BIodiversity and BioGEochemistry of Riverine landscapes

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Biger in the News

eDNA meets the Danube!

IHG is leading the environmental DNA (eDNA) activities for JDS5, the largest river monitoring campaign in Europe. We’re proud that our team member, Dr. Paul Meulenbroek, is in charge of eDNA for fish. The sampling campaign is currently ongoing along the entire Danube River — from the source to the mouth, covering ~3,000 km — and around 300 samples are expected to be collected in just three weeks! A major step toward understanding and protecting biodiversity in one of Europe’s most important river systems.
 
 
#eDNA #Danube #IHG #ScienceInAction
#Danube4all  #DANUBElifelines #MERI 
#ZoomintoDanube #ICPDR

Exploring Floodplain Ecology: An International Summer School with Hands-On Participation from Our Team.

The CEEPUS–EcoManAqua International Summer School “Floodplain Ecology” was attended by members of the BIGER working group from July 7–11, 2025, at the University of J. J. Strossmayer in Osijek and Kopački Rit. Prof. Thomas Hein gave lectures on floodplain ecology and Dr. Olena Bilous gave a presentation on the ecology of algae, as part of the HR–AT (Croatia–Austria, AT-1101-09-2425) collaboration. Our students actively participated in the program as well: master’s student Nadija Čehajić and doctoral student Bhargavi Nerikar. The school provided students with practical experience in river-floodplain ecology, biodiversity, and conservation.

BIGER at the 5th I.S. Rivers Conference (30 June to 4 July) in Lyon
 
Several members of the BIGER group recently took part in the 5th I.S. Rivers Conference in Lyon, France — an international forum dedicated to research and innovation for sustainable river systems.
 
Our researchers shared insights across a diverse set of topics:
– Network connectivity (Elisabeth Bondar-Kunze et al.)
– Mitigating shipwave-induced effects (Anna-Lisa Dittrich et al.)
– Large river restoration measures (Andrea Funk et al.)
– Fish ecology and environmental flows in Central Asia within the Hydro4U project (Daniel S. Hayes et al.)
 
We’re proud to be part of this international dialogue and to share our work with the wider river research community.
 
JDS5 Launches: Monitoring Danube River Health with Our Team on Board
 
The Joint Danube Survey 5 (JDS5), the world’s largest surface-water monitoring project, officially began on 1 July 2025, with 49 sampling sites across 14 countries collecting data on pollutants, biodiversity, microplastics, and emerging contaminants. The initiative uses advanced scientific methods, such as environmental DNA (eDNA) analysis and hydromorphological assessments, and actively involves the public through a Citizen Science Programme. We’re proud to share that members of our working group are contributing to this important international effort.
 
Our Rivers Are Drying: Time to Act – Prof. Hein Speaks to Greenpeace
 
Our group leader, Prof. Dr. Thomas Hein, emphasises the urgent need for decisive societal action. In his latest interview with Greenpeace, he highlights the dramatic loss of water and reveals that 15 out of 18 studied rivers are showing declining volumes.
 
DANSER General Assembly: Moving Forward Together
 
The second General Assembly of the DANSER project brought together partners to assess progress and plan next steps in this innovative initiative focused on sediment management in the Danube River Basin.
Participants improved cooperation, exchanged updates, and honed the project’s course for the upcoming stages. The conversations were actively participated in by our team, which included Johannes Luca Kowal, Dr. Ronald Pöppl, Prof. Thomas Hein, and Dr. Sonia Steffany Recinos Brizuela.
DANSER aims to address the impacts of human activity and climate change on river systems, restore sediment balance, and enhance water quality.
New Scientific Paper Published

A new Open Access article has just been published, presenting a study on Uganda’s Lubigi Wetland. The research highlights the potential of wetlands as nature-based solutions for treating wastewater and stormwater, but also shows they become ineffective when overloaded.
„Tropical Wetlands as Nature-Based Solutions to Remove Nutrient and Organic Inputs from Stormwater Discharge and Wastewater Effluent in Urban Environments“
by Flavia Byekwaso, Gabriele Weigelhofer, Rose Kaggwa, Frank Kansiime, Guenter Langergraber, and Thomas Hein.
To read the full article online, please click here: https://doi.org/10.3390/w17121821

Celebrating UNESCO’s Water Science Legacy

On June 12, our team member, Dr. Paul Meulenbroek, had the honour of participating in an event marking the 50th anniversary of the Intergovernmental Hydrological Programme (IHP) and 60 years of UNESCO’s commitment to water sciences.

The event took place in Paris, where Dr. Meulenbroek contributed as an expert speaker during the side event „Joint Danube Survey 5 – Science, Society, and the Invisible in the River: Bringing Science to Citizens.“

His talk, titled “Biodiversity in a Drop: Monitoring Nature with eDNA,” focused on the innovative use of environmental DNA (eDNA) in tracking and preserving aquatic biodiversity.

#danube4all

#DANUBElifelines

#MERI

New Scientific Paper Published

A new Open Access article has been published in the Journal of Environmental Management, titled:

„Assessing Land Use Changes and Agricultural Practices in Highland Valley-Bottom Wetlands in the Taita Hills, Kenya“

by Sharon Gubamwoyo, Thomas Hein, Janne Heiskanen, Damaris Guranya Kisha, Petri Pellikka, Georg Gruber, Victor Apondi Omondi, Sonja Maria Leitner, Gabriele Weigelhofer, James Mwang’ombe Mwamodenyi, Amose Ouko Obonyo, and Gretchen Maria Gettel.

To read the full article online, please click here:

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2025.126122

14thInternational Symposium on Biogeochemistry of Wetlands and Aquatic Systems
(Baton Rouge, LA, USA)

Our working group actively participated in the inspiring BioGeo 2025 symposium, engaging with the application of biogeochemical principles to address environmental and societal challenges across diverse systems.

This year’s theme highlighted the critical role of coastal zones—where freshwater from rivers and lakes meets estuarine and coastal ocean waters. Changes in runoff timing and discharge volume in these zones can lead to significant shifts in key drivers of biogeochemical cycling, including temperature, salinity, nutrient availability, sediment transport, and contaminant loads.

Our PhD student, Flavia Byekwaso, contributed to the symposium by presenting her work on urban tropical wetlands.

Workshop on Danube Research Methods
 
On 7 May, the Young Danube Researchers held a workshop where early career students, including members of the BIGER working group, shared and discussed different research methods they use in their work on the Danube. It was a great chance to swap ideas, Support each other, share experiences, and talk about the common challenges of Danube-related research.

The EGU General Assembly 2025 was held in Vienna, Austria, from 27 April to 2 May.

During this week-long event, our team presented their achievements. Topics covered during the poster sessions included ecosystem dynamics, sediment transport in the Danube River and its tributaries, and the human impact on tropical urban rivers and wetlands. Our team also delivered oral presentations on topics such as floodplain connectivity, biogeochemical dynamics, and greenhouse gas emissions from tropical, groundwater-fed springs. We also gave a presentation on the drivers of stream metabolism in human-impacted mountain streams in Uganda.

Congratulations to our incredible team on these excellent presentations! Keep up the fantastic work!

https://www.egu25.eu/

Congratulations Johannes and Massimiliano!
 
 Johannes Schützenhofer and Massimiliano Sigfrido Grisorio have successfully defended their Bachelor thesis entitled: ‚The construction of barriers and fish migration aids in the Austrian Danube system: an assessment over time‘, supervised by Johannes Luca Kowal and Univ.Prof. Dr. Thomas Hein (co-supervisor).
 
The study is important for the CD Laboratory MERI and several EU projects.
 

Older news you  can find in the news archive