Understanding the ecological processes that control the structure and function of aquatic ecosystems and their biota, and to predict their responses to environmental change. The research topics include the effects induced by climate change, eutrophication and the alteration of hydrological and thermal regimes on ecosystems and aquatic communities, especially microbial, planktic and benthic taxa.

The expertise of this Unit includes water chemistry, molecular biology, metagenomics, stable isotopes, advanced statistics and analysis of high frequency sensor data. We also characterize bioactive metabolites in microalgae, and have an ecohydraulic system for field experiments (see also: Hydrochemistry Platform).