News

POUNDER, a project by the two junior research group leaders, Lynn Govaert and Stephanie Spahr, has succeeded in the Senate Committee Competition of the Leibniz Association and will be funded in the Cooperative Excellence Programme from January 2024.

Without microorganisms, our ecosystems would not function properly: fungi “predigest” food, parasites keep blue-green algae in check, and water fleas play an important role in aquatic food web dynamics and structure. At IGB, many researchers are working on different microorganisms, studying both the ecology of these organisms and the extent to which they are threatened by climate change and other human-induced changes. While the findings are fascinating, they are also a stark reminder that the diversity of life in our waters is under threat - even the microbes.

IGB researcher Lynn Govaert has been awarded funding under the Emmy Noether Programme. Her project will focus on the question whether we can predict species and community responses to environmental change based on the strength of the key interacting evolutionary and ecological processes.

Researchers from IGB and the Adam Mickiewicz University (AMU) in Poznań (Poland) tested whether water fleas (Daphnia) are more frequently infected by the parasite Caullerya mesnili in warmer waters. For the infected water fleas, the disease usually ends fatally.