Prof. Dr. Andreas Hoffmann

Hydrology, aquatic ecology and water management

In my courses, students get an overview of the structure and function of biocoenoses of still and flowing waters. They acquire knowledge about the ecological requirements of the various indicator organisms as well as the methods for determining water quality and status indicators.On the basis of this fundamental knowledge of the ecology of limnic systems, students gain an in-depth insight into the implementation of the EC Water Framework Directive (EC-WFD) and the Ordinance on the Protection of Surface Waters (OGewV) and the effect of pollution factors resulting from the human use of surface waters and the adjacent floodplain. These include material pollution by nutrients, xenobiotics (especially pesticides, but also microplastics), the change in aquatic biotic communities through the establishment of alien species (neobiota), hydromorphological degradation, and the influence of climate change on native waters. In-lake therapy measures and possibilities of catchment area rehabilitation for standing waters, as well as structural improvement measures and their effects on the ecological status of flowing waters are the focus of the events on the rehabilitation and renaturation of water bodies.

2018

• Investigation of the success of measures to retain sediment and nutrients in the Brunnenbach and Nebelbach streams.
• Ecological redesign of the Altmühl
• Planning of an uncontrolled retention basin by optimising the throttle structure in the valley of the Vils - preparation of a construction design for the water rights procedure
• Water protection in Agriculture
• Beaver territories on the Altmühl in the district of Eichstätt - The effects of the beaver dam on the maroobenthos using the example of the Esselberg stream
• Acoustic concentration measurement with an ADV probe
• Effects of nitrogen discharges from sewage treatment plants on the macrozoobenthos using the example of Gammarus roeseli (measurements with the FRESHWATER-BIOMONITOR)

2017

• Pharmaceuticals in surface waters: Input pathway, effect and elimination
• Integral flood protection concept for the Punibach in the village of Mals

Research foci are in the areas of:

• Restoration and renaturation of surface waters

• Investigations into the recolonisation of renaturalised sections of watercourses,

The focus is on the dispersal potential and pattern of individual species as well as the establishment of biotic communities.

Another area of investigation is the effect of stress factors resulting from human use of surface waters and the adjacent floodplain. These include material pollution through nutrients, xenobiotics (especially pesticides, but also microplastics), the change in aquatic communities through the establishment of alien species (neobiota), and the influence of climate change on native waters.

• German Society for Limnology
• Society for Freshwater Science
• German Association for Water, Wastewater and Waste (DWA)
  

• CLEAN - Soil, Air, Water, EN
• Hydrobiologia, NL ,
• International Review of Hydrobiology, DE
• Journal of the North American Benthological Society, USA
• Journal of Morphology, DE