Key research themes
1. How does anthropogenic activity, including biomonitoring, impact aquatic insect populations and biodiversity?
This research area investigates the direct and indirect effects of human interventions such as environmental monitoring protocols, land use changes, and pollution on the mortality, population dynamics, and biodiversity of aquatic insects. It addresses ethical and conservation concerns related to sampling-induced mortality and broader environmental degradation that threaten insect populations, which are vital for aquatic ecosystem functioning.
2. How do aquatic insect emergences and landscape hydrography interact to influence terrestrial and aquatic ecosystem dynamics?
This theme encompasses the spatial-temporal distribution of emerging aquatic insects across diverse aquatic habitats, their dispersal into terrestrial ecosystems, and how hydrographic mapping and landscape features modulate these processes. Understanding hydrographic complexity and insect emergence patterns is crucial for unraveling subsidies from aquatic to terrestrial food webs and effectively managing ecosystem connectivity.
3. What roles do aquatic insects and associated parasites play in freshwater ecosystems and aquaculture, and how can parasitological insights inform sustainable management?
Research here explores the diversity and ecological significance of aquatic insects as well as the diversity of their parasites in freshwater ecosystems and aquaculture environments. It examines parasite impacts on host organisms, the use of parasites as biological tags for fisheries management, and the development of integrative parasitological approaches to improve fish health and sustainable production practices.