Dr. Bernhard Wegscheider

Research interest

I am a river ecologist with research interests mostly related to modelling flow-habitat relationships of biota to aid conservation and management of rivers. Currently, I am a postdoc at the Institute of Ecology and Evolution and the Wyss Academy for Nature at the University of Bern. I did my undergraduate and MSc degree at the University of Innsbruck, Austria in 2015 and received my doctoral degree at the University of New Brunswick, Canada in 2020. My current research focuses on assessing potential impacts of altered flow regimes, land-use and climate change on elements of biodiversity in rivers and lakes in the Aare catchment. More broadly, my interests include habitat suitability and species distribution modelling, using trait-based approaches to better understand the effects of river regulation on biota, and developing and testing conservation actions to mitigate stressors (hydropeaking, habitat fragmentation) and restore habitats.

Publications

Wegscheider, B., Linnansaari, T., Monk, W. A., Ndong, M., Haralampides, K., St‐Hilaire, A., Schneider, M., & Curry, R. A. (2021). Quantitative modelling of fish habitat in a large regulated river in a changing climate. Ecohydrology, e2318. https://doi.org/10.1002/eco.2318

Wegscheider, B., Linnansaari, T., Ndong, M., Haralampides, K., St-Hilaire, A., Schneider, M., & Curry, R. A. (2021). Fish habitat modelling in large rivers: combining expert opinion and hydrodynamic modelling to inform river management. Journal of Ecohydraulics, 0(0), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/24705357.2021.1938251

Rideout, N. K., Wegscheider, B., Kattilakoski, M., McGee, K. M., Monk, W. A., & Baird, D. J. (2021). Rewilding watersheds: using nature’s algorithms to fix our broken rivers. Marine and Freshwater Research. https://doi.org/10.1071/MF20335

O’Sullivan, A. M., Wegscheider, B., Helminen, J., Cormier, J. G., Linnansaari, T., Wilson, D. A., & Curry, R. A. (2021). Catchment-scale, high-resolution, hydraulic models and habitat maps – a salmonid’s perspective. Journal of Ecohydraulics, 6(1), 53–68. https://doi.org/10.1080/24705357.2020.1768600

Wegscheider, B., Linnansaari, T., Monk, W. A., & Curry, R. A. (2020). Linking fish assemblages to hydro‐morphological units in a large regulated river. Ecohydrology, 13(7), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1002/eco.2233

Wegscheider, B., Linnansaari, T., Wall, C. C., Gautreau, M. D., Monk, W. A., Dolson-Edge, R., Samways, K. M., & Curry, R. A. (2020). Diel patterns in spatial distribution of fish assemblages in lentic and lotic habitat in a regulated river. River Research and Applications, 36, 1014–1023. https://doi.org/10.1002/rra.3615

Wegscheider, B., Linnansaari, T., & Curry, R. A. (2020). Mesohabitat modelling in fish ecology: A global synthesis. Fish and Fisheries, 21(5), 927–939. https://doi.org/10.1111/faf.12477

Wegscheider, B., MacLean, H. O., Linnansaari, T., & Curry, R. A. (2019). Freshwater mussel abundance and species composition downstream of a large hydroelectric generating station. Hydrobiologia, 836(1), 207–218. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-019-3954-3