Abteilung Oberflächengewässer

Oberflächengewässer - Forschung & Management (Surf)

Wir untersuchen sowohl einzelne Prozesse in aquatischen Systemen als auch ganze Systeme natürlicher Gewässer.
Neben der Grundlagenforschung und der interdisziplinären Systemanalyse stehen anwendungsnahe Projekte besonders im Fokus.

Erfahren Sie mehr

News

Otto-Jaag-Preis für 2025 doppelt verliehen

Das Abschmelzen der Gletscher verändert die Nahrungsnetze in den Gewässern, wie hier in Grönland, aber auch im alpinen Raum. (Foto: Coralie Moccetti)
13. März 2026 –

Isotopenmarker zum Aufschlüsseln von Nahrungsnetzen und deren Veränderung nutzen sowie Wege und Anreicherung von Schadstoffen in Wasserorganismen verfolgen – gleich für zwei spannende und thematisch sehr aktuelle Doktorarbeiten...

Isotopenmarker zum Aufschlüsseln von Nahrungsnetzen und deren Veränderung nutzen sowie Wege und Anreicherung von Schadstoffen in Wasserorganismen verfolgen – gleich für zwei spannende und thematisch sehr aktuelle Doktorarbeiten wurde 2025 der Otto-Jaag-Gewässerschutzpreis verliehen.
Weiterlesen

Weitere News

Neuste Publikationen

Koch, T. L., Hobi, M. L., Morsdorf, F., Damm, A., Weber, D., Rüetschi, M., … Waser, L. T. (2025). Assessing intraspecific variation of tree species based on sentinel-2 vegetation indices across space and time. Remote Sensing, 17(12), 2094 (20 pp.). doi:10.3390/rs17122094, Institutional Repository

Forest ecosystems are vital for biodiversity, climate regulation, and ecosystem services. Their resilience depends not only on species diversity but also on intraspecific variation—the genetic and phenotypic differences within species—which underpins adaptive capacity to environmental change. However, large-scale, continuous monitoring of intraspecific variation remains challenging. Here, we present a remote sensing approach using Sentinel-2 time series of five vegetation indices as proxies for pigment content, canopy structure, and water content to detect intraspecific variation in seven tree species across a broad environmental gradient in Switzerland. Using pure-species plot data from the Swiss National Forest Inventory, we decomposed variation into spatial, temporal, and spatiotemporal components. We found that spatial variation dominated in evergreen species (48–86%), while temporal variation was more pronounced in deciduous species (56–82%), reflecting their stronger seasonality. These findings demonstrate that species-specific Sentinel-2 time series can effectively track intraspecific variation, providing a scalable method for forest monitoring. This approach opens new pathways for studying forest adaptation, informing management strategies, and guiding species selection for conservation under changing climate conditions.
Camperio, G., Ladd, S. N., Prebble, M., De Jonge, C., Schneider, T., Argiriadis, E., … Dubois, N. (2025). Human–climate–environment interactions in Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu during the past millennium. Frontiers in Earth Science, 13, 1613262 (19 pp.). doi:10.3389/feart.2025.1613262, Institutional Repository

Over the past millennium, the tropical Pacific Islands of Remote Oceania have experienced significant transformations caused by different waves of human settlement and climatic variability. However, many sites remain to be explored for their archeological potential, and the complex climatic setting of the tropical Pacific further complicates our understanding of past environmental and societal changes. In this study, we applied a multi-proxy approach to sediment cores extracted from ponds on the west coast of Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu to investigate past human-climate-environment dynamics. Through the analysis of human-associated proxies including fecal markers, palmitone (a specific lipid biomarker for taro), crop pollen and sedimentary charcoal, we inferred changes in human presence and activities. We reconstructed past hydroclimate from leaf wax hydrogen isotopes (δ2HLW) and past temperatures from branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (brGDGTs). Changes in pollen reveal major shifts in local and regional vegetation. In our record, the period from 1000 to 1300 CE was characterized by warm/wet conditions concomitant with demographic expansion inland. Around 1400 CE, pollen, leaf wax distributions, and δ2HLW data indicated a drier period. The coincident decrease in palmitone, despite high charcoal and fecal marker concentrations, suggested that drier conditions might have rapidly restricted taro cultivation, but not the overall population, which declined more than a century later. We hypothesize that the establishment of one of the earliest European settlements in Oceania in 1606 CE further disrupted local demographics with the introduction of epidemic diseases. This study contributes to our understanding of the intricate relationship between human activities, climatic fluctuations, and landscape modifications in Remote Oceania over the past millennium.
Storelli, N., Sepúlveda Steiner, O., Di Nezio, F., Roman, S., Buetti-Dinh, A., & Bouffard, D. (2025). Physically stable yet biologically sensitive: multiyear ecological dynamics of anoxygenic phototrophs in stably redox-stratified Lake Cadagno. Aquatic Sciences, 87(2), 58 (12 pp.). doi:10.1007/s00027-025-01183-1, Institutional Repository

Lake Cadagno is a meromictic alpine lake characterized by permanent stratification, which creates a permanent anoxic environment that supports the growth of anoxygenic phototrophic sulfur bacteria. The seasonality and interseasonality of these microorganisms were examined over a three-year period (2019–2021) through regular monitoring of the water column. A variety of physical–chemical parameters, including temperature, conductivity, light, oxygen and sulfide concentrations, and the community composition of anoxygenic phototrophic sulfur bacteria in the chemocline were recorded, to observe potential influence of external weather conditions. Our findings indicate that, despite the lake’s consistent physical and chemical stratification, the composition of the anoxygenic phototrophic sulfur bacteria community exhibited notable variations in response to external environmental factors, including changes in rainfall and light irradiance. Specifically, we observed different growth dynamics in the purple (PSB) and green (GSB) sulfur bacteria communities over the three years of monitoring. These variations underscore the complexity of biogeochemical cycles in meromictic lakes and the impact of external environmental factors on this ancestral microbial community dynamics. The results provide valuable insights into the stability of redox-stratified environments, offering a modern analog for ancient aquatic ecosystems. This research emphasizes the importance of long-term regular monitoring to capture interannual dynamics and assess the implications of climate change on such unique ecosystems.

Surf Seminare

Weitere
30.03.​2026,
13:00 Uhr
Eawag Kastanienbaum, Seminar room Seeheim & online via Zoom
A research journey to the essence of the water-energy-food nexus across continents and cultures

Kastanienbaum Seminar

13.04.​2026,
13:00 Uhr
Eawag Kastanienbaum, Seminar room Seeheim & online via Zoom
Understanding human behavior and the role of science in a changing climate

Kastanienbaum Seminar

Weitere

Graduate Studies in unserer Abteilung

Video über Graduate Studies in der Abteilung Oberflächengewässer

Video über Graduate Studies in unserer Abteilung

Forschungsprojekte

In den kommenden 80 Jahren werden in der Schweiz 4‘000km Fliessgewässer revitalisiert – eine einmalige Chance für einen Lernprozess!

Wirkungskontrolle bei Flussrevitalisierungen
Die Veränderung des Klimas wirkt sich auch auf die Seen aus. Wir untersuchen die Zusammenhänge in diesem komplexen System mit der Analyse von globale Daten und mit lokalen Fallstudien.

Klimawandel und Seen
Une nouvelle plateforme de recherche multidisciplinaire pour le lac Léman.

Lac Léman Exploration
Mikroben können Metalle "atmen", und Metalle können auch als Aufzeichnungen über die Vergangenheit der Erde dienen. In diesem Projekt werden diese Funktionen von Metallen in anoxischen Seen untersucht.

Biogeochemischer Kreislauf an oxisch-anoxischen Grenzen
We try to understand the bulk and compound specific carbon and nitrogen isotopic compositions in food chains.

Ecology of food chain in freshwater systems
Abwasser ist mit antibiotikaresistenten Bakterien belastet. Wir untersuchen ihre Ausbreitung in die Umwelt und Gegenmassnahmen.

Antibiotikaresistenzen als Umweltkontamination
IsoTalk - Dynamik der Isochrysidales Blüte in Schweizer Seen: Auf dem Weg zu einem Alkenone-Paläothermometer für Seen in den mittleren Breiten.

Dynamik der Isochrysidales Blüte in Schweizer Seen
Wie kann die Erdbeobachtung genutzt werden, um die Handlungsspielräume der Wasserwirtschaft im Klimawandel abzuschätzen.

Sichere Optionen im Management von Wasserressourcen

Weitere aktuelle Forschungsprojekte