News

IGB has provided feedback on the planned EU ports strategy and emphasised that environmental aspects play a decisive role for resilient ports.

Head out to the lake for a swim, but have you ever wondered what might be swimming, growing or crawling in the water? A catfish recently attacked several people in the Brombachsee, a lake in Franconia. But just how dangerous are these predatory fish? What other creatures might you encounter in the lake? We take a look at the diverse underwater world of animals and plants, from the harmless to the astonishing.

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

A new joint Policy Report by the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina and the Brazilian Academy of Sciences (Academia Brasileira de Ciências, ABC), to which IGB researchers also significantly contributed, shows what sustainable and circulation-orientated aquaculture could look like in Germany and Brazil.

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

Today on Earth Day, the 19 National Champions of the Frontiers Planet Prize, a globally significant research prize for sustainability, were announced. Robert Arlinghaus, Professor of Fisheries at the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB) and the Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, and his team are recognized for their groundbreaking publication in Science on the effectiveness of habitat improvement on fish populations in lakes.

Light pollution, which illuminates the night sky, promotes the growth of cyanobacteria (often called blue-green algae) and stimulates metabolic processes in lakes. This is shown by a recent study by the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB) in the largest field experiment to date on the effect of light pollution on lakes. The results have been published in the scientific journal Water Research.

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.