Département Ecologie aquatique

Ecologie aquatique

Le département d'écologie aquatique de l'Eawag se compose de huit groupes de recherche et englobe une multitude de disciplines différentes de l'écologie et de la biologie de l'évolution, couvrant toute la gamme du niveau individuel aux écosystèmes en passant par les associations. En savoir plus

Actualités du département

Joana Santos et Julie Conrads récompensées pour leurs travaux

Les deux lauréates Julie Conrads (à gauche) ainsi que Joana Santos (à droite) recevant leur prix pendant le Swiss Geoscience Meeting. Au centre, Friedrich Jüttner, président de la Fondation Hydrobiologie-Limonologie pour la recherche sur les eaux (Photo : Natacha Tofield-Pasche).
14 novembre 2024 –

Chaque année, la «Fondation hydrobiologie-limnologie pour la recherche sur l’eau» décerne une distinction pour les thèses de limnologie et les mémoires de master. Cette année, le prix pour la thèse, ainsi que pour le mémoire de...

Chaque année, la «Fondation hydrobiologie-limnologie pour la recherche sur l’eau» décerne une distinction pour les thèses de limnologie et les mémoires de master. Cette année, le prix pour la thèse, ainsi que pour le mémoire de master, revient à des chercheuses de l’Institut de recherche sur l’eau Eawag. 
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Pesticide naturel pour la production de microalgues riches en protéines

Culture de microalgues dans la région de Kona sur l’île d’Hawaï (Photo: (Cyanotech Corporation / Charles H. Greene, Celina M. Scott-Buechler, Arjun L.P. Hausner, Zackary I. Johnson, Xin Gen Lei, Mark E. Huntley / Wikimedia).
31 octobre 2024 –

Une nouvelle publication de l’Eawag montre que les co-cultures de plusieurs espèces de microalgues sont plus résistantes contre les nuisibles que les monocultures.

Une nouvelle publication de l’Eawag montre que les co-cultures de plusieurs espèces de microalgues sont plus résistantes contre les nuisibles que les monocultures.
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L’utilisation des terres influence les êtres vivants dans le sous-sol

Champ ou forêt? Dans les captages d’eau situés à proximité de champs, les chercheuses et chercheurs ont trouvé plus rarement des amphipodes qu’aux captages situés au cœur de la forêt (Photo: Wikimedia, Adrian Michael).
22 octobre 2024 –

Forêt ou champ: l’impact sur les amphipodes dans les eaux souterraines est visible, même si le captage d’eau est distant d’un kilomètre.

Forêt ou champ: l’impact sur les amphipodes dans les eaux souterraines est visible, même si le captage d’eau est distant d’un kilomètre.
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Participez à nos événements

27.11.​2024,
18.03.​2025,
9h00
Eawag Dübendorf
Characées – protection et promotion d’un groupe d’espèces méconnu

Cours d’approfondissement PEAK V59/25

SNSF Starting Grants et Ambizione Fellowships

Informations pour les parties intéressées (anglais)

Aquascope

Imagerie sous-marine en temps réel

Projets de recherche

Investigation of the Resilience and Adaptability of Quagga Mussels

Epigenomics of rapid adaptation in invasive Quagga mussels
Un programme de recherche en plusieurs phases de l'Eawag et de l'Office fédéral suisse de l'environnement (OFEV)

Changement climatique et biodiversité aquatique
Der Rückgang der biologischen Vielfalt ist neben dem Klimawandel eines der drängendsten Umweltprobleme der heutigen Zeit. Das Synthesezentrum Biodiversität bündelt Erkenntnisse und macht sie allgemein verfügbar.

Translational Centre Biodiversity Conservation (TCBC)
Die Architektur von Artgemeinschaften und trophischen Netzwerke in blau-grünen Ökosystemen

Architektur von blau-grünen Gemeinschaften
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
Warum blühen giftige Cyanbakterien? ...

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

Alpine Streams and Flow Intermittency
La collaboration entre l’Eawag et le WSL a pour objectif d’effectuer des recherches sur la biodiversité à l’interface des écosystèmes aquatiques et terrestres.

Initiative de recherche Blue-Green Biodiversity

Autres projets de recherche

Dernières 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.

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