News

A new report provides practical guidance for monitoring the biodiversity and ecological functionality of urban water bodies. 

The special issue “Wetlands in a Changing Climate: Restoring Coasts and Floodplains” explains in detail why Europe's wetlands urgently need more protection and restoration in the face of climate change. More than 100 authors from across Europe contributed to the publication, including Prof. Sonja Jähnig and Dr Martin Pusch from the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB). All articles are open access. 

Researchers from IGB investigated the litter pollution in the River Spree in Berlin and its tributaries. They found that over 95 percent of the waste in the waterways and on the riverbanks is macroplastic. Food wrappers accounts for around one-third of this. In the study published in Environmental Research, the researchers identified waste hotspots and recommended focusing on cleaning certain riverbanks, as this is where most of the plastic enters the waterways.

Researchers at IGB have used long-term data from the Spree River to discover that aquatic plants can compensate for declining water levels in a drier climate. In recent summers, the growth of aquatic plants in the lower part of the Spree has led to an increase in water levels of around 50 to 60 centimetres compared to previous years, thus compensating for the declining discharge. 

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.

Algal blooms in the Oder River can now be detected earlier with the ODER~SO dashboard: Scientists working on the ODER~SO project have developed a platform that uses satellite data to show the development of algal blooms in the river in near real time. The platform is now available for public use.

Sufficient light, but fewer dead insects – that's what Selux's “Tal Shield: Insect-Friendly Street Lighting” provides. The lighting system, developed with IGB, was awarded the German Sustainability Prize in the “Transformation Products Nature” category. A

A new IGB dossier describes the changes in Brandenburg's landscape water balance and outlines options for action in agriculture, forestry and water management.