News

Too little rain, too little water in the landscape – so simple, so serious. Even if the drought is obvious because freshwaters carry less water, plants wither and the soil becomes brittle and cracked, the drying out itself is a complex process in which the spatial context plays an important role. Professor Dörthe Tetzlaff from the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB) is investigating this interplay of environmental factors, water storage and water flows in the landscape, focussing on the Berlin-Brandenburg region.

Tires abrade fine particles when driving. These contain a complex mixture of different compounds, including toxic substances. If the tire wear particles end up in freshwater ecosystems, the pollutants are leached out there. A new review article in the Journal of Environmental Management summarises the current state of knowledge on the occurrence of tire wear particles and the release of pollutants in aquatic ecosystems. The researchers warn of the toxic effects on aquatic organisms and associated ecological consequences.

Biological invasions are widely acknowledged as a serious threat to biodiversity, global economies, and a good quality of life. Yet, they are not universally perceived as a nuisance and are sometimes gaining – often unexpectedly – cultural acceptance in local communities around the world. The consequences of this acceptance are not trivial for the management of invasive species.

Aquatic fungi are among the least researched groups of organisms on Earth. A video project reveals their hidden world.

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

A study in Nature Cities shows that artificial light, together with urban heat, may be lengthening the growing season in urban environments by as much as 3 weeks compared to rural areas. Light pollution has a greater impact than urban heat, particularly at the end of the growing season. For the study published in Nature Cities, the researchers analysed satellite data from 428 urban centres in the northern hemisphere over a period of seven years.

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.

Experiments are an essential part of the scientific process – and ecology is no exception. A new publication in the journal Nature Communications, looks at the challenges experimental ecology faces in predicting and mitigating the effects of global change. And it points to new approaches for research.