News

River restoration is important, but it is often a lengthy process. A new study in Nature Communications Earth & Environment identifies areas where research and action can be integrated.

The IGB river researcher Sonja Jähnig is calling for further migratory fish species to be included in the appendices of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS).

Protected areas are meant to preserve endangered species and stabilize ecosystems. But for many European rivers, this protection apparently falls short. This is the finding of a new study in Nature Communications led by the Senckenberg Nature Research Society, in which IGB participated.

Researchers at IGB have simulated how summer storms change the ecology of deep, clear lakes in the “LakeLab” at Lake Stechlin. They artificially generated a storm in the LakeLab enclosures, which mixed the water column. This brought nutrients, inorganic carbon, and algae from deeper layers to the surface, triggering a mass development of cyanobacteria—known as blue-green algae blooms.

A study in Nature Reviews Earth & Environment has shown that most of the lakes studied worldwide are located in North America, Asia and Europe, with the Global South being severely underrepresented in lake research. 

Professor Chris Soulsby, researcher at the University of Aberdeen and guest scientist from IGB's Landscape Ecohydrology research group, was awarded the Langbein Lecture of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) for his lifetime contributions to the science of hydrology.

IGB's full commitment to one of the most important German professional societies for water research: Two scientists from  IGB were elected as members  of the executive committee of the German Limnological Society (DGL), and Michael Hupfer will take over as president of the society in 2026. IGB will also host the next DGL annual conference in September 2026.

Scientists from IGB present long-term monitoring data on water quality of Lake Stechlin in the journal Scientific Data. The team makes this data available to other researchers via IGB's data platform FRED.