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The Stifterverband has honoured two outstanding Leibniz researchers from Berlin with the ‘Research in Responsibility’ science award. IGB researcher Robert Arlinghaus shares the 40,000-euro prize with Lena Hipp from the WZB Berlin Social Science Center.

Cigarette butts do not belong in the environment. Yet they often end up there, especially near water bodies. A survey by IGB has shown that many of Berlin's waters contain considerable amounts of nicotine, which is also toxic to aquatic life. A new IGB study now shows that some organisms may benefit indirectly: toxic cyanobacteria. This is because cigarette butts in the water harm their parasites. The study was published in the journal Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety.

Gabriela Costea is part of an international team developing concepts for better management of the Danube. In an interview, she explains why communication is so important when it comes to implementing research findings – and why a children’s book can help.

Why do animals actually hunt in groups, when they have to share the prey afterwards? Researchers have shown in a field study in the ocean off Mexico: the faster the prey school moves, the higher the capture rate of the striped marlin. This is because if the prey school is moving fast, individual prey fish are more likely to become isolated from the swarm. These isolated fish are then easily caught by the non-attacking marlins. This shows an advantage of group hunting for the predatory fish.

DNA metabarcoding is a molecular analysis method that offers a promising solution for efficient insect monitoring. A study published in the journal Molecular Ecology Resources, to which researchers of IGB contributed, provides detailed guidelines for the large-scale application of this method, including estimates of the costs and time required.

When an endangered species succeeds in repopulating its former habitat, the immediate reaction is one of joy. In the long term, however, its spread is often associated with conflict. One example is the beaver, a keystone species. Other keystone species include the wolf and the bison. These are animals that have an extraordinary impact on the ecosystems in which they live. The reintroduction of such keystone species often restores important processes and ecosystem functions.

A study in Nature Communications has shown at the genetic level how bacteriophages can maintain an important metabolic pathway in infected aquatic bacteria – presumably in order to have enough energy for their own reproduction. 

Light pollution is more serious than we realise: Moths not only lose their orientation directly under street lights. Their flight behaviour outside the illuminated area is also disturbed, so that street lighting can even act as a barrier. This is shown by a study with the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB), which was published in the scientific journal PNAS.