News

In a joint interview, two artists and two researchers discuss why war never really ends, how rivers become 'witnesses' and 'victims', and the universal aspects of individual rivers' fates. These perspectives have been incorporated into the art & science project 'PEACES so far', which will be on display at Berlin Science Week 2025.

A study  of the physical characteristics of the Aral Sea shows continuous mixing of the water layers, which supplies the upper layers with nutrients and the bottom of the lake with oxygen. However, even small changes in water level or transparency (e.g. due to increased algal production) can bring the lake out of balance.

A study in Nature Reviews Earth & Environment has shown that most of the lakes studied worldwide are located in North America, Asia and Europe, with the Global South being severely underrepresented in lake research. 

Researchers from the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB) are releasing young European sturgeons into the Elbe. This extinct and strictly protected migratory fish is considered an umbrella species, meaning that many other riverine animal and plant species also benefit wherever its demanding requirements are met. 

In the summer of 2022, toxins produced by the brackish-water alga Prymnesium parvum killed around 1,000 tonnes of fish in the River Oder. IGB researchers analysed the toxic effect of the brackish water algae Prymnesium parvum on the blood cells of various fish species in the River Oder. The results revealed species-specific differences in sensitivity to the toxins.

Professor Chris Soulsby, researcher at the University of Aberdeen and guest scientist from IGB's Landscape Ecohydrology research group, was awarded the Langbein Lecture of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) for his lifetime contributions to the science of hydrology.

New impulses for designing water-conscious cities: The Kurt Eberhard Bode Foundation is funding a junior research group led by Dr Maria Warter. She will investigate the impact of human activity on urban freshwater ecosystems and how they can be restored.

IGB's full commitment to one of the most important German professional societies for water research: Two scientists from  IGB were elected as members  of the executive committee of the German Limnological Society (DGL), and Michael Hupfer will take over as president of the society in 2026. IGB will also host the next DGL annual conference in September 2026.