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Excessive phosphorus loading lead to the accumulation of this nutrient in water bodies. Lake sediments can retain phosphorus. In laboratory tests, an IGB team has investigated the conditions under which this retention is long-term.

On 3 August 2021, Parliamentary State Secretaries Uwe Feiler (BMEL) and Dr. Michael Meister (BMBF), Brandenburg’s Minister of the Environment Axel Vogel (MLUK), and several municipal representatives gathered at IGB’s Stechlin site. They all wanted to find out first-hand about the state of the lake, which had recently raised concerns on account of sharply increased levels of phosphorus and oxygen depletion in the lake’s deep water.

If fish are hunted by birds, it is essential to their survival that they are able to recognise when they are in danger from avian predators. Juliane Lukas, Jens Krause and David Bierbach from IGB have investigated whether fish are able to differentiate between real danger and non-threatening events.

In two special issues of the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, researchers provide a scientific overview.

Many of the world's clear lakes are deteriorating at an alarming rate: at the shore, where people want to play and swim, the lake bottom is covered with green carpets of algae.

How do hydropower plants affect freshwater biodiversity? What do invasive species do in water bodies? Sonja Jähnig and Christian Wolter  in an interview with Juliane Grüning from the Deutscher Naturschutzring. 

We cannot preach water and drink wine! Consequently, several teams at IGB have begun to analyse and address the different opportunities for savings and improvements in their areas of activity.

Using water fleas, Luc De Meester showed that a population with a high amount of genetic variation can quickly adapt its behavioural and life-history traits to changes in the environment.