Scientific papers and other reports

Most publications are available as pdf's, some of them through the UniBern repository (BORIS), some on this website.

Please note: The copyright of these articles is with their respective publishers, or with the authors for the open source papers. By downloading an article, you agree to limit the use of the pdf file to printing of single copies for personal research and study. You may not modify the files in any way, and you may not use them for commercial purposes.

Whitefish research report

Swiss lakes contain an astonishing diversity of whitefish of the genus Coregonus that evolved in the last 15'000 years since the last ice-age. Our research group has conducted many projects studying the Swiss whitefishes over the last 20 years. This report "The unique diversity of Swiss whitefish" summarizes both our research and previous research in the last 150 years and analyses the situation in the Swiss lakes. The report is written in German, including a French summary and can be downloaded here.

Progetto Fiumi final report

In 2023 we published the final report of our project "Progetto Fiumi" in which a reference collection of the fishes living in Swiss rivers was established for the first time. More than 50 fish species were detected. The sizes of fishes caught ranged from small sticklebacks of only 2cm up to big catfish of 138cm length. Eleven species that are not considered native to Switzerland were caught in 26 out of 324 locations.

Projet Lac Synthesis Report

At the end of 2021 we published the final synthesis report of our project "Projet Lac" in which 35 peri-alpine lakes over a period of 10 years were fished quantitatively for the first time. In Switzerland alone, 106 fish species were detected. With almost 20 percent of all known fish species in Europe, Switzerland is one of the hotspots for fish species diversity. The results are now the basis for measures for sustainable fishing and the protection of this still preserved diversity.