Integrated monitoring and modeling to disentangle the complex spatio-temporal dynamics of urbanized streams under drought stress.

We have a poor understanding of how urban drainage and other engineered components interact with more natural hydrological processes in green and blue spaces to generate stream flow. This limits the scientific evidence base for predicting and mitigating the effects of future development of the built environment and climate change on urban water resources and their ecosystem services. Here, we synthesize > 20 years of environmental monitoring data to better understand the hydrological function of the 109-km Wuhle catchment, an important tributary of the river Spree in Berlin, Germany.

Microcosm experiment combined with process-based modeling reveals differential response and adaptation of aquatic primary producers to warming and agricultural run-off.

Fertilizers, pesticides and global warming are threatening freshwater aquatic ecosystems. Most of these are shallow ponds or slow-flowing streams or ditches dominated by submerged macrophytes, periphyton or phytoplankton. Regime shifts between the dominance of these primary producers can occur along a gradient of nutrient loading, possibly triggered by specific disturbances influencing their competitive interactions.

A functional definition to distinguish ponds from lakes and wetlands.

Ponds are often identified by their small size and shallow depths, but the lack of a universal evidence-based definition hampers science and weakens legal protection. Here, we compile existing pond definitions, compare ecosystem metrics (e.g.