News

Charophytes are extremely beneficial to lakes, improving water quality and biodiversity. However, their abundance was found to decline in many lakes  without clear signs of eutrophication during recent decades. Today, a team from the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB) in Berlin and the Feldberg-Uckermärkische Seenlandschaft association (FFUS) published recommendations for practitioners on the reintroduction of charophytes.

Protected areas are meant to preserve endangered species and stabilize ecosystems. But for many European rivers, this protection apparently falls short. This is the finding of a new study in Nature Communications led by the Senckenberg Nature Research Society, in which IGB participated.

A new article in Nature Reviews Biodiversity states, that the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) does not adequately address the issue of migratory freshwater fishes. Of the more than 1,100 migratory species listed, only 23 are freshwater fishes.

Since January 2026, Prof. Michael Hupfer has taken over as president of the German Society for Limnology (DGL). The DGL is one of the most important national professional associations for research on inland waters and water management. In this interview, Prof. Hupfer talks about his plans for his new role and explains why transdisciplinary professional societies are so important today.

Dr Maria Magdalena Warter heads the new IGB research group, "Ecohydrological Processes in Urban Ecosystems", from January 2026. In this brief interview, she talks about factors that put urban water bodies under stress and explains why the beaver is is a typical Berliner.

Whether a caught fish is released back into the water or removed for consumption depends on more than just the fish species and size. Researchers from IGB have analysed the role of anglers' personal characteristics and the influence of the fishing context in a diary study.

Researchers at IGB have simulated how summer storms change the ecology of deep, clear lakes in the “LakeLab” at Lake Stechlin. They artificially generated a storm in the LakeLab enclosures, which mixed the water column. This brought nutrients, inorganic carbon, and algae from deeper layers to the surface, triggering a mass development of cyanobacteria—known as blue-green algae blooms.

Internal clocks can tick very differently. While some people are most productive in the morning, others are only active later in the day or at night. This phenomenon is known in science and medicine as chronotype. In a comprehensive analysis of the activity patterns of wild fish, a research team involving the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB) has shown that fish – carp, trout, zander, and others – also have individual early and late risers. The results were published in the journal Fish and Fisheries.