The current newsletter of our institute with the focus on long-term ecological research on the Lunz water bodies and their catchment area presents the FuturAqua project as a forward-looking initiative for qualitative data collection and analysis.
On June 6th 2023, WasserCluster Lunz has signed a practical arrangement with the International Atomic Energy Agency on cooperations in the area of isotpoe research and methods development in freshwater environments. Thanks to Len Wassenaar and Martin Kainz, we are looking forward to an exciting collaboration.
From May 10-12, members of the DCNAustria association held a training event at the Biological Station Lunz at the invitation of the consulting company IRIS as part of the EU disaster exercise FORMATEX23. In the talk with WCL-GF Gabriele Weigelhofer, among other things, the long-term effects on ecosystems after flood disasters due to input and accumulation of pollutants - such as from pesticides, medical products, fertilizers or microplastics - were discussed. Photo: ©IRIS
On May 2, we welcomed a team of the GFF NÖ at the WasserCluster Lunz. The group around managing director Barbara Schwarz got an impression of the research work at the institute from the working group leaders and could get a picture of the infrastructure and current projects.
Photo: © GFF NÖ
ICP Waters, the International Cooperative Program for assessment and monitoring of the effects of air pollution on rivers and lakes, held its annual Task Force Meeting this time at WasserCluster Lunz from May 09-11. On-site and online, international policy makers and researchers participated to discuss the latest results of the LTRAP Convention and agree on priorities for the following year.
We congratulate Anna-Lisa Dittrich on her master thesis "The impact of woodchips and biochar on nutrient retention in agricultural streams". She successfully defended it on March 17, 2023 under the supervision of Gabriele Weigelhofer at BOKU. Her work was carried out at WasserCluster Lunz and deals with the use of bioreactors made of woodchips or activated carbon for the removal of dissolved nitrogen from agriculturally polluted waters.
On January 26th and 27th our annual hybrid meeting with the Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) took place at WasserCluster Lunz. The eight members of the Scientific Advisory Board discussed future scientific projects with the working group leaders at the WCL as well as with students in small groups about funding opportunities and possibilities to improve workflows and time management.
The working group AquaScale at WasserCluster Lunz wins the Ferry Starmühler Prize. With the expose of her master thesis Carina Leimhofer won the prize for the promotion of research on freshwater organisms for young scientists. With her topic: "Salinization of inland waters and effects on their phytoplankton communities", she was ceremoniously awarded the prize on 25. 1. 2023 at the Haus des Meeres Vienna.