Department Aquatic Ecology

Aquatic Ecology

The Aquatic Ecology department at Eawag consists of eight research groups and covers a wide range of different disciplines in ecology and evolutionary biology, ranging from the individual level to associations and ecosystems. Learn more

The latest news from our department

Joana Santos and Julie Conrads are recognised for their work

The two prizewinners Julie Conrads (left) and Joana Santos (right) accepting their award during the Swiss Geoscience Meeting. In the centre Friedrich Jüttner, President of the Hydrobiology-Limonology Foundation for Aquatic Research (Photo: Natacha Tofield-Pasche).
November 14, 2024 –

Every year, the Hydrobiology Limnology Foundation for Water Research issues an award for dissertations and master theses on limnology. This year, the prize for the dissertation and master thesis went to researchers at the aquatic...

Every year, the Hydrobiology Limnology Foundation for Water Research issues an award for dissertations and master theses on limnology. This year, the prize for the dissertation and master thesis went to researchers at the aquatic research institute Eawag.  
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Natural pesticide for the production of protein-rich microalgae

Microalgae cultivation facility in the Kona region of Hawaii (Photo: Cyanotech Corporation / Charles H. Greene, Celina M. Scott-Buechler, Arjun L.P. Hausner, Zackary I. Johnson, Xin Gen Lei, Mark E. Huntley / Wikimedia).
October 31, 2024 –

A new publication by Eawag shows that co-cultures of different microalgae are more resistant to pests than monocultures.

A new publication by Eawag shows that co-cultures of different microalgae are more resistant to pests than monocultures.
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Land use influences organisms living underground

Farmland or forest? Researchers found amphipods less frequently at groundwater extraction sites located near farmland than at those in the middle of a forest (Photo: Wikimedia, Adrian Michael).
October 22, 2024 –

Forest or farmland: The impact on amphipods in the groundwater is detectable, even if the groundwater extraction site is up to one kilometre away.

Forest or farmland: The impact on amphipods in the groundwater is detectable, even if the groundwater extraction site is up to one kilometre away.
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Join our events

27.11.​2024,
18.03.​2025,
9.00 am
Eawag Dübendorf
Characeen - Schutz und Förderung einer unbekannteren Artengruppe

PEAK-Vertiefungskurs V59/25

SNSF Starting Grants and Ambizione Fellowships

Information for Interested Parties 

Aquascope

Real-time underwater imaging

Research Projects

Investigation of the Resilience and Adaptability of Quagga Mussels

Epigenomics of rapid adaptation in invasive Quagga mussels
A multi phase research program by Eawag and the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN)

Climate Change and Freshwater Biodiversity
Together with climate change, biodiversity loss is the most pressing environmental crisis of our time. The "Translational Centre Biodiversity Conservation" bundles knowledge and makes it generally available. In collaboration with key Swiss stakeholders, the Centre identifies topics for knowledge exchange, translation, and synthesis, and communicates and distributes the resulting synthesis products.

Translational Centre Biodiversity Conservation (TCBC)
The architecture of community structure, functional traits and trophic networks across blue-green ecosystems

Architecture of blue-green communities
Dieses Projekt leistet einen Beitrag zur Blue Green Biodiversity Research Initiative - einer Eawag-WSL-Kollaboration, die sich auf die Biodiversität an der Schnittstelle von aquatischen und terrestrischen Ökosystemen konzentriert.

Warming-related community turnover in terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems
Why do toxic cyanobacteria bloom? A gene to ecosystem approach...

Cyano Bloom
Understanding and measuring how flow intermittency drives biodiversity and river functions in an alpine environment

Alpine Streams and Flow Intermittency
An Eawag-WSL collaboration focusing on Biodiversity at the interface of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems.

Blue Green Biodiversity Research Initiative

More current Research Projects

Latest publications

Peller, T., Gounand, I., & Altermatt, F. (2024). Resource flow network structure drives metaecosystem function. American Naturalist, 204(6), 546-560. doi:10.1086/732812, Institutional Repository

Nonliving resources frequently flow across ecosystem boundaries, which can yield networks of spatially coupled ecosystems. Yet the significance of resource flows for ecosystem function has predominantly been understood by studying two or a few coupled ecosystems, overlooking the broader resource flow network and its spatial structure. Here, we investigate how the spatial structure of larger resource flow networks influences ecosystem function at metaecosystem scales by analyzing metaecosystem models with homogeneously versus heterogeneously distributed resource flow networks but otherwise identical characteristics. We show that metaecosystem function can differ strongly between metaecosystems with contrasting resource flow networks. Differences in function generally arise through the scaling up of nonlinear local processes interacting with spatial variation in local dynamics, the latter of which is influenced by network structure. However, we find that neither network structure guarantees the greatest metaecosystem function. Rather, biotic (organism traits) and abiotic (resource flow rates) properties interact with network structure to determine which yields greater metaecosystem function. Our findings suggest that the spatial structure of resource flow networks coupling ecosystems can be a driver of ecosystem function at landscape scales. Furthermore, our study demonstrates how modifications to the structural, biotic, or abiotic properties of metaecosystem networks can have nontrivial large-scale effects on ecosystem function.
Nava, V., Dar, J. Y., De Santis, V., Fehlinger, L., Pasqualini, J., Adekolurejo, O. A., … Gostyńska, J. (2024). Zooming in the plastisphere: the ecological interface for phytoplankton–plastic interactions in aquatic ecosystems. Biological Reviews. doi:10.1111/brv.13164, Institutional Repository

Phytoplankton is an essential resource in aquatic ecosystems, situated at the base of aquatic food webs. Plastic pollution can impact these organisms, potentially affecting the functioning of aquatic ecosystems. The interaction between plastics and phytoplankton is multifaceted: while microplastics can exert toxic effects on phytoplankton, plastics can also act as a substrate for colonisation. By reviewing the existing literature, this study aims to address pivotal questions concerning the intricate interplay among plastics and phytoplankton/phytobenthos and analyse impacts on fundamental ecosystem processes (e.g. primary production, nutrient cycling). This investigation spans both marine and freshwater ecosystems, examining diverse organisational levels from subcellular processes to entire ecosystems. The diverse chemical composition of plastics, along with their variable properties and role in forming the "plastisphere", underscores the complexity of their influences on aquatic environments. Morphological changes, alterations in metabolic processes, defence and stress responses, including homoaggregation and extracellular polysaccharide biosynthesis, represent adaptive strategies employed by phytoplankton to cope with plastic-induced stress. Plastics also serve as potential habitats for harmful algae and invasive species, thereby influencing biodiversity and environmental conditions. Processes affected by phytoplankton–plastic interaction can have cascading effects throughout the aquatic food web via altered bottom-up and top-down processes. This review emphasises that our understanding of how these multiple interactions compare in impact on natural processes is far from complete, and uncertainty persists regarding whether they drive significant alterations in ecological variables. A lack of comprehensive investigation poses a risk of overlooking fundamental aspects in addressing the environmental challenges associated with widespread plastic pollution.
Rajarajan, A., Decaestecker, E., Bulteel, L., Walser, J. C., Spaak, P., & Wolinska, J. (2024). Host genotype and infection status interact to shape microbiomes in Daphnia magna. Parasitology, 1-11. doi:10.1017/S0031182024000787, Institutional Repository

Host–bacterial communities (microbiomes) are influenced by a wide range of factors including host genotype and parasite exposure. However, few studies disentangle temporal and host-genotype-specific variation in microbiome response to infection across several host tissues. We experimentally exposed the freshwater crustacean Daphnia magna to its fungal parasite Metschnikowia bicuspidata and characterized changes in host–bacterial communities associated with the parasite's development within the host. We used 16S rRNA gene sequencing to assess bacterial communities of the host (a) 24 h (‘initial parasite exposure’) and (b) 10 days (‘successful infection’) after exposure to a standard dose of M. bicuspidata spores, in host guts, body tissue (excluding guts) and whole individuals. We also investigated whether bacterial community responses to parasite exposure varied by host genotype.
Parasite exposure did not immediately alter host gut bacterial communities, but drove host-genotype-specific changes in the bacterial community composition of whole individuals. We validated that these changes were not driven by shifts in bacterial communities of the culturing medium, due to the addition of the parasite spore solution. Successful infection (i.e. the proliferation of M. bicuspidata spores in the host body) reduced alpha diversity and shifted abundance of dominant bacterial orders in the gut. Moreover, it induced a host-genotype-specific changes in body bacterial community composition. Overall, bacterial community responses to parasite exposure and subsequent infection are complex: they occur in a host-genotype-dependent manner, differentially at distinct timepoints after parasite exposure, and in specific host tissue.

Further publications