GAIAC – Research Institute for Ecosystem Analysis and Assessment (Germany)

Contact: Monika Hammers-Wirtz and Tido Strauss

gaiac was founded in 2003 as a research institute affiliated to the RWTH Aachen University with a research focus on the effects of anthropogenic influences on aquatic and terrestrial biocoenoses.

gaiac as a small and medium enterprise (SME) operates in close cooperation with different disciplines at RWTH Aachen University which offers optimal requirements to develop interdisciplinary features for a sustainable environmental management and to implement these features into practice.

The team has many years of experience in ecological and ecotoxicological contract research. The fields of expertise are aquatic and terrestrial field ecology, ecotoxicology, statistics and mathematical modelling of environmental processes.
gaiac research activities include ecological and ecotoxicological lab and field investigations, ecological modelling and the development of environmental decision support systems. The institute is involved in many joint research projects (supported, e.g., by BMBF, UBA, EU) and offers R&D services to industrial partners, different authorities and water associations.
Combining experimental research in the fields of “aquatic ecology”, “terrestrial ecology” and “ecotoxicology” with the development and application of corresponding models is a unique strength of the institute.

For further details, please refer to our website www.gaiac.rwth-aachen.de