Research at the Research Group Ecohydrology and Biogeochemistry

The research group focuses on interactions between hydrological processes and elemental cycling and transformations in wetlands and surface waters. To this end we quantify elemental fluxes and identify and characterize biogeochemical and geochemical processes with chemical-analytical techniques. Mathematical Simulation models and statistical tools are applied in a supportive way to characterize system dynamics and to analyze the interaction of physical, chemical and biological processes. The derived knowledge is used to elucidate the effect of environmental change on wetlands and surface waters on different spatial and temporal scales.

Currently we investigate in several projects for example:

• the impact of drought, flooding and water transport on carbon, sulphur and iron transformations and carbon fluxes in peatlands
• the effects of long-term nitrogen deposition, raised temperatures, or restoration after peat harvesting or agricultural land use on the sequestration and mobility of carbon and nitrogen in European peatlands
• the impact of groundwater inflow on biogeochemical processes and the surface water quality of acidic mine lakes in Eastern Germany
• carbon sequestration and the physical and chemical controls thereof in lakes, such as Lake Simcoe (Ontario)
• the role of redox transformations of humic substances for anaerobic electron flow and trace gas emissions in peatlands