News

While travelling long distances on business is not unusual for scientists, driving from Brandenburg to Morocco by car certainly is. Researchers from the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB) set up the first permanent aquatic mesocosm facility on the African continent to investigate nature-based solutions for the treatment and reuse of olive mill wastewaters through smart irrigation systems, thus, reducing the pollution and pressure on freshwater resources. The IGB research team transported the necessary equipment there by car.

IGB researchers emphasise the great importance of the WFD for sustainable water management.

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).

A new report provides practical guidance for monitoring the biodiversity and ecological functionality of urban water bodies. 

The special issue “Wetlands in a Changing Climate: Restoring Coasts and Floodplains” explains in detail why Europe's wetlands urgently need more protection and restoration in the face of climate change. More than 100 authors from across Europe contributed to the publication, including Prof. Sonja Jähnig and Dr Martin Pusch from the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB). All articles are open access. 

Researchers from IGB investigated the litter pollution in the River Spree in Berlin and its tributaries. They found that over 95 percent of the waste in the waterways and on the riverbanks is macroplastic. Food wrappers accounts for around one-third of this. In the study published in Environmental Research, the researchers identified waste hotspots and recommended focusing on cleaning certain riverbanks, as this is where most of the plastic enters the waterways.

Researchers at IGB have used long-term data from the Spree River to discover that aquatic plants can compensate for declining water levels in a drier climate. In recent summers, the growth of aquatic plants in the lower part of the Spree has led to an increase in water levels of around 50 to 60 centimetres compared to previous years, thus compensating for the declining discharge.