Understanding ecohydrological fluxes and storage dynamics in a drought sensitive lowland catchment, NE Germany

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Updated: 15/12/2025
Understanding ecohydrological fluxes and storage dynamics in a drought sensitive lowland catchment, NE Germany

Project Overview

characterised by intermittent streams plus including wetland areas

Conserve Process YES
Enhance Process YES
Apply Complementary YES

Ecosystem Services

Provisioning

  • Provisioning Services are ecosystem services that describe the material or energy outputs from ecosystems. They include food, water and other resources.

Regulating

  • Regulating Services are the services that ecosystems provide by acting as regulators eg. regulating the quality of air and soil or by providing flood and disease control.

Habitat / Supporting

  • Ecosystem services "that are necessary for the production of all other ecosystem services". These include services such as nutrient recycling, primary production and soil formation.

Cultural

  • Cultural Services corresponds nonmaterial benefits people obtain from ecosystems through spiritual enrichment, cognitive development, reflection, recreation, and aesthetic experiences.

Major Issues

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No issues provided.

EH Engineering Solutions

Sensors and technologies to monitor and quantify

Sensors and technologies to monitor and quantify different ecohydrological fluxes at the athmosphere-plant-soil-groundwater-water continuum, as well as in-stream ecohydrological processes.

eDNA

eDNA

Sapflux, transpiration rates, Eddy covariance, dendrometers, LAI,

Sapflux, transpiration rates, Eddy covariance, dendrometers, LAI, remote sensing (NDVI)

All our flow measurements are analysed under

All our flow measurements are analysed under the concept of providing environmental flow. A major issue is the intemittence of the streams in the catchment and thus, a major question: how can environmental flows be provided and extended in the stream system

Project Activities

  • This is a long-term ecohydrological monitoring site with several PhD and Postdoc projects being based there. Since 2018, there is extensive monitoring taking place across the entire catchment:
  • Extensive ecohydroological monitoring at different spatial scales (weekly-daily time resolution), in parts since > 30 yrs
  • other intensiev monitoring since 2018
  • - Monitoring of hydroclimate via 2 Automatic weather stations in the catchment (plus use of climate data from nearby stations from the German weather service)
  • - Monitoring of discharge is occuring at different locations (nested) throughout the catchment
  • - Monitoring of groundwater levels occurs at 11 groundwater wells (spatially distributed throughout the catchment)
  • - Monitoring of soil moisture occurs at 6 locations (covering different landuse-soil units)
  • - Geophysical transects were conducted to characterise subsurface water storage
  • - Regular (daily - weekly) sampling of water stable isotopes in different waters (precipitation, groundwater, soil water, plant water, streamwater)
  • - Regular (daily - weekly) sampling of water chemistry in stream water
  • - Vegetation dynamics: Sapflux, transpiration, NDVI (remote sensing), LAI, stemdynamics etc.
  • - eDNA monitoring

Expected Outcomes

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Latest Results

No results provided yet.

Social-Ecological System

Integrated view of principles, objectives, stakeholders and methodology.

Ecohydrology Principles and Solutions

Hydrological Quantification
  • Quantification of the hydrological processes at catchment scale and mapping the impacts
Ecological Identification
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Ecological Engineering & Nature-based Solutions
  • Sensors and technologies to monitor and quantify different ecohydrological fluxes at the athmosphere-plant-soil-groundwater-water continuum, as well as in-stream ecohydrological processes. | eDNA | Sapflux, transpiration rates, Eddy covariance, dendrometers, LAI, remote sensing (NDVI) | All our flow measurements are analysed under the concept of providing environmental flow. A major issue is the intemittence of the streams in the catchment and thus, a major question: how can environmental flows be provided and extended in the stream system

Objectives

EH Objectives
Water 5/5
Biodiversity 3/5
Services 3/5
Resilience 5/5
Cultural Heritage 0/5
Project Objectives
  • Culture, very diverse landowner ship (catchment is part of former GDR East Germany) as a major new project CLiwac https://www.cliwac.de/en/index.html we are currently exploring the aspect of culture and how we can implement this towards understanding and improving ecohydrology Education, as a major new project CLiwac https://www.cliwac.de/en/index.html we are currently exploring the aspects of education and how we can implement this towards understanding and improving ecohydrology Law, as a major new project CLiwac https://www.cliwac.de/en/index.html we are currently exploring the aspects of law and how we can implement this towards understanding and improving ecohydrology Policy, collaboration with local boards. as a major new project CLiwac https://www.cliwac.de/en/index.html we are currently exploring the aspects of policy and how we can implement this towards understanding and improving ecohydrology Governance, collaboration with local boards

Key Stakeholders

Humbold University Berlin Umweltamt Ministerium für Landwirtschaft Umwelt und Klimaschutz des Landes Brandenburg (H. Lengsfeld) Gut & Boesel Finck Stiftung gGmbH, Schlossstr. 19, 15518 Briesen (Mark), Brandenburg German Weather Service Wasser-und Bodenverband Untere Spree Environmental NGOs such as BUND, NABU (Naturschutzbund Deutschland e.V), Gruene Liga. Umweltamt Ministerium für Landwirtschaft Umwelt und Klimaschutz des Landes Brandenburg (H. Lengsfeld) Environmental NGOs such as BUND NABU (Naturschutzbund Deutschland e.V), Gruene Liga. Landowners: Gut & Boesel Finck Stiftung gGmbH, Schlossstr. 19, 15518 Briesen (Mark), Brandenburg

Methodology

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