News

Sophia Kimmig spends half her day coordinating the IGB project "AuBe", which develops insect-friendly lighting concepts. The other half of her day is spent writing about the night. Her book "Lebendige Nacht" (Living Night) has just been published – about the wonders of a world we sleep through.

The ongoing war in Ukraine is having multiple impacts on the country’s water sector, according to a recent study led by IGB and the Senckenberg Society for Nature Research (SGN) that has been published in the journal Nature Sustainability.  In addition to the horror of the direct consequences of war, the destruction of water infrastructure also carries long-term consequences and risks for the population, the environment and global food security.

Routine fishing on 29 November this year was the first large inventory conducted in the middle of the Oder since the man-made environmental disaster that occurred in summer. The result: much fewer fish were caught in total, and species such as the blue bream and the asp, which are important to this ecosystem, were lacking completely. Moreover, water analysis conducted by the researchers shows that the salt concentration is still far too high. There could be a repeat of the disaster when temperatures increase, endangering remaining stocks.

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.

Studies of the Anthropocene continue to uncover the complex and dynamic interrelations between the societal world and the Earth system. At an international conference, researchers from the natural sciences, engineering, social sciences and humanities have joined forces to address the question of how these increasing mutual impacts can be better understood and further developed towards global sustainability.

IGB researchers have carried out sample fishing in the River Oder to get a better overview of the remaining fish population after the man-made environmental disaster. The results are very sobering.

Citizen scientists sampled more than 600 rivers, streams, lakes and ponds across Germany. The samples have now been analysed by researchers under the auspices of IGB. In this way, a unique data set emerged that provides evidence of three Germany-wide trends: first, microorganisms in the sediment show signs of chemical stress and antibiotic resistance in their genetic material. Second, excessive artificial lighting at night alters the species composition of underwater microorganisms. And third, all studied water bodies emit greenhouse gases.

Lena Heinrich has received the Schwoerbel-Benndorf Young Scientist Award of the German Society for Limnology. The former IGB doctoral student completed her thesis in the research group of Michael Hupfer as part of the international DFG Graduate School "Urban Water Interfaces".