Current Research Projects
StreamNitrate
Scaling of biochemical and hydraulic controls on nitrate uptake and removal in streams
Nitrate pollution is a global threat to coastal marine and freshwater ecosystems. Here, we are investigating the processes that control nitrate removal in medium-sized streams. Specifically, we will analyze the role of stream hydraulics and bed morphology as important, yet comparably unexplored controls.
Funding: DFG , 2024 - 2027
SunLake
Modelling the release, dispersion and fate of nanoparticulate titanium dioxide from sunscreen products in recreational lakes
Titanium dioxide nanoparticles (n-TiO2) represent an increasing threat for aquatic ecosystems due to their persistence and the direct release from sunscreens in recreational waters during the bathing season. To improve our understanding of the transport and fate of n-TiO2 released from sunscreen in recreational lakes, we will develop a reactive transport model based on current knowledge, extended using targeted laboratory experiments, and validated using field data.
(in cooperation with the Enviromental & Soil Chemistry lab at RPTU)
Funding: DFG, 2024 - 2027
Floodplain greenhouse gas emissions
Greenhouse gas dynamics in floodplain landscapes under hydrological stress
Floodplain landscapes are globally significant sources of methane to the atmosphere. This project assesses how the duration and frequency of flooding affects the processes that regulate the production, consumption, and emission of this potent greenhouse gas from local to global scales.
Funding: DFG (as part of the Research Training Group Systemlink), 2022 - 2025
RESTOLINK
Quantifying restoration success across biomes by linking biodiversity, multifunctionality and hydromorphological heterogeneity
The overall aim of RESTOLINK is to advance a novel mechanistic framework for quantifying stream restoration success that interlinks hydromorphological heterogeneity at relevant spatial scales with multi-group biodiversity and essential ecosystem functions. Our framework will advise managers to select the most effective restoration measure at ecologically relevant scales.
Funding: Biodiversa+, 2022-2025
PeriCarb-EFA
Effects of extreme flow changes on periphyton biofilm and carbon cycling in Alpine streams
Alpine streams are important contributors of inland water carbon and changes that occur in alpine streams can profoundly alter downstream reaches affecting the
global carbon budget and in turn exacerbate climate impact in the future. This project aims at understanding how periphyton biofilms community composition changes due to extreme flow change events and the reduction in the recovery time for the microbial community between events. It will link biofilm changes in community composition to changes in carbon cycling and in greenhouse emissions.
Funding: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Fellowship to Dr. Flavia Tromboni, 2023 - 2025
Completed Projects
Surface Blooms
Hydrodynamic and biochemical interactions of cyanobacterial blooms with the air-water interface in lakes
The objective of this project is improvement of the mechanistic understanding on the formation, persistence and decline of Microcystis surface blooms in inland waters. The joint German-Chinese project aims at identifying the main environmental controls on the interactions of cyanobacteria with the water surface in laboratory and field experiments.
Funding: DFG and SNFC, 2021 - 2024
FlowReSet
Biogeochemical hot moments upon flow resumption and coupled sediment transport: A comprehensive approach for temporary and perennial stream ecosystems
The project shall clarify the mechanisms that modulate streambed biogeochemistry (Carbon metabolism and Nitrogen uptake by the microbial community) upon flow resumption after following different chronologies of flow resumption with and without sediment transport.
Funding: DFG , 2022 - 2024