Before industrialisation, most Austrian lakes were oligotrophic; but they became eutrophic from the 1950ies until the 1980ies. The construction and implementation of sewage treatment plants stopped the input of nutrients into the lakes. Meanwhile many lakes are oligotrophic again or improved their trophic status. Nonetheless, in many cases native fish species are extinct, and/or new species are introduced. In the course of climate change, Austrian lakes are exposed to major changes again. In our long-term sampling data, we registered a continuous warming of the mean surface water temperature between 1.6°C and 2.0°C. This warming results in consequences for the whole lake ecosystem. The assessment of consequences on the native fish communities caused by climate change is recently one of our greatest challenge.
Recent core activities:
- Survey and assessment of the fish ecological status of Austrian lakes according to the EU Water Framework Directive.
- Implementation of the Water Condition Monitoring Ordinance at the large lakes in the Salzkammergut
- Long-term recording of climate-relevant parameters at selected lakes
- Hydroacoustic fish population surveys
- Investigation of the ecology and management of whitefish and Arctic charr stocks
- Standardization and further development of fish stock surveys
- Development of concepts for sustainable management of natural fish stocks
- Quality assured pure water analyses according to EN 45001
- Official expert activities