take action in favor of nature? How to give the river a voice and a vote?

Ongoing:

• Since 2024: The EU URBACT project < provide link URBACT > supports projects in European cities that improve the OneHealth conditions. In Strasbourg, co-ordinated by the Eurometropole  < provide link EMS>, we are investigating options to
• 2020-2025: Alvin Vazha: “Now, let me flow”: top-down and bottom-up mechanisms for river restoration in Tamil Nadhu, India (PhD project, University of Tours)

Concluded:

2018-2023 In the Global River Culture Study, 125 authors from 24 countries worldwide have cooperated to produce an interdisciplinary and cross-cultural book, working on the questions: how do people (and non-human beings) live with their rivers? How does this biocultural diversity arise, what threatens it, and most importantly: how can we preserve this River Culture and use it for a sustainable riverscape management? How can we share positiv examples across the globe and make people develop positive feelings towards the riverine nature? With financial support by the UNESCO Beijing office and the Museum on River Civilisations (Wuhan, China), UNESCO has published the book and the individual chapters online

Cities are under climatic pressure, as water needs often exceed available stocks, and floods, droughts and/or heat make space inhabitable. We investigate how to reduce urban heat islands, to increase blue-green networks, and how to integrate urban redesign with climate change adaptation. Which dimensions should Nature-based Solutions (NbS) have to be effective for heat reduction? How to transform high-risk areas into urban multiple-use wetlands that can absorb flood water, store carbon, enhance biodiversity and supply water during droughts? How to create Urban Human River Encounter Sites in a way that they serve as places of inspiration, well-being and learning from nature? Which degree of wildness is acceptable by the citizens, and can be employed without safety and health risks? How can intensively used places, e.g., industrial areas, become cradles of biodiversity?

Ongoing:

• since 12/2024: Post-Doc project by Harro Jongens on hydroclimate modelling to combat urban heat with Nature-based solutions <link to Harro’s page>
• since 2020: Raita Bala Maphega: River Culture and options for urban river restoration in Kinshasa, Congo DR (PhD project)

Concluded:

• 2020-2024 Chaozhang Tan: Urban Lake Restoration in China and Europe (PhD project, Chinese Science Council fellowship)
• 2019-2023 Yixin Cao: Urban River Restoration in China and Europe (PhD project, Chinese Science Council fellowship).
• 2012-2016 Aude Zingraff-Hamed (PhD Thesis,  co-supervised with Stephan Pauleit TUM Munich): Restoration and use of urban rivers.

Due to their elongate shape (and their quality as international borders in the case of large ones), rivers trespass political and administrative boundaries, causing conflicts. In attempt to harmonise this situation, the River Culture Concept suggests to make the hydrographical basin the new political basic unit (“bassin de responsabilité”) for all territorial and usage decisions. With a focus on the Upper Rhine, we study how transboundary cooperation along and across the river can be improved: Which positive examples exist and can be shared? Applying UNESCO’s approach of the North-South-South Dialogue, we also work on river conservation and management in South America (e.g., the Paraguay River), Africa and Asia and in global comparisons. 

Ongoing:

Concluded:

2023: Hosting guest researcher Pierre Girard, Federal University of Mato Grosso. Joint work on elaborating a concept on a basin-wide conservation authority for the Paraguay River, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Argentina.

Climate change exacerbates water problems: More water is needed, e.g., for agricultural irrigation and cooling, while glacier retreat and less predictive rainfall patterns reduce its availability. In the context of the WEFE nexus, the big question is: how can the water be shared in a fair and trustful way between humans, ecosystems and other living beings? Our research focuses on the aspect of water commoning: how can nature’s water needs be acknowledged in analogy to human water uses? Which representations and values can be employed to facilitate transformation towards less water consuming practices?

Ongoing:

• Post-Doc project by Yixin Cao on new models of water governance as a ’commons’: socio-environmental justice <link to Yixin’s page>

Concluded:

• 2022: Lucas dos Santos Matos (Federal University de Santa Catarina, Brazil): Systemic analysis on performance evaluation in the WEFE Nexus context (visiting researcher, 3 months)

The aquatic-terrestrial transition zone displays steep gradients of environmental parameters, which act at the same time as evolutionary selectors and triggers for adaptive species traits. My research deals mostly with adaptations to floods and droughts in floodplain invertebrates, the mechanisms of organic matter processing (respectively, the biogenic storage of carbon) and the structure of floodplain foodwebs (as revealed by stable isotope analyses). These studies have helped to advance ecosystem functional concepts, such as the Floodpulse Concept and global organic matter processing concepts. In an attempt to fathom freshwater biodiversity, I helped to edit the book series “Aquatic Biodiversity of Latin America” with the late Joachim Adis. More recent work has focused on the ecology of rare species such as the Giant Freshwater Pearl Mussel (and how to prevent its extinction) and on invasive macroinvertebrates.

Ongoing:

Concluded:

• 2021-2024 'Inland navigation infrastructures and biodiversity: impacts and opportunities for waterwayscape management (NAVIDIV) ' financed by FRB/CESAB (French Biodiversity Research foundation) project contribution (PI: JN Beisel, ENGEES Strasbourg)
• 2020-2023 Nicolas Garello: Ecology of invertebrates and impact by macro and microplastic particles in the aquatic-terrestrial transition zone of the Paraná River, Argentina (PhD, co-supervision with Martin Blettler, Universidad del Valle, Argentina, and Stephane Rodrigues, University of Tours)
• 2014-2018 EU-LIFE+-Project to re-establish the Giant Freshwater Pearl Mussel (Margaritifera auricularia) as flagship species for large river management
• 2014-2018 Joaquín Soler: Ecophysiology, biogeography and reproductive biology of the Giant Freshwater Pearl Mussel, M. auricularia, as scientific baseline for conservation (PhD-Project, co-supervision with Rafael Araújo, Museo Nacional de Sciencias Naturales, Madrid, Spain), financed by EU and by Region Centre
• 2013-2017 Elie Abrial: Fish habitat hydraulics in subtropical floodplain rivers (PhD, co-supervision with Mario Amsler, Universidad del Valle, Argentina)
• 2012-2014 SIAL (Stable isotope Analysis Loire): study on the impact of the invasive clam Corbicula spp. on the foodweb of the Loire river, financed by EPL and Agence de l'eau Loire-Bretagne (France)
• 2010-2015 Miguel Saigo (Universidad del Valle Argentina): Stable isotope analysis of aquatic-terrestrial interactions in neotropical floodplains (PhD, co-supervision with Mercedes Marchese, Universidad del Valle, and INALI-Conicet, Argentina)
• 2004-2010: John Hesselschwerdt (University Konstanz): Impacts of invasive amphipods on the local fauna and on leaf litter decomposition in the littoral zone of Lake Constance (PhD, co- supervision with Karl-Otto Rothhaupt, Uni Konstanz)
• 2006-2012: Guillermo Rueda (Universidade L. Tadeu, Bogotá, Colombia): Leaf litter decomposition studies in Amazonian Streams of Colombia (PhD, co-supervision with Wolfgang Junk, MPIL-Plön)