Unit
The Laboratory of Ecohydrology (ECHO) at EPFL focuses on understanding and modeling river networks as ecological corridors for species migration and disease spread. Their research combines laboratory, field work, and theoretical modeling to develop an integrated ecohydrological framework. ECHO investigates the spatial ecology of species, biodiversity in river basins, population dynamics, biological invasions along waterways, and the spread of waterborne diseases. They explore how the physical environment affects biodiversity, species invasions, survival, extinction, and waterborne disease infection spreads. ECHO collaborates on interdisciplinary studies such as metapopulation persistence, fish diversity patterns, zebra mussel invasion, kidney disease in fish, species distribution in river networks, and microbial co-occurrence networks.