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Over 40 percent of extant large freshwater animals (megafauna) have been deliberately introduced outside their natural ranges, often for economic gain. While these alien species can provide substantial benefits to certain groups in the introduced regions, they also posed profound and often underestimated risks to native biodiversity and local people. 

The new “Environment90m” dataset from the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB) provides standardized, high-resolution environmental information to characterize freshwater habitats around the world.

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.