Tasks

• Ecology and biodiversity of small water bodies in agricultural landscapes and their role as habitats and structural elements of agriculturally dominated landscapes.
• Effects of agricultural land use and plant protection products on aquatic communities, in particular macroinvertebrates, aquatic plants and ecological functions.
• Monitoring, entry pathways and ecological assessment of pesticide exposure in agricultural water bodies, including spatial and temporal exposure patterns as well as multiple and delayed stressors.
• Development and application of ecological indicators and assessment approaches that capture direct and indirect effects of agricultural stressors on aquatic ecosystems.
• Linkages between aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems in agricultural landscapes, in particular the transfer of matter and energy via emerging aquatic insects into terrestrial food webs.