Christian Hecht
M.Sc. Geoecology
Address
Room 340b
Helmholtz Centre for
Environmental Research - UFZ
Department of Conservation Biology
Permoserstr. 15, 04318 Leipzig
Tel: 0341 60254316
christian.hecht@ufz.de
Projects
ElBiota - Lateral connectivity and biodiversity of the Elbe floodplains
AZOTE - Determining potential nutrient retention rates as an ecosystem service in riparian zones
Main research interests:
- Floodplain ecology, mire ecology
- Monitoring and Vegetation Ecology analyses
- Vegetation dynamics
- Plant traits and their relation to site conditions
- Role of plants on ecosystem functions
- Interaction Soil-Water-Plant
Publications
2025 (5)
- Henkel, S., Richter, R., Andraczek, K., Mundry, R., Dontschev, M., Engelmann, R.A., Hartmann, T., Hecht, C., Kasperidus, H.D., Rieland, G., Scholz, M., Seele-Dilbat, C., Vieweg, M., Wirth, C. (2025):
Ash dieback and hydrology affect tree growth patterns under climate change in European floodplain forests
Sci. Rep. 15 , art. 10117 10.1038/s41598-025-92079-5 - Moeller, L., Wollschläger, N., Hecht, C., Schlosser, D., Dietrich, P., Friesen, J., Trabitzsch, R., Bernhard, K., Otto, P. (2025):
Research Green Roof in Leipzig, Germany
SSRN 10.2139/ssrn.5274922 - Scholz, M., Engelmann, R.A., Burghard, V., Chavez, F., Fausser, J., Frahm, T., Genau, D., Henkel, S., Hecht, C., Löffler, F., Spaarkogel, N., Till, J., Kasperidus, H.D., Walker, F., Wirth, C., Rieland, G. (2025):
Nine years of monitoring ash dieback in the floodplain forest of Leipzig, Germany [dataset]
PANGAEA - Wenskus, F., Hecht, C., Hering, D., Januschke, K., Rieland, G., Rumm, A., Scholz, M., Weber, A., Horchler, P. (2025):
Effects of floodplain decoupling on taxonomic and functional diversity of terrestrial floodplain organisms
Ecol. Indic. 170 , art. 113106 10.1016/j.ecolind.2025.113106 - Wenskus, F., Hecht, C., Horchler, P., Januschke, K., Rieland, G., Scholz, M., Weber, A., Hering, D. (2025):
Unravelling direct and indirect effects of river-floodplain connectivity on biodiversity: insights from the Elbe River floodplains
Biodivers. Conserv. 10.1007/s10531-025-03098-7
2024 (1)
- Rieland, G., Scholz, M., Engelmann, R.A., Hartmann, T., Hecht, C., Henkel, S., Kasperidus, H.D., Pruschitzki, U., Wirth, C., Seele-Dilbat, C. (2024):
Tree inventory dataset of floodplain forest, Leipzig, Germany [dataset]
PANGAEA 10.1594/PANGAEA.968663
2023 (1)
- Hecht, C., Hering, D., Horchler, P., Hoyer, M., Januschke, K., Kaden, U.S., Rieland, G., Rumm, A., Struller, F., Weber, A., Scholz, M. (2023):
Influence of lateral connectivity on floodplain vegetation along the Elbe River
Ergebnisse der Jahrestagung 2022 der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Limnologie (DGL) und der deutschen und österreichischen Sektion der Societas Internationalis Limnologiae (SIL) an der Universität Konstanz vom 19.–23. September 2022, Konstanz
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Limnologie, Essen, S. 82 - 84
2020 (1)
- Kaden, U.S., Fuchs, E., Hecht, C., Hein, T., Rupp, H., Scholz, M., Schulz-Zunkel, C. (2020):
Advancement of the acetylene inhibition technique using time series analysis on air-dried floodplain soils to quantify denitrification potential
Geosciences 10 (11), art. 431 10.3390/geosciences10110431
2017 (1)
- Hecht C., Messinger F., Assan E., Wiche O. (2017): Effect of vegetation cover on concentrations of toxic trace elements, germanium and lanthanum in pore waters of the Davidschacht mine tailings in Freiberg. Freiberg Ecology online 2, 113–137. full text
Posters / Presentations
- Hecht C., Knapp S., Hensen I., Kühn I. (2023): Successional development of vegetation on glacier forefields of the Northern Limestone Alps. 52nd Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of Germany (GfÖ), Leipzig. Poster.
- Hecht C., Hering D., Hoyer M., Januschke K., Kaden U. S., Rieland G., Rumm A., Scholz M., Struller F., Weber A., Horchler P. (2022): Influence of lateral connectivity on floodplain vegetation along the Elbe river. 37. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Limnologie (DGL), Konstanz. Presentation.
- Hecht C., Löffler F., Kaden U. S., Schulz-Zunkel C., Rupp H., Fuchs E., Horchler P., Symmank L., Scholz M. (2018): Vegetationsökologische und standortkundliche Untersuchungen an den Flussauen von Elbe, Rhein, Main und Weser im Rahmen des AZOTE-Projektes. 8. Auenökologischer Workshop, Gießen. Poster.
Academic education
10/15 - 10/19
Master of Science in Geoecology and Landscape Ecology at Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg and University of Greifswald
Master thesis: Comparative analyses of vegetation and site characteristics at selected floodplain sections of the rivers Elbe, Rhine, Main and Weser
10/08 - 12/2012
Bachelor of Science in Environmental Monitoring and Analysis at HTW Dresden
Bachelor thesis: "Measurement of water potential in roots and leaves of selected
european beech provenances within the framework of an international provenance trial"
Professional activities
since 2023
Helmholtz-Centre for Environmental Research, Leipzig
Department of Community Ecology, WG Macroecology & Vegetation Science
- PhD-Project: » Successional development of vegetation and related ecosystem services on glacier forefields of the Northern Limestone Alps «
since 05/2017
Helmholtz-Centre for Environmental Research, Leipzig
Department of Nature Conservation Biology, WG Floodplain Ecology
- Working in AZOTE-Project, MediAN-Project, Lebendige Luppe, ElBiota, Research Green Roof, Vegetation Survey in Glacier forefields ...
04- 07/2017
TU Bergakademie Freiberg
Research Assistant
04 - 10/2015
Michael Succow Foundation, Greifswald
Research Assistant
09 - 10/2014
Ökotop GbR, Halle (Saale)
Technical Employee
03 - 08/2014
Ökotop GbR, Halle (Saale)
Intern
03 - 08/2014
Helmholtz-Centre for Environmental Research, Halle (Saale)
Research Assistant for the project "Carbowert" at Department of Soil Ecology
04 - 10/2013
SLU Sveriges Lantbruksuniversitet / Faculty of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences / Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment Uppsala / Umeå (Schweden)
Participating in Leonardo da Vinci for vocational education and training
- Working on different research projects: - Hydrological connectivity in boreal region; - Evasion of mercury from boreal mires; - Quantifying mercury level in fish from lakes in Northern Sweden; - CO2-Evasion from streams and soils, - Riparian soils influence on water quality, - Stream and wetland mapping
04 - 10/2013
Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Department Soil and Water Science
Practice project
- Contributing in a research on formation of biological and chemical fouling in irrigation systems
Further qualifications
- Centre for university continuing education at University of Koblenz-Landau: Water protection, qualification for water protection commissioner according to §§ 64 - 65 WHG
- Apprenticeship for perennial gardener