As part of the Water Institute's WaterTalks lecture series and co-sponsored by the Department of Applied Mathematics, Professor Hilmar Hofmann, will present "Importance and Effects of Physical Processes in Lake Ecosystems."
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Lake ecosystems are highly affected by physical processes that act on different spatial and temporal scales. Intensive empirical field investigations combined with numerical modelling facilitate a generalization of these results in space and time. In addition, only multidisciplinary approaches in the field of environmental physics that link with related disciplines, e.g., sedimentology, freshwater ecology, geochemistry, microbial ecology, ecotoxicology, and climatology allow to understand the complex linkages and pathways in lake ecosystems. The talk will present a broad spectrum of case studies that give insights into this field of research focusing on shallow water processes, plankton dynamics, and sources, pathways and budgets of methane in lakes.
Speaker Bio
Dr. Hilmar Hofmann is Assistant Professor in the Environmental Physics Group and Academic Councilor at the Limnological Institute of the University of Konstanz. The Limnological Institute is one of the top addresses and references for Limnology within Germany and Europe and i.a. a new Research Training Group (R3) was just established which comprises more than 15 PhD candidates who investigate responses to biotic and abiotic changes, resilience and reversibility of lake ecosystems in a team.
Research interests:
Dr. Hofmann’s research is based on multidisciplinary approaches in the field of environmental physics that links his expertise in physical limnology and environmental sciences with related disciplines, e.g., freshwater ecology, geochemistry, microbial ecology, ecotoxicology, and climatology. It is based on intensive empirical field investigations that he combines with numerical modelling to allow for generalization of the results in space and time. His main research interests are:
- Shallow water processes, e.g. surface waves, currents, sediment dynamics, effects on biota;
- Large- and small scale transport processes
- GHG-emissions and budgets from/in lakes;
- Growth, migration and distribution of plankton as well as lake metabolism
The aim of his research is a process based and mechanic understanding of the dynamic interactions within aquatic ecosystems from a physical perspective e.g., the role of physical processes on distribution of nutrients, dissolved substances and particles, and interactions of organisms within the ecosystem.