🎓🎉 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! 👏

🐟 New study of Austria’s Danube finds deep, slow-flowing impoundments dominated by non-native gobies (80–90% of fish abundance), while fast-flowing sections support greater native fish diversity. Offshore habitat surveys are crucial for guiding river restoration. 🔗 doi.org/10.1111/fwb....

🌍 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...

🌊 New paper: The Austrian Research Supersite “Upper Danube Austria” strengthens long-term monitoring of river–sea systems. Linking the Danube floodplains and Ybbs catchment, it supports research, restoration and sustainable river management. 🔗 doi.org/10.1007/s005...

🐟 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...

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! 👏

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...

Rivers rise and fall with the seasons. This open‑access paper shows how frequent hydropeaking reshapes habitat dynamics. Management takeaway: treat frequency as a key ecological driver and target patches under cumulative pressure. Thanks to Nico Bätz and colleagues 🔗 iwaponline.com/aqua/article...

Univ.Prof. Thomas Hein presented CDL MERI results on cumulative restoration effects in the Upper Danube at the 46th IAD Conference in Baja, Hungary. The meeting showcases new Danube research, monitoring, and management approaches. Looking forward to more discussions on sustainable Danube management.

Daniel Hayes explains how hydropower drives energy transition, but hydropeaking endangers young fish. From ~1k HyTEC experiments: larger water-level changes, night ramps, and small fish size raise risk; cold-water surges worsen it. Solutions: thresholds, tweaks, restoration. youtu.be/APYwB_boUD0?...

A decade of hydropeaking experiments | New ecohydraulic study from BOKU University

YouTube video by EcoENet

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💧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...

📣New Paper Published: “Antarctic phytoplankton and krill diet, 1955–1963” A new study analyzes phytoplankton communities and Antarctic krill diet from 1955–1963, offering a rare baseline for Southern Ocean ecosystem conditions before major climate-warming changes. 🔗 doi.org/10.1017/S095...

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! 🎉

New npj Biodiversity paper: ecological thresholds for stream‑fish management 💧. Mapped vulnerability across ~1.73M reaches in the US+Europe and built a Decision Support System combining thresholds with protected‑area coverage to target conservation vs restoration. 🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s44...

New: HydroPlan‑CA—a web Decision Support System, developed by Jan De Keyser & BOKU University—for smarter hydropower planning in Central Asia💧 This tool integrates hydrological, technical & environmental data in an interactive GIS. Open access, no install. 🔗Explore more: hydro4u.eu/sites-soluti...

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....

#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. 🌱💧

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...

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...

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/

📢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...

Congrats to Marie‑Christiane Moser (MSc) on a successful thesis defense! In the MERI project, she examined how connectivity and river morphology shape phytoplankton and phytobenthos biomass and communities—informing aquatic ecosystem management.

New in Hydrobiologia: fish assemblages in the fragmented Austrian Danube 🐟💧 Over two years of nocturnal electrofishing show hydropower fragmentation and bank habitat shape communities; 40‑year shifts highlight the need for connectivity and habitat restoration. 🔗 doi.org/10.1007/s107...

Disrupted currents and shifting riverbanks: unveiling the structure of fish assemblages in the fragmented Austrian Danube - Hydrobiologia

This study aims to characterize shoreline fish assemblages along different bank habitat types in the fragmented Austrian Danube and to investigate the impacts of fragmentation and habitat alterations caused by the construction of hydropower plants (HPPs). Nocturnal electrofishing surveys were conducted over 2 years in three river reaches separated by HPPs forming distinct sub-ecosystems within a larger Danube meta-ecosystem. The upper two reaches include both flowing and impounded sections, while the lowermost reach is free flowing. Of 46 species caught, 15 typical Danube species were selected for detailed analysis. Fish assemblages and abundance were compared across five river sections with varying longitudinal connectivity, four bank habitat types, three seasons, and two water levels. Results show that the combination of bank habitat type and section determines the habitat quality thus also determines the assemblage of fish species. Comparison with historical data and the pre-dam reference condition (Leitbild) reveals changes in species diversity/abundance over the past 40 years. The findings underscore the critical need for large-scale conservation and restoration measures to preserve fish biodiversity in regulated large river systems.

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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....

Excited to announce the art exhibition "Parliament of Streams" by Carlos Monleón with CDL MERI & BIGER team, at das weisse haus in Vienna from the 17 Apr–13 Jun. This is an immersive audio visual instalation on the Danube ecosystems, from field to lab work. 🔗 dasweissehaus.at/en/exhibitio...

Parliament of Streams

Solo Exhibition by Carlos Monleón  curated by Anne Faucheret Duration: 17.04. – 13.06.2026  Location: DAS WEISSE HAUS, souterraine Address: Hegelgasse 14, 1010 Vienna, Austria Opening: Thursday, April...

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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...

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 🌱💧

Happy to share our new paper on restoring free‑flowing rivers in Europe: expert input from 45 countries identified 27 priorities. Priorities shift by focus (ecology, community, economics, governance). Framework links barrier removal, connectivity, governance and policy🌍 🔗 doi.org/10.1038/s432...

HyPeak webinar: Hydropeaking & benthic algae. Elisabeth Bondar‑Kunze on disturbance effects on stream periphyton/algal communities; plus María Dolores Bejarano Carrión on impacts on riverine plants (individuals→ecosystems). 🔗Register: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

🌍 Call for papers: Microbial Drivers of Aquatic OM Degradation & Carbon Cycling. Seeking original high-quality research and reviews on microbial processes in aquatic systems. Please consider contributing or sharing within your networks! 🔗 www.frontiersin.org/research-top...