A delegation of top-ranking researchers from the universitys Egerton (Kenya), Bahir Dar (Ethiopia) and Cape Town (South Africa) visited WasserCluster Lunz in the end of September. Many of the scientists worked in Lunz in the course of their training at the Biological Station Lunz. They were impressed by the development of the research center and interested in cooperations for the future.
From virtual skydiving to catching zooplankton – at the European Researchers’ Night on September 25th in Vienna more than 100 scientists at more than 50 stations provided insights into science and research. The researchers of WasserCluster were there too.
In developing countries, including East Africa, people are still grappling with health problems due to pollutants in municipal wastewater effluents. Najib Bateganya Lukoyaa investigated in his PhD thesis how constructed wetlands can help in this case. In september he successfully finished his thesis.
Abstract
The two hungarian researchers Csaba Vad and Andràs Abonyi received each an Ernst Mach Grant from the Austrian Agency for International Cooperation in Education and Research (OeAD), which enables them to work five months at WasserCluster. Both scientists pursue the research of pytoplankton. Csaba Vad started already in September, Andràs Abonyi will work at WasserCluster from October on.
Thippavanh Maniphousay successfully finished her master thesis. She investigated the use of Pulse Amplitude Modulated (PAM) fluorescence techniques to observe the periphyton community, like the vegetation of stones beneath the water surface.
As one of the large rivers with greatest biodiversity in Europe, Danube nowadays rapidly loses its ecological functions due to excessive anthropogenic alteration. Zheng Xiaoxiong investigated in his master thesis effects of different modified river habitats on carbon cycling and nutrient dynamic in the river Danube. Recently he graduated successfully.
Changes in land use and intensification of agriculture have led to an increase of phosphorus load in streams. Marine Decrey wrote her master thesis about that topic, under the title „The efficiency of in-stream phosphate uptake and retention along a gradient of in-stream nutrient loading“. Recently she completed her studies successfully.
The hydrological institutes of the Czech Republick and Lower Austria visited WasserCluster Lunz to get informed about the ongoing research. Scientific manager Thomas Hein introduced the research at Lunz, moreover the guests visited the experimental flumes and mayor Martin Ploderer guided them to the natural sights of the region, such as the three lakes at Lunz.