Aquatic Ecology
Aquatic Ecology Group: Research
The Aquatic Ecology Group is involved in various aspects of pure and applied aquatic ecology and environmental sciences. Research projects include basic scientific investigations, but also applied studies or consulting on a local scale. The following topics are currently covered:
Assessment of heavy metals in aquatic organisms
Our main interest here is the development of concepts and procedures to assess the bioaccumulation of heavy metals in aquatic organisms, especially in marine and estuarine zooplankton and zoobenthos from different areas of the world (e.g. North Sea, Greenland Sea and the Antarctic Ocean). Of particular importance is the development of comparative predictive toxicokinetic models for the uptake and depuration of metals in organisms. These methods have proven to be an adequate tool for the calibration of potential biomonitors, which is an inevitable precondition to assess the bioavailability of metals in different waters on large geographical and time scales. Many international co operations were established in order to improve our conceptual and technical expertise. These include the Nikolaou Copernicus University Torún (Poland), the Murmansk Marine Biological Institute (Russia), Akvaplan-niva, APN and the Norwegian College of Fishery Science (Tromsö, Norway), the Marine Laboratory, Plymouth (UK) and the Ocean University of Qingdao (China).
Spatial analysis of environmental data
In this area we focus on the spatial analysis of environmental data in the context of fisheries science. A sound spatial analysis, for example employing geostatistics, allows more reliable stock estimates and related variances, taking into account possible spatial autocorrelations. In the presence of spatial patterns it is possible to increase the survey precision substantially by using these procedures. Furthermore, the suitability of non-linear geostatistics and indicator kriging (IK) was investigated as a tool in environmental impact assessment and nature conservation, in particular to search for potential Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) for the endangered fish species twaite shad, Alosa fallax (Lacepède, 1803) within the German Exclusive Economical Zone (EEZ) of the North Sea. In this field co operations were established with the Institute of Sea Fisheries, Hamburg (Germany), the Institut de Ciències del Mar, CSIC, Psg. Marítim de la Barceloneta (Spain) and the Centre of Environment, Fisheries & Aquaculture Science, CEFAS (Lowstoft, UK).
Applied studies on local scales
Applied hydrobiological studies were conducted in cooperation with local authorities or consultants, e.g. regarding oxygen conditions in the River Ems in the context of a recently constructed barrier.