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The World Meteorological Organisation's (WMO) latest report on the state of the world's climate shows that global warming is accelerating, with a particularly sharp increase in 2024 – and with far-reaching and in some cases irreversible consequences for our inland waters. Rising temperatures and changing water levels are driving new ecological dynamics: oxygen-free zones are expanding in lakes, the composition of species communities is changing and animals are adapting their behaviour – often struggling to obtain sufficient food.

Water is misused as a weapon when infrastructure and water resources are deliberately destroyed in armed conflicts. Water resources and infrastructure are also affected by the ongoing armed conflict in Ukraine: In June 2023, the Kakhovka Dam, which held water from one of Europe's largest reservoirs, collapsed as a result of military damage. Researchers led by the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB) have now published a study on the ecological consequences of the dam collapse in the journal Science.

The River Spree flows in reverse direction in some sections. Subsequently, water from River Erpe, which contains partly treated wastewater from the wastewater treatment plant Münchehofe, can flow in reverse direction in River Spree into Lake Müggelsee. Such flow reversals, which will likely occur more frequently in the future due to the phase-out of lignite mining, climate change and deviated annual precipitation patterns, pose a challenge for water management.

Amphibians are terrestrial animals, but can only reproduce in water. They prefer to live in and around ponds. However, this habitat is becoming increasingly rare – in Germany, more than half of all ponds have disappeared in the last century. If you want to protect amphibians, you should preserve, improve or create new ponds. But what does an amphibian pond look like where many species feel at home?

IGB researchers gave feedback on the planned European Water Resilience Strategy and underlined the relevance of freshwater ecosystems.

The Panama Canal is a busy maritime route, with 14,000 ships passing through it every year. But this canal is also a potential pathway for the spread of non- native fishes from one ocean to another. Researchers at the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB), Freie Universität Berlin, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama and Harvard University have now compared the fish communities of Lake Gatun in the Panama Canal aquatic corridor before and after the canal’s expansion in 2016.

Floodplains can store and purify water. A team led by the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB), in close cooperation with the Lower Oder Valley National Park, has investigated the role of the Oder's extensive floodplains for the water balance and the turnover of nutrients and pollutants. The results indicate that a permanent opening of the flooding weirs could be beneficial in order to keep at least some of the floodplains in contact with the river for longer periods of the year and maintain their important function.

Diverse and well-connected habitats in floodplains are essential for maintaining or restoring stable fish communities and high species diversity. This is the result of a study by researchers from Wageningen University and Research in the Netherlands and the Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB). They analysed the habitat use of larval and juvenile fishes in the lower river Rhine by collecting data on more than 1.4 million larvae and young fish in 18 restored floodplains.