Lena Fehlinger (Project PI) | University of Vienna, WasserCluster  Lunz, DUK (Danube University Krems)

Lena is a principal Investigator of EUROPONDS. Beside that, Lena currently works on her masters thesis on the export of dietary energy from fish ponds at the WCL. Her main research interests are aquatic insects and their biology, the fluxes between aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems and conservation management.

Margaux Mathieu-Resuge | LIPTOX, WCL (Lunz am See), Austria

Margaux Mathieu-Resuge is an aquatic ecologist, specialised in trophic ecology. Her researches focus on the nutrient flows linking ecosystems and how the change in quantity and quality of food sources can affect the physiology of consumers. To explore food web functioning, she applied a set of biochemical tracers such as fatty acids, stable isotopes, and recently compound-specific stable isotopes. Currently, she is working as a Postdoctoral researcher to better understand the export of energy via emerging insects, and how their nutritional values impact the riparian consumers at WasserCluster Lunz, Lunz am See, Austria, funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF Project “AquaTerr”: I 3855-B25).

David Cunillera-Montcusi | FEHM, University of Barcelona

Currently working at the FEHM research group in University of Barcelona. Having defended my PhD thesis on February 2020 and worked in WasserCluster Lunz within AQUACOSMplus H2020 project during one year continuing my early PostDoc experience. My thesis was done at the Research group on Limnology of Mediterranean lagoons and wetlands at the Institute of Aquatic Ecology of the University of Girona (Catalonia, Spain). In Austria, together with Dr. Robert Ptacnik, I worked with Alpine lakes landscapes and global salinization.

I am in love with temporary ponds, their faunal community and their functioning. Alterations generated by disturbances such as wildfire have been my PhD research topics. More specifically, their effects on faunal community and their consequences on network changes, analysing how connectivity and dispersal between ponds can help to cope with these alterations.

Aiming to acquire more knowledge on temporary ponds, their conservation, biodiversity and ecological functioning but also on general ecology of aquatic systems. Currently focusing on the link between theoretical and empirical approaches and how landscape structure, temporal connectivity  and community assembly interact at the metacommunity level of ponds, lakes and rivers. Also in love and interested in large branchiopods, their distribution, conservation and diversity in the Iberian Peninsula and globally.

Martin Sarkezi | MSc student at University of Vienna, Austria

Martin Sarkezi is studying ecology at the University of Vienna. He is currently working on his master’s thesis on distribution patterns of EPT-taxa in a lower Austrian lake outlet. His research interests have mainly been focused on stream ecosystems and their macrozoobenthic communities. Establishing species composition and its change over time for these communities has been his main focus so far.

Biljana Rimcheska (Project PI) | Bulgarian Academy of Sciences

Biljana is a principal Investigator of EUROPONDS. Beside that, she is in the final year of her PhD at Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria. Her research to date has focused on water conservation and biodiversity of aquatic macroinvertebrates (macrozoobenthos) in freshwater ecosystems, their biodiversity and conservation, hydrobiological monitoring, ecological quality assessment, as well as responses of aquatic macroinvertebrates to various hydromorphological conditions. Her enthusiasm to be part of EUROPONDS project are aiming to straighten the collaboration with young researchers, working on same freshwater ecosystems across Europe. 

Darmina Nita | Ph.D. student at University of Bucharest, Romania

Currently her PhD research topic is focused on the effects of hydromorphological changes on the structure of benthic macroinvertebrate communities in streams at different spatial scales, the assessment of stream macroinvertebrate communities resilience under hydromorphological pressures through functional traits, and the biotic linkages between streams and terrestrial systems. Other research interests are the contribution of aquatic insects to ecosystem services and the effects of microplastics on biodiversity and key ecosystem processes.

Valentin Dinu | Ph.D. student at University of Bucharest, Romania

My name is Valentin Dinu, I am an ecologist and PhD Student at University of Bucharest. The subject of my thesis revolves around the impact of multiple stressors (hydro-morphological impact, food quality) upon river benthic invertebrate shredder communities. Other topics of interest are riparian ecosystems, invasive plant species and leaf litter decomposition.

Noël Juvigny-Khenafou | University of Koblenz-Landau, Germany

Noël Juvigny-Khenafou is a postdoc in Prof. Ralf Schäfer’s group at the University of Koblenz-Landau. Noël’s research focuses on the effects of multiple stressors on microbial and invertebrate freshwater communities, aquatic food webs and metacommunities.

Stephen Osakpolor | Ph.D. student at University of Koblenz-Landau, Germany

Osakpolor Stephen has a Bachelor degree in Geography and a Master’s degree in Environmental Science. Currently, he is a Ph.D. student at the University of Koblenz-Landau. His research interest is mainly on anthropogenic effects on the freshwater-riparian linkages. The focus of his Ph.D. research is on developing models on the coupling of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems and how it responds to anthropogenic stress under the SystemLink project at University of Koblenz-Landau. Finally, his hobbies include playing video games, traveling and listening to music. 

Alba Camacho-Santamans | Cavanilles Institute of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology | University of Valencia, Spain

Environmental scientist specialized in limnology. Working on ecosystem services and adaptive management of Mediterranean wetlands. Focused on understanding the effects of the restoration, management and alteration of lakes on climatic regulatory services.

Daniel Morant  | Cavanilles Institute of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, University of Valencia, Spain

Ph.D. student focused on carbon biogeochemistry, modeling carbon balance in future climatic scenarios, and how they respond to alterations and restoration. Applied aspects to the conservation and ecological status methodologies, according to the Habitats and Water Framework Directives.

Anna C. Santamans | Cavanilles Institute of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology |  University of Valencia, Spain

Biologist specialized in limnology and microbiology. Studying microbial diversity and metabolic rates in Mediterranean wetlands, and how they are related to the carbon retention and GHG emissions.

Alberto Scotti | EURAC Institute 

Alberto has just concluded his PhD at the University of Innsbruck with a thesis whose title was: “Alpine running-water macroinvertebrates as sentinels of global changes”. He is now continuing his scientific activities mainly focusing on different aspects of anthropic influence on ecology of alpine lotic environments.

Magdalena Vanek | EURAC Institute

Magdalena just finished her Master in nature conservation & biodiversity management at the University of Vienna with her thesis about macroinvertebrate community responses to anthropogenic disturbances in glacier-fed streams. Currently she continues her work as a junior researcher with a focus on the biodiversity of benthic macroinvertebrates in alpine running waters at EURAC Research.”

Ana Balibrea | University of Azores, Portugal

Ana Balibrea worked on freshwater monitoring for quality status evaluations through macroinvertebrates indicators. Currently, she is researching how litter decomposition mediated by macroinvertebrates and aquatic hyphomycetes is developed in Azores Islands. Ana also participates in a project for prevention and control invasive freshwater species in the archipelago.

Martin Souto | University of Azores, Portugal

Martin Souto is a postdoc at the Unversity of Azores. He worked on plant and insect macrofossils of peatlands in the Iberian Peninsula. Currently, he is researching on plants and insect macrofossils in lake deposits of the Azores archipelago (Project DiscoverAZORES) and monitoring amoebae species distribution in Azores islands. Martin also participates in a project for prevention and control invasive freshwater species in the archipelago.

Veronica Nava | Ph.D. student at University of Milano-Bicocca, Italia

Veronica Nava is a second-year PhD student at the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Milano-Bicocca, Milano (Italy). Her research is focused on the characterization and occurrence of microplastics in freshwater systems and on the interaction of these pollutants with microalgae. She also studies other anthropogenic and climatic stressors acting on freshwater ecosystems.

Pietro Tirozzi | Ph.D. student at University of Milano-Bicocca, Italia

I have a BSc and MSc in Natural Sciences. Currently, I am a PhD student at the University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy (Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences), dealing with animal ecology and conservation. In particular, my research focuses on modelling the effects of land use, habitat fragmentation and climate change on birds’ populations and communities over space and time. I am also interested in freshwater ecology, and I worked on a project for the assessment of biodiversity loss in small lowland streams and springs located in Po Plain (Italy). 

Marina Tomás Martín | Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain

Marina is a senior student of Biology at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. Nowadays, ecology is the area that I have found most exciting and limnology seems to be the path I want to take. In my end project of the degree I am going to study temporary ponds and the patterns of their biodiversity. Europonds is my first project and I cannot wait to get started, I’m sure this is going to be a very enriching experience. 

Jorge Garcia Giron | University of Léon, Spain

Jorge is an early career ecologist interested in the biogeography of aquatic biotas. His research interests centre on community ecology, macroecology and applied statistics to tackle issues of freshwater biodiversity and global change.

Julie Fahy | Ph.D. student at HEPIA University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland (HES-SO)

Julie just completed her Master in environmental sciences at the University of Geneva and is about to start a PhD at HEPIA-GE, the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland (HES-SO). Her master’s thesis revolved around the use of adult dragonflies (Insecta: Odonata) as indicators of the diversity and ecological integrity of alluvial river ecosystems. She currently works on the ecosystem services of networks of ponds as well as the potential of urban ponds to foster biodiversity, most notably aquatic macroinvertebrates and macrophytes.

Teofana Chonova | INRAE, France 

Teofana is a molecular ecologist in the field of limnology. Her research interests center on the application of environmental genomics to study the ecology and ecotoxicology of microbial communities in relation to water quality assessment of rivers and lakes. She uses modern metabarcoding tools assisted by bioinformatic exploration and advanced biostatistics to describe processes shaping biodiversity patterns and ecosystem functioning. During her PhD, completed at the University of Innsbruck, she evaluated the biofilm community response to pollutants originating from treated wastewater effluents. Her current objective as a PostDoc at INRAE is to understand the biogeographical genetic diversity patterns of microbial biofilms with focus on diatoms. She is involved in several international projects related to the use of eDNA for bioindication and she is working on the completion and curation of a reference DNA barcoding library Diat.barcode. With her participation in EUROPONDS, Teofana wishes to expand her knowledge to new taxa and aquatic ecosystems. 

Pierre Marle | Ph.D. student at University of Geneva 

Currently, as a Phd student in aquatic ecology, and a teaching assistant at the University of Geneva, the main objective of my current research is to investigate how the diversity in species assemblages and functionality of floodplain channels came about under the influence of various hydrological and ecological processes. By this way, I (1) develop predictive models and (2) study the role of ecohydrological processes for sustainable floodplain management and for promoting biodiversity and functionality of fluvial systems. I would encourage you to visit my website (http://pierre-marle.mozello.ch/) to get a sense of how I am using the knowledge and skills I have acquired through my education and experiences to respond to the current needs in aquatic research and freshwater ecosystem management.

Ena Suarez | Ph.D. student at University of Geneva

Ena has a BSc in Environmental engineering (Universidad de los Andes, Colombia) and a MSc in Environmental Sciences (University of Geneva, Switzerland). She is currently doing a PhD at the microbial ecology group of the Institut F.A Forel (University of Geneva).  Her thesis main objective is to study the broad scale seasonal and fine scale spatial variation of the deep chlorophyll maximum (DCM) of cyanobacteria in various alpine lakes. Her main research interests are in aquatic ecology, water quality, plankton dynamics and applied limnology. She joined EUROPONDS as is the perfect opportunity to enhance the benefits of an interdisciplinary study and to support young freshwater scientists Initiatives.

Pablo Timoner | Ph.D. candidate at University of Geneva

Pablo Timoner is a Ph.D. candidate at University of Geneva since July 2017. His research aims at assessing the potential impacts of climate change on alpha- and beta-diversity of aquatic macroinvertebrates at the Swiss countrywide scale, using different statistical methods, including Species Distribution Modeling (SDM) and Generalized Dissimilarity Modeling (GDM).

Luca Bonacina | Ph.D. student at University of Milano-Bicocca, Italia

Luca Bonacina is a first-year PhD student at the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Milano-Bicocca, Milano (Italy). His research is focused on the thermal regime of alpine stream and the relationship between temperature and biological communities at different trophic levels. He develops models to predict the riverine thermal regimes and studies the effect of thermal variations on fish, macroinvertebrates and algae. His study includes also the impact of others stressors on freshwater ecosystems and the taxonomic identification of macroinvertebrates (both larvae and adults).

Vojtěch Kolář | Ph.D. student at University of Bohemia, Czech Republic

I am a PhD student interested in freshwater ecology and in conservation biology. My research in ecology has been focused on the effect of habitat complexity and top predator presence on predator-prey interactions in small and fishless pools. On the other hand, my main interest, as conservation biologist, it is focus on assemblages of aquatic beetles, heteropterans and dragonflies in standing waters. I am exploring what these species mostly preferred and what are the drivers which conforms the communities in fishponds, sand pits, pools in spoil heaps and other man-made habitats. Moreover, I am trying to find the path between the fishpond’s management and the protection of nature.

Joana Martelo

I am a researcher at the Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre (MARE) in Lisbon, Portugal. Currently, I study the effects of fish invasions on the food web structure of streams, but I am also  interested in understanding the effects of temperature on trophic and non-trophic interactions for better understanding the ecological impacts of global change on biota.

Agnieszka Sowa | Ph.D. student at University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland

Agnieszka is a hydrobiologist and currently is in the final year of her PhD at Institute of Biology, Biotechnology and Environmental Protection, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland. Her research to date has mainly focused on biodiversity of benthic macroinvertebrates in anthropogenic ponds and responses of macrozoobenthos to various environmental conditions, especially elevated water salinity as well as assessing the importance of saline water bodies as places of occurrence of alien and invasive species.

Dariusz Halabowski | Ph.D. student at University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland

Dariusz is a PhD Student in hydrobiology and a member of the Team of Hydrobiology and Water Monitoring at Institute of Biology, Biotechnology and Environmental Protection, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Silesia in Katowice. His scientific interests focus mainly on the impact of human activity on aquatic biota. Currently, he also works in the COST (European Cooperation in Science & Technology) project  CA18239 – Conservation of freshwater mussels: a pan-European approach. His other scientific activities can be found on the ResearchGate website.

Juan Rubio Rios | Ph.D. student at University of Almeria, Spain

I have a BSc in Environmental Sciences and a MSc in Industrial and Agri-foods Biotechnology. Currently, I work as a PhD student at the University of Almeria. I am interested in how the future scenarios of increasing aridity and plant biodiversity losses will affect the quality and quantity of leaf-litter inputs to low order streams, and its potential effects on fluvial food webs. 

Alfredo Llorente | Ph.D. student at University of Basque Country (UPV/EHU)

Alfredo currently works as analyst in Anbiotek s.l. a Basque environmental consultancy focused on freshwater ecosystems where he mainly develops ecological monitoring and environmental quality evaluations through bioindication with phytoplankton, macrophytes and macroinvertebrates. He is also doing his PhD at University of Basque Country (UPV/EHU) about management in reservoirs and artificial ponds focusing phytoplankton community biomass using HPLC analysis. 

Aleksandra Haba | University of Szczecin, Poland

My name is Aleksandra Haba, I pursue to be a bachelor's student in environmental protection and engineering in the Department of Hydrobiology at the University of Szczecin. My research focuses on how the diversity of macroinvertebrates is shaping in the fish passages. I'm interested in river ecology, but I likewise want to expand my knowledge to other aquatic ecosystems, and participation in Europonds is a great opportunity to accomplish it! 

Katarzyna Kuczyńska | University of Szczecin, Poland

I'm a bachelor student in the Department of Hydrobiology at the University of Szczecin (Poland). My field of study is environmental protection and engineering. Currently, I am focusing on research related to peatlands. The research will indicate whether peat mines can temporarily increase in the diversity of aquatic invertebrate fauna. Also with a bigger team, we explore the influence of aquatic flora (Ranunculion fluitantis, Groenlandia densa) on the diversity of insects in the springs.  I'm very excited to participate and learn a lot with this project.

Karla Münzner | Ph.D. student at Uppsala University, Sweden

Karla is half-way through her PhD at Uppsala University, Sweden. She studies the alga Gonyostomum semen, which causes slimy algal blooms in boreal brown water lakes. Her goal is to find out why those blooms happen, and how they affect the lake ecosystem and lake water quality. 

Simone Moras | Ph.D. student at Uppsala University, Sweden

Simone is a PhD student in Limnology at Uppsala University, Sweden. His research focuses on carbon cycling in inland waters. The aim of his PhD is to develop a new geomorphological-biogeochemical model to quantify methane ebullition and organic carbon burial in inland waters. During his bachelor’s programme, he was involved in a project of pond restoration in North-Eastern Italy. 

Fernando Chaguaceda Borjabad | Postdoc SLU Uppsala, Sweden

Fernando is an early career ecologist interested in the understanding of aquatic food webs, their responses to environmental change and their effects on adjacent terrestrial ecosystems. In order to solve these questions, he has studied lake food webs both in the field and in experimental mesocosms, using stable isotope and fatty acid analyses to characterize fluxes of nutrients and energy within and across ecosystems. His excitement of being part of the EUROPONDS project resides in the great value of compiling evidence at a continental scale, as well as being part of a community that will hopefully boost research collaborations in the future.

Ellinor Jakobsson | MSc student at Uppsala University, Sweden

I'm a MSc student in Limnology at Uppsala University and have for years been interested in both the limnic and marine environment. As for now, I'm digging into the world of macroinvertebrates in Arctic streams and tracking the community changes in response to the extreme environmental challenges they face at northern latitudes.

Rhiannon Mondav | PhD student at Uppsala University, Sweden

Rhiannon originally worked in environmental consultancy at the intersect of monitoring, protection, and industrial/agricultural production. A shift from industry to academia allowed them to narrow their focus to biological investigation of terrestrial macro-micro ecology of agricultural, rainforest, wetland, and permafrost soils. Rhiannon is now rounding out this knowledge base by focusing on aquatic microbial communities of freshwaters.

Liam Naoise Nash | PhD student at Queen Mary, University of London

Liam is a 2nd year PhD student on the London NERC DTP program, primarily based at Queen Mary, University of London. His research focuses on the impact of aquatic subsidies, in the form of emerging insects, on riparian arthropod communities across multiple spatial scales, from metres to catchments to latitudes.  He has worked with terrestrial and aquatic invertebrate communities in several tropical and temperate ecosystems and is interested in comparing patterns and processes between biomes. More broadly he is interested in cross-ecosystem connectivity, latitudinal patterns, climate change impacts and riparian conservation.

Emma Drohan | Ph.D. student at Dundalk Institute of Technology, Ireland 

Emma has a BSc in Field Biology from the Institute of Technology Tralee, Ireland. In November 2019, Emma received a PhD position in Dundalk Institute of Technology, Ireland, to study Carbon fluxes through the littoral zone of Lough Feeagh, Burrishoole Catchment, Co. Mayo, Ireland. Emma’s PhD further evolved to incorporate freshwater catchment biodiversity and the potential role of biological communities in Carbon cycling. This has led to the utilisation of historical macroinvertebrate data from Lough Feeagh over a 48-year period. Emma plans to further analyse catchment macroinvertebrate communities prior to commencing fieldwork in the summer of 2021.

Maria Caldero Pascual | Ph.D. student at Dundalk Institute of Technology, Ireland

Maria has a BSc in Biotechnology and a Master in Water Science and Technology from University of Girona, Spain. In September 2017, Maria received a PhD position in Dundalk Institute of Technology, Ireland, to study nutrient and planktonic community dynamics in the Burrishoole Catchment, Ireland. As part of her PhD research Maria has been sampling Lough Feeagh (i.e. a dystrophic, monomictic, deep lake) for water chemistry, planktonic community composition and seston and zooplankton nutrient content (i.e. ecological stoichiometry). During summer 2019 Maria received an AQUACOSM Transnational Access grant to participate in a mesocosm experiment with an individual research project called AlloEcoMetry, in the Middle East Technical University, Turkey. The mesocosm experiment aimed to investigate pelagic ecosystem responses to different pulses of terrestrial organic matter. During this 2020, seasonal campaigns in the Burrishoole catchment have been in place to monitor specific zooplankton taxa and terrestrial fatty acids and stable isotope signatures to establish the relative importance of allochthonous vs autochthonous carbon to primary consumers in a dystrophic lake such as Lough Feeagh. Collaborating in the EUROPOND group is a nice opportunity to exchange and create more knowledge to better understand the dynamics of freshwater ecosystems as well as contribute to interlink specific PhD research and build essential science communication networks. 

Marta Zawadzka | Ph.D student at University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Poland

Marta is Ph.D student at the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn and has for years been interested in the aquatic macroinvertebrate. Her research focuses on the biodiversity of small water reservoirs located on agricultural areas and their impact on the biological richness of all freshwater bodies.

Dawid Dąbrowski | Ph.D student at University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Poland

Dawid is second year PhD student at the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn. His research focuses on the aquatic macroinvertebrate biodiversity of fresh and brackish waters,  ecological status of waters determining on the basis of the benthic communities, as well as on the introduction and influence of alien species on native macroinvertebrate populations.

Francesca Vallefuoco | Ph.D. student at University of Trento | Research Centre "Edmund Mach Foundation"

Her research focuses on the investigation of macroinvertebrate responses in freshwater ecosystems to hydromorphological alterations due to hydropower production, land use, and riverbank modifications with particular attention to the assessment of ecological flow in regulated rivers.

Benjamin Misteli | Ph.D. student at University of Rennes 1, France

Benjamin is in the second year of his PhD at the "Université de Rennes 1" in France. He studies the effects of mass development of macrophytes and their removal on macroinvertebrates, zooplankton, and phytoplankton communities in a global context with field sites in 5 different countries. 

Rémi Gerber | PhD student at University of Rennes 1, France

Rémi is in the first year of his PhD. He is working on the dispersal of aquatic insects (Ephemeroptera, trichoptera, plecoptera…)  in the terrestrial environments. He is investigating how the insect morphology, their energetic reserves and the surrounding landscapes explain the insect fluxes between aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Rémi has a strong interest in taxonomy and identification, espacially in adults freshwater insects and non-marine gastropods.

Frédéric Labat | Ph.D. student at University of Rennes 1 | Head of Research Department, Cooperative Society Aquabio, France

Naturalist at a very early age, and professional hydrobiologist for 18 years, he is also doing his PhD at the Université de Rennes 1 in France.

Since 2012, his main research topic is small shallow lakes functioning and evaluation, especially through macrophytes and macroinvertebrates analysis. His research has led to BECOME index for French small shallow lakes https://become.aquabio-conseil.com/. Taxonomist for work and play, he loves to identify all wetlands invertebrates at species level, especially « orphan groups » as Diptera and Hydrachnidia.

Jose Manuel Zamora | Postdoc at University of Murcia, Spain

Jose Manuel has a BSc in Biology and a Master in Biodiversity Management in Mediterranean Environments, both from the University of Murcia (Spain). Currently, he is a Postdoc researcher from the Department of Zoology and Physical Anthropology of the University of Murcia. His PhD project focused on the role of small waterbodies (cattle ponds, drinking troughs and artificial pools) to support biodiversity, both terrestrial and aquatic taxa, in semiarid regions. More specifically, Jose Manuel studies the ecological services (water and food supply) provided by small waterbodies for terrestrial biodiversity, mostly for birds. However, he is also exploring the relative contribution of these small isolated freshwater habitats to the regional diversity of different taxa. The last aim of his PhD project was to provide novel data of pond biodiversity for ensuring the long-term protection of small waterbodies in semiarid landscapes, which are increasingly declining due to groundwater overexploitation and the loss of traditional extensive farming.

Marcedes Guerrero Brotons - Ph.D. at University of Muricia, Spain

Mercedes is a Ph.D. student from the Department of Ecology and Hydrology at University of Murcia. She is currently studying biogeochemical and ecological processes of wetlands, with the aim of improving the design of constructed wetlands from an ecological point of view. Due to her interest in knowing the functioning of aquatic ecosystems, she has also participated in other studies in freshwater rivers and in intermittent rivers in her department.

Zeus Freixinos Campillo - Ph.D. at University of Muricia, Spain

Zeus is currently a PhD student in the Department of Ecology and Hydrology at the University of Murcia. His PhD project is focused on the effect of drought on aquatic and terrestrial invertebrate communities that inhabit saline ecosystems. His specialty is taxonomy and the study of trophic networks. Therefore, he is both an aquatic and a terrestrial ecologist, demonstrating the need to integrate both ecosystems in the study and management of intermittent aquatic ecosystems. A nature lover from a very young age, he works in parallel on aspects related to global climate change in arid environments.

Olivera Stamenković | Ph.D. student at University of Niš, Serbia

Olivera is a PhD student at the Department of Biology and Ecology, University of Niš, Serbia. Her current research focuses on the effects of multiple stressors on multi-trophic biodiversity in ponds. She is particularly interested in the ecology and biodiversity of macroinvertebrate communities in lentic ecosystems.

Tamás Bozóki | Ph.D. student at University of Pécs, Hungary

I am a PhD student in the Doctoral Program in Biology and Sport Biology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Pécs, Hungary. I am interested in the structural and functional composition of aquatic macroinvertebrate communities and water quality assessment. My PhD project is focused on macroinvertebrate community structure in small intermittent and ephemeral streams.

Judit Fekete | research assistant at the Institute of Aquatic Ecology of the ELKH, Hungary

I started working with aquatic macroinvertebrates at the beginning of my university studies. During my BSc and MSc I made odonatological studies in and around the Bükk Mountains, Hungary and contributed in several monitoring studies around the country. During my PhD studies, I started to work on the detection of Cordulegaster bidentata and C. heros using eDNA methods and modelling the occurrence of these species. These two topics will form the basis of my forthcoming dissertation. Currently, I am working as a research assistant at the Institute of Aquatic Ecology of the ELKH, Hungary.