News

For many years, IGB research group leader Michael Hupfer has been investigating the impact of opencast lignite mining and post-mining landscapes on the region's water bodies, in particular the River Spree. Now, he has been appointed to the Scientific and Technical Advisory Board “Water Management Measures” of the Lausitzer und Mitteldeutsche Bergbau-Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH (LMBV).

Researchers from TU Berlin and IGB have studied how the water budget and quality have developed over the last 60 years: Restoration measures between 1985 and 1995 have significantly improved the chemical water quality. But climate change can reverse this positive development: Heavy rainfall and dry periods change the chemodynamics of the river.

Trace organic compounds can be attenuated in the hyporheic zone of river sediments. Jörg Lewandowski's research group has now developed a method to study the attenuation performance along a hyporheic flow path in the field. The researchers also analysed the retention of 18 relevant trace organic compounds. They show that high chemical turnover takes place on a very small spatial scale.

The IGB has commented on the draft National Biodiversity Strategy 2030 from a research perspective and is also making the analysis public here.

The Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (BBAW) has elected Professor Dörthe Tetzlaff and eight other scientists as full members of the Academy during its committee meeting for Leibniz Day 2023. Alongside Professor Jens Krause, she is the second member from the IGB.

Oxygen is becoming increasingly scarce in deeper layers of lakes and reservoirs due to high nutrient inputs and climate change. As a result, the living conditions of fish and invertebrates deteriorate, greenhouse gases are increasingly produced, and nutrient cycles intensify. In addition, hydrogen sulphide, which is toxic to higher organisms, can accumulate.  The treatment of oxygen deficient deep water to produce drinking water is associated with high costs.

Urbanization goes hand in hand with a considerable sealing of soils. About 20 percent of the newly sealed area is not in urban areas, but in rural areas. However, calculations of nutrient fluxes into water bodies have not taken these new sealings in rural areas into account, because these are often based on land use maps and consider urban areas.

IGB has provided feedback on the government draft of the National Water Strategy, emphasising, among other things, the relevance of aquatic biodiversity and the large practical implementation deficit in water management.