Faculty / Section of Plant Biology
Assistant Professor
Office location:
Email: kstefani@upatras.gr
Telephone: +30 2610 

Curriculum vitae

Education

  • Degree in Biology, University of Patras (2003)
  • Master’s degree (MSc) in Ecology, Management and Protection of Natural Environment, Department of Biology, University of Patras (2005)
  • PhD, Department of Biology, University of Patras, Thesis title: «Ecological assessment of lakes of NW Greece with emphasis on the relationships between aquatic macrophytes, zooplankton and water quality» (2012).
  • Postdoctoral research – Department of Biology, University of Patras (2013-2014)
  • Postdoctoral research – Laboratory of Hydrology and Water Resources Management. National Technical University of Athens (2014-2018)
  • Postdoctoral research – Institute of Marine Biological Resources and Inland Waters. Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (2018-2025)

Educational activities

  • Undergraduate courses: ‘Community and Ecosystem Ecology’, ‘Vegetation Ecology’

Research and other activities

  • Monitoring and assessment of freshwater biodiversity.
  • Impact of global changes and climate change on freshwater ecosystems.
  • Eco-hydrology with an emphasis on the role of hydromorphology in shaping and driving ecological processes in river ecosystems.
  • Investigation of the ecological role of aquatic vegetation in shaping and supporting ecosystem functions in rivers and lakes.
  • Assessment of the ecological quality of inland waters in accordance with the Water Framework Directive (WFD 2000/60).
  • Biodiversity and conservation of freshwater macrophytes.

Representative Publications

  • Stefanidis, K., Naura, M., Kouvarda, T., Latsiou, A., Gritzalis, K., & Dimitriou, E. (2024). Expanding the habitat quality assessment of rivers in Greece using an updated River Habitat Survey toolbox. Ecohydrology and Hydrobiology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecohyd.2024.07.005
  • Stefanidis, K., Varlas, G., Papaioannou, G., Papadopoulos, A., & Dimitriou, E. (2023). Assessing temporal variability of lake turbidity and trophic state of European lakes using open data repositories. Science of The Total Environment, 857, 159618. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.159618
  • Stefanidis, K., Oikonomou, A., Dimitrellos, G., Tsoukalas, D., & Papastergiadou, E. (2023). Relationships between Environmental Factors and Functional Traits of Macrophyte Assemblages in Running Waters of Greece. Diversity, 15(9), 949. https://doi.org/10.3390/d15090949
  • Stefanidis, K., Oikonomou, A., Dimitrellos, G., Tsoukalas, D., & Papastergiadou, E. (2023). Beyond taxonomic diversity patterns – investigating how α and β components of macrophyte functional diversity respond to environmental gradients in lotic ecosystems of Greece. Frontiers in Plant Science, 14. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2023.1204383
  • Stefanidis, K., Karaouzas, I., Oikonomou, A., Smeti, E., Kouvarda, T., Latsiou, A., Vourka, A., & Dimitriou, E. (2023). Geodiversity as a potential indicator of stream health in ecological quality assessment systems. Ecohydrology. https://doi.org/10.1002/eco.2551
  • Stefanidis, K., Varlas, G., Papaioannou, G., Papadopoulos, A., & Dimitriou, E. (2022). Trends of lake temperature, mixing depth and ice cover thickness of European lakes during the last four decades. Science of The Total Environment, 830, 154709. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.154709
  • Stefanidis, K., Dimitrellos, G., Sarika, M., Tsoukalas, D., & Papastergiadou, E. (2022). Ecological Quality Assessment of Greek Lowland Rivers with Aquatic Macrophytes in Compliance with the EU Water Framework Directive. Water, 14(18), 2771. https://doi.org/10.3390/w14182771
  • Stefanidis, K., Oikonomou, A., & Papastergiadou, E. (2021). Responses of different facets of aquatic plant diversity along environmental gradients in Mediterranean streams : Results from rivers of Greece. Journal of Environmental Management, 296(July), 113307. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.113307
  • Stefanidis, K., Varlas, G., Vourka, A., Papadopoulos, A., & Dimitriou, E. (2021). Delineating the relative contribution of climate related variables to chlorophyll-a and phytoplankton biomass in lakes using the ERA5-Land climate reanalysis data. Water Research, 196, 117053. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2021.117053
  • Spears, B. M., Chapman, D., Carvalho, L., Rankinen, K., Stefanidis, K., Ives, S., Vuorio, K., & Birk, S. (2021). Assessing multiple stressor effects to inform climate change management responses in three European catchments. Inland Waters, 12(1), 94–106. https://doi.org/10.1080/20442041.2020.1827891
  • Lemm, J. U., Venohr, M., Globevnik, L., Stefanidis, K., Panagopoulos, Y., Gils, J., Posthuma, L., Kristensen, P., Feld, C. K., Mahnkopf, J., Hering, D., & Birk, S. (2021). Multiple stressors determine river ecological status at the European scale: Towards an integrated understanding of river status deterioration. Global Change Biology, 27(9), 1962–1975. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15504
  • Ersoy, Z., Scharfenberger, U., Baho, D. L., Bucak, T., Feldmann, T., Hejzlar, J., Levi, E. E., Mahdy, A., Nõges, T., Papastergiadou, E., Stefanidis, K., Šorf, M., Søndergaard, M., Trigal, C., Jeppesen, E., & Beklioğlu, M. (2020). Impact of nutrients and water level changes on submerged macrophytes along a temperature gradient: A pan‐European mesocosm experiment. Global Change Biology, 26(12), 6831–6851. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15338
  • Stefanidis, K., & Dimitriou, E. (2019). Differentiation in Aquatic Metabolism between Littoral Habitats with Floating-Leaved and Submerged Macrophyte Growth Forms in a Shallow Eutrophic Lake. Water, 11(2), 287. https://doi.org/10.3390/w11020287
  • Stefanidis, K., Sarika, M., & Papastegiadou, E. (2019). Exploring environmental predictors of aquatic macrophytes in water-dependent Natura 2000 sites of high conservation value: Results from a long-term study of macrophytes in Greek lakes. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems, November 2018, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1002/aqc.3036
  • Stefanidis, K., Panagopoulos, Y., & Mimikou, M. (2018). Response of a multi-stressed Mediterranean river to future climate and socio-economic scenarios. Science of the Total Environment, 627, 756–769. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.01.282