News

In an ICPO consultation, the IGB recommends that the salinity of the Oder should be made an important management issue. 

Aquatic fungi are among the least researched groups of organisms on Earth. A video project reveals their hidden world.

IGB gave feedback in the Call for Evidence on the new EU Bioeconomy Strategy and highlighted the central role of water and freshwater ecosystems.

Promoting scientific progress as a top priority. This is how Mark Gessner outlines the core mission of the Society for Freshwater Science, the world's most important professional society for river ecology today. Equally important, however, particularly in these disturbing times for science policy, is to highlight the relevance of freshwater research for intelligent water resource management and to communicate the importance of freshwater to the broader public.

To survive as a species, aquatic organisms have developed a wide variety of strategies. Millions of years ago, sturgeons used their bony shells to fend off predators and relocate their habitats, sulphur mollies survive in toxic, almost oxygen-free water, and fish stocks in the River Oder are gradually recovering from the 2022 disaster. However, there are limits to the resilience of organisms, and these can be seen even in the tiniest single-celled creatures.

Without algae, little would function in aquatic ecosystems: they are a key component of the aquatic food web and provide oxygen for respiratory animals. But there is ample evidence that their abundance and composition are shifting as a result of climate change. This often has alarming consequences for the communities that live in rivers and lakes – and for us humans. 

IGB researchers gave feedback in the EU consultation on the GreenData4All initaitive.

The World Meteorological Organisation's (WMO) latest report on the state of the world's climate shows that global warming is accelerating, with a particularly sharp increase in 2024 – and with far-reaching and in some cases irreversible consequences for our inland waters. Rising temperatures and changing water levels are driving new ecological dynamics: oxygen-free zones are expanding in lakes, the composition of species communities is changing and animals are adapting their behaviour – often struggling to obtain sufficient food.