Suche

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has released its inaugural Green Status assessment for the gharial, classifying the species as "Critically Depleted" numbers-wise and habitats-wise, across its former range. One of the co-authors of the expert assessment is Dr Phoebe Griffith from IGB.

A study  of the physical characteristics of the Aral Sea shows continuous mixing of the water layers, which supplies the upper layers with nutrients and the bottom of the lake with oxygen. However, even small changes in water level or transparency (e.g. due to increased algal production) can bring the lake out of balance.

Some of these solutions are presented in the new exhibition On Water. WasserWissen in Berlin, which will be on display from 10 October 2025. IGB researcher Professor Dörthe Tetzlaff also contributed her expertise.

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. 

Researchers from the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB) are releasing young European sturgeons into the Elbe. This extinct and strictly protected migratory fish is considered an umbrella species, meaning that many other riverine animal and plant species also benefit wherever its demanding requirements are met. 

In 2025, the Forschungsverbund Berlin will celebrate a special anniversary: the Marthe Vogt Award for outstanding young women scientists turns 25. In the anniversary year, the award goes to IGB's researcher Dr. Afroditi Grigoropoulou. 

In the summer of 2022, toxins produced by the brackish-water alga Prymnesium parvum killed around 1,000 tonnes of fish in the River Oder. IGB researchers analysed the toxic effect of the brackish water algae Prymnesium parvum on the blood cells of various fish species in the River Oder. The results revealed species-specific differences in sensitivity to the toxins.

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.