Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management
The Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management group, led by Bart Koelmans, aims to generate novel insights that can help preserving and restoring marine and freshwater ecosystem services. We take a systems approach linking physical, chemical, and biological processes across scales.
Research
The research of the Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management group focuses on the physical, chemical and biological processes occurring in aquatic ecosystems. The main goal is to develop new knowledge and better instruments for restoration and management of these ecosystems.
We conduct freshwater and marine research, centred on three main research themes:
- Transport and fate of micropollutants and nutrients
- Effects of pollution, exploitation and climate on the functioning of aquatic ecosystems
- Resilience and critical transitions in aquatic and other complex non-linear systems
Education
Education by this Chair Group
The Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management Group provides a major learning route, which prepares the student for the MSc thesis Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality. We offer a variety of courses across four MSc programmes, and our professors and lecturers supervise students during their MSc internship, MSc thesis, and PhD projects as well.
Publications & Projects
The research of the Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management Group focuses on the physical, chemical, and biological processes occurring in aquatic ecosystems. The main goal is to develop new knowledge and better instruments for restoration and management of these ecosystems.
The research is multidisciplinary (environmental engineering, environmental chemistry and aquatic ecology) and ranges from the laboratory scale (detailed process studies) to the scale of actual ecosystems (field studies). The multidisciplinary expertise of the team comes together in the development of integrated models for ecosystem and water quality management. The research approach thus is quantitative with a strong emphasis on state-of-the-art statistical and modelling techniques.
Highlighted projects
Highlighted publications
- A brief history of microplastics effect testing: Guidance and prospect
- Asymmetric Micro-Evolutionary Responses in a Warming World: Heat-Driven Adaptation Enhances Metal Tolerance in a Planktonic Rotifer, but Not Vice Versa
- Evaluating the environmental impact of cleaning the North Pacific Garbage Patch
Chair Holder
Bart Koelmans is professor and chair of the Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management Group. His research mainly focusses on the implications of plastic debris for the environment and human health.
prof.dr. AA (Bart) Koelmans
Professor/Chairholder
People of the Chair Group
Each chair group of Wageningen University & Research, under leadership of a professor, has its own area of expertise. Meet the people of Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management.
