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The environmental disaster on the Oder river also leaves researchers from the IGB in a great sense of shock. They the are currently tracking down a strong toxin that can be produced by the algae species Prymnesium parvum. Even if this suspicion is confirmed, it is not a natural phenomenon, but definitely a man-made problem.

A team with Jonathan Jeschke found that bat species with higher affinity to cities are characterised by relatively low frequencies and long durations of their echolocation calls, a small body size and flexibility in the choice of their daytime roost.

For the sturgeon species, the situation has deteriorated significantly since the last assessment of the IUCN in 2010, with the change being most dramatic in Europe and Asia.

Inland waters are becoming increasingly saline. An international research team with Stella Berger, Jens Nejstgaard from IGB and the AQUACOSM-plus consortium published an analysis of the present status of knowledge and propose a new research agenda on the topic.

The International Society of Limnology (SIL) is celebrating its 100th anniversary with an international conference in Berlin. This is being hosted by IGB. 

Low-growing species such as stoneworts were last sighted in the Müggelsee over a century ago. Now, after 20 years of intensive mapping and diving surveys, not just one but three of these desirable species of underwater vegetation have been found.

IGB scientist Michael Hupfer has received an honorary professorship for "Aquatic Biogeochemistry" at BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg. 

 Urbanization introduces large amounts of nutrients, chemical pollutants and antimicrobial products, and thereby changes the makeup of the microbiome by favouring groups of bacteria that contain human pathogenic bacteria, with yet unknown consequences for ecosystem functioning and human and animal health.