Research  lines and projects

 Research Line 1: Functioning and conservation of aquatic continental systems under the impact of global change stressors. 

Emerging stressors (i.e microplastic pollution) and  well-recognized (hypoxia, temperature) stressors alike are having a grave impact on the structure and  functioning of the continental aquatic systems in the Anthropocene. Freshwater systems in particular  are vulnerable to the stressors of ongoing climate change and biodiversity crises, with 23% of the  freshwater vertebrates worldwide being assessed as threatened with extinction, as assessed by IUCN.  The objective of this research line is clarification of the non-linear effects of global stressors in the  aquatic environments, by identification of the causes and effects of the insect decline in aquatic  ecosystems, and development of conservation strategies to counter them.  

Selected contributions

1. Baker, N.J., Jourdan, J., Pilotto, F., Wagner, R., Awad, J., Caruso, V., Chimeno, C., Höcherl, A., Ivković, M., Moser, M. and Baranov, V., 2026. Comparing species accumulation within taxonomically well‐and poorly resolved insect groups over 37 years. Insect Conservation and Diversity. Online early access. 

2. Baranov, V., Losana‐García, J., Pascual, J., Bermejo, S. F., & Hamerlik, L. (2025). Impact of temperature and hypoxia on the size and survival of aquatic insects. Ecological Entomology. Early view online.   

3. Baranov, V., Jourdan, J., Hunter-Moffatt, B., Noori, S., Schölderle, S., Haug, J.T. (2022). Global size pattern of important ecological indicators (Diptera, Chironomidae) is driven by latitudinal temperature gradients. Insects, 13(1), 34 

4. Jähnig, S. C., Baranov, V., Altermatt, F., Cranston, P. S., Friedrichs‐Manthey, M., Geist, J., He, F., Heino, J., Hering, D., Hölker, F., Jourdan, J., Kalinkat, G., Kiesel, J., Leese, F., Maasri, A., Monaghan, M. T., Schäfer, R. B., Tockner, K., Tonkin, J. D., and Domisch, S. (2020). Revisiting global trends in freshwater insect biodiversity. WIREs Water, e1506, 1-5.

5. Baranov, V., Jourdan, J., Pilotto, Wagner, R., Haase, P. (2020). Complex and nonlinear climate‐driven changes in freshwater insect communities over 42 years. Conservation Biology, 34(5), 1241-1251 

Research line 2: Studying hidden diversity of aquatic systems 

“Dark taxa” are the groups of organisms where 20% or more of the species are remaining undescribed. The large proportion of the undescribed and unknown diversity in aquatic systems (mostly concentrated in insects, mites and nematodes), presents a conservation challenge, as we cannot even record change of the system without knowledge of its elements, let alone conserve it. Objective of this research line is to develop novel techniques for rapid inventory of “dark taxa” in freshwater, overcoming a phenomenon of the “taxonomic impediment” – lack of experts and resources for taxonomic description of organisms.   

Selected contributions

1. Fusari, L.M., Höcherl, A., Chimeno, C. and Baranov, V., 2026.  A new species and record of Xestochironomus Sublette & Wirth, 1972 (Diptera, Chironomidae) from the Dominican Republic, with males and females associated by DNA barcode. ZooKeys, 1266, 219.  

2. Baranov, V., Lin, X., Hübner, J.,  & Chimeno, C. (2024).Uncovering the hidden diversity of non-biting midges (Diptera, Chironomidae) from central Namibia, using morphology and DNA barcodes. African Invertebrates, 65(1), 13-36.  

3. Chimeno, C., Rulik, B., Manfrin, A., Kalinkat, G., Hölker, F., & Baranov, V. (2023). Facing the infinity: tackling large samples of challenging Chironomidae (Diptera) with an integrative approach. PeerJ, 11, e15336.  

Research line 3: Reconstructing baseline of aquatic ecosystems and studying their long-term development.

Due to the relatively short-term nature of the most monitoring programs in continental waters (mostly less than 20 years) we are prevented from making some informed conservation decisions (“what is a pre-anthropogenic “functional” state of ecosystems? How did it change? What should we strive to conserve?). The Objective of this research line is to use palaeobiological data to reconstruct baseline of the ecosystem change where monitoring data are not available, and to inform aquatic conservation.

Selected contributions

1. Baranov, V., McCurry, M. R., Amaral, A. P., Beattie, R., & Trewick, S. A. (2026). The oldest Gondwanan non-biting midge (Diptera, Chironomidae, Podonominae) sheds light on the historical biogeography of the clade. Gondwana Research.  

2. Baranov, V., Frese, M., Beattie, R., Djokic, T., McCurry, M. (2024) New aquatic insects from the Miocene of Australia with notes on the ecology and ontogeny of a new species of Chaoborus (Diptera, Chaoboridae). Papers in palaeontology 10(4), e1508. 

3. Baranov, V., Frese, M., Beattie, R., Djokic, T., McCurry, M. (2024) New aquatic insects from the Miocene of Australia with notes on the ecology and ontogeny of a new species of Chaoborus (Diptera, Chaoboridae). Papers in palaeontology 10(4), e1508. 

4.  McCurry, M. R., Cantrill, D. J., Smith, P. M., Beattie, R., Dettmann, M., Baranov, V., Magee, C., Nguyen, J. M. T., Forster, M. A., Hinde, J., Pogson, R., Wang, H., Marjo, C. E., Vasconcelos, P., Frese, M. A. (2022). Lagerstätte from Australia provides insight into the nature of Miocene mesic ecosystems. Science Advances – AAAS, 8, eabm1406 

"InsectPTemp"

Project (PID2023-150179NA-I00) “Developing novel biotic paleoclimate proxy based on size - temperature clines of subfossil non - biting midges (Insecta, Diptera, Chironomidae) (InsectPTemp)”, AEI, 181.250 EUR (2024-2027). 

The central objective of this is, for the first time, to test the hypothesis that the size of fossil aquatic insects is a reliable indicator for paleotemperature reconstruction during the lifetime of the fossil species, regardless of their taxonomy. The project is based on my previous work (see contribution 1 – non-biting midges getting smaller with higher temperature). In the first year of the project’s execution we have developed a methodology for the rapid identification of the subfossil non-biting midges (Chironomidae, Diptera) using machine learning and AI. This framework allowed us to rapidly measure specimens of subfossil Chironomidae from 55 lakes from Slovakia, Hungary, Switzerland, Netherlands and Spain. We have found that Chironomidae size was strongly predicting the palaeotemperatures of the lakes (based on the comparison with the other available proxies). We have also conducted a series of the mesocosm experiments in the laboratory, confirming that Chironomidae are getting smaller in the higher temperature. Completion of this project will innovate the way we reconstruct paleotemperatures. This will, in turn, allow rapid access to a large number of paleoenvironmental archives for paleotemperature reconstruction in a simple and efficient manner. 

Project team is made of scientists from Slovakia, Switzerland, Spain as well cooperating with colleagues from New Zealand on machine learning. Project is contributing into the training of associated phd students from the Slovak academy of science. Development of this research line is contributing to Spanish R&D sector strengthening its positions in the climate reconstruction and modelling as well as increasing its internationalization.

"PlasticUnderground"

 PROJECT. European Commission-HORIZON-MSCA-2021- DN-01, Grant no. 101072777, “Plastic Underground”

As a part of the of the Marie Curie Doctoral Network "Plastic Underground" (Integrated Cross-Sectoral Solutions to Micro- and Nanoplastic Pollution in Soil and Groundwater Ecosystems (grant number 101072777) (2022-2026) together with Tiana Renard we are working on the impact of the microplastic pollution on the ecosystem functions within costal and terrestrial sediments. We are building upon  the expertise our group have developed working in the analysis of biogeochemical processes in freshwater sediments. We are working to test the hypothesis that microplastic input into the sediment is leading to the reduced carbon sequestering in the sediments of the marshes and sea grass meadows. We are conducting our microcosm experiments in the EBD-CSIC Sevilla and field experiments in the Parque Natural Bahia de Cadiz.

Evolution of the blood feeding in Chironomidae

Blood-feeding in flies (Diptera) is one of the longest -enduring and most important types of the insect-vertebrate relations. Existing potentially for over 200 million years, blood-feeding of flies have shaped numerous facets of the vertebrates' evolution and behavior' – from frogs hiding from eavesdropping frog-biting midges (Corethrellidae) to the economic development of the countries being slowed down by the spread of malaria by mosquitos.

Therefore, understanding of the blood feeding evolution are of a large interest. One of the most interesting aspect in the evolution of blood-feeding in flies is a rampant loss and re-gaining of the functional mouthparts in “non-biting” midges (Diptera, Chironomidae). All of the extant non-biting midges (but for the two relic genera) are, as they name suggest, not only do not bite anyone, but also do not feed as adults at all. Nevertheless, growing fossil record of this group shows that two relic genera still possessing functional mandibles are rather a norm than anomaly. Through the 210 million years of the group’s history representatives appeared to lose and regain the use of mandibles over four times. This represents an interesting case of losing a complex, character, yet apparently retaining a regulatory apparatus required for it re-acquirence. Development in the evo-devo methods and mounting fossil records will allow the prospective student to disentangle this complex riddle, using molecular, phylogenetic and palaeontological methods. This project is conducted in cooperation with André Amaral, Joachim T. Haug, and Natascha Turetzek. Examples of the open access papers, produced at the preliminary stages of the project can be found here here, here and here.

"Scanning the Past"

In this joint beamtime allocation group, funded by German-Electron synchrotron facility (DESY), we are focusing on reconstructing trophic and other biotic interactions in the deep past, by high-throughput scanning of the insects fossils with synchrotron radiation (mostly in amber fossils).

This is a collaborative project, for me primarily with Joachim T. Haug and Jörg Hammel, but also many others. So far this project (on my side of the research) have yielded unexpectedly high diversity of the fly larvae and diversity of the ecosystem functions performed by them in Baltic Amber forest. We also have described an new family of true flies - Christelenkidae, showed that caddisflies can get entrapped in amber under water and discovered a first adult mantidfly in Baltic amber.

Understanding biodiversity change in Breitenbach stream

Our team works on the one of the best existing dataset on the diversity and community dynamic of the freshwater fauna in the world - Breitenbach stream dataset, collected by Prof. Rüdiger Wagner and hist team over 42 years (1969-2010).

We have published one paper showing a strong and directional fluctuation in the aquatic insects communities' in Breitenbach (Baranov et al., 2020). This paper deals with a consequence of climate change in a central-European stream over the course of 42 years. It is a record of the aquatic insects’ diversity and abundance in a single German stream, collected every week over 42 years, by a set of the emergence traps. I have analysed the data and was shocked to find out that central Germany is warming faster than the European average, with the mean annual temperature increasing by 1.88°C in the last 42 years. On the backdrop of warming, the frequency of the very dry years also has increased. As a result of the climatic changes, the abundance of the monitored aquatic insects (Mayflies, Stoneflies and Caddisflies) has decreased by 81.6%. Additionally, species richness (+8.5%), Shannon diversity (+22.7%), evenness (+22.4%), and interannual turnover (+34%) have all increased. I have interpreted this as the consequence of the displacement of cold-water specialists with more diverse warm-water generalists. This paper showcases the dire need of the conservation of aquatic invertebrates and their ecosystem functions. It also shows that climate change can severely threaten biotic communities, even in an otherwise pristine nature reserve. For all these reasons, but also because of the growing public alarm regarding the biodiversity crisis, this paper has received significant media attention as well as influencing policy making regarding the insect decline in Germany. German policymakers and conservationists have argued, based among other sources on our paper, for the need for more measures to stop and reverse insect decline. Role of the funding for habitat protection was emphasized, based on my research (Schoof et al., 2020).

Currently we are working on the follow up papers together with the researchers from GBOL III project.