Thomas Mehner

Dr. Thomas Mehner is a Senior Researcher and Working Group Leader at the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB) in Berlin, where he leads the Research Group for Food Web Ecology and Fish Communities. He previously served as Vice-Director of IGB (2020-2024) and Deputy Director (2016-2019). Since 2012, he has held the position of Private Docent (PD) for Fish Ecology at Humboldt University zu Berlin, formally establishing his academic faculty status.

His research expertise spans fish ecology and limnology, evolutionary ecology and population genetics, and behavioral ecology. His work focuses on freshwater ecosystems, particularly fish community structure, pond ecology, and the impacts of environmental changes on aquatic biodiversity. He is actively involved in multiple significant research projects including FishDistribution (modeling fish distributions under climate change), ODER~SO (investigating the Oder River environmental disaster), and PONDERFUL (as project lead, developing methods for maximizing the use of ponds in climate change adaptation).

Analysis of his recent publications reveals a strong focus on freshwater biodiversity conservation, particularly regarding pond ecosystems and their role in supporting amphibian and fish species. His work increasingly addresses climate change impacts on freshwater systems, nature-based solutions for water management, and the integration of ecological research with policy implementation across European contexts. His research combines field studies with modeling approaches to understand complex ecological relationships in freshwater environments.

Mehner has been actively publishing since the 1990s, with recent work appearing in high-impact journals including Hydrobiologia, Ecology of Freshwater Fish, and Biodiversity and Conservation. His collaborative approach is evident in the extensive international co-authorship networks across his publications.

His career progression shows consistent advancement in research leadership, beginning with PhD studies at Rostock University (1989-1992), followed by postdoctoral positions at University of Technology Dresden and Innsbruck University, then joining IGB in 1997 as Deputy Head of Department where he has remained throughout his career.