Functional and compositional responses of stream microphytobenthic communities to multiple stressor increase and decrease (A03)

• Subject Area: Hydrogeology, Hydrology, Limnology, Urban Water Management, Water Chemistry, Integrated Water Resources Management ; Ecology and Biodiversity of Plants and Ecosystems
• Term: since 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 426547801

A03 aims to assess compositional responses (by microscopy and DNA metabarcoding) in parallel with functional changes (in photosynthesis-related traits) of microphytobenthos to stressor in-crease and decrease in the ExStream experiments and in the two case study catchments. It is ex-pected that photosynthesis related traits are largely decoupled from community composition un-der moderate stressor levels and that microphytobenthos shows faster recovery than macroorgan-isms.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 1439: Multilevel response to stresser increase and release in stream ecosystems
• Applicant Institution: Universität Duisburg-Essen
• Project Head: Professor Dr. Bánk Beszteri