12 years of monitoring in Braunschweig rivers

The study was carried out in cooperation with Stadtentwässerung Braunschweig GmbH. Overall, and also in most individual waters, the number of species increased, in particular the typical flowing water species, which indicates an ecological improvement of the waters. It also indicates a high potential for biodiversity in urban areas. The reasons for improved species richness are reduced pollution, reduced mowing and clearance and also increasing restoration. However, the very dry years of 2018 and 2019 again led to a decline in biodiversity in some waters, as the waters dried up temporarily – an indication that climate change can undo efforts to improve the ecological status of water bodies.

Goertzen D, Schneider A-K, Eggers TO & Suhling F (2022): Temporal changes of biodiversity in urban running waters – results of a twelve-year monitoring study. Basic and Applied Ecology, 58: 74-87. Verfügbar von doi.org/10.1016/j.baae.2021.11.007