IGB Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries

To address the growing challenges posed by extreme droughts, researchers are focusing on ecohydrological processes in landscapes. They show that a better understanding of water storage dynamics at medium scales, i.e.

short news

20 September 2024

BWK publication prize for study on the impact of hydropower on rivers

A team of authors has been awarded the BWK Publication Prize for their research into the ecological impact of hydropower plants. The paper, published in the journal WASSER UND ABFALL, provides a comprehensive analysis of how hydropower plants affect the hydromorphology and ecological condition of German streams and rivers, thereby counterac

focus

17 September 2024

Feed the fish – environmentally friendly, please!

By choosing the right food, you can do a lot for your own health – and also contribute to more or less environmentally friendly consumption. This also applies to fish and their food. Researchers at the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB) are working on feed for aquaculture and aquaponics.

Selected publications

All selected publications

September 2024

BioScience. - XX(2024)X, XX–XX

Fish habitat models for a future of novel riverscapes

Henry H. Hansen; Claudio Comoglio; Jelger Elings; Philip Ericsson; Peter Goethals; Marie-Pierre Gosselin; Franz Hölker; Christos Katopodis; Paul Kemp; Lovisa Lind; Rachel Mawer; Gloria Mozzi; John M. Nestler; John Piccolo; Johannes Radinger; Matthias Schneider; Velizara Stoilova; Bernhard Wegscheider; Eva Bergman

The authors introduce the concept of novel river landscapes, the limitations of current fish habitat models and opportunities for new models. They outline 3 priority data-driven opportunities that incorporate the novel riverscape concept: fish movement, river behavior, and drivers of novelty that all are integrated into a scale-based framework to guide the development of new models.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biae081

September 2024

FEMS Microbiology Ecology. - 100(2024)6, Art. fiae073

Light over mechanics: microbial community structure and activity in simulated migrating bedforms are controlled by oscillating light rather than by mechanical forces

Anna Oprei; José Schreckinger; Insa Franzmann; Hayoung Lee; Michael Mutz; Ute Risse-Buhl

The authors tested the effect of 3 migration velocities as well as oscillating and constant light conditions on the structure and function of the microbial community residing in sediments from migrating ripple and stationary patches: Light oscillation is the predominating environmental factor during ripple migration, resulting in an increased vulnerability of light-dependent photoautotrophs.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/femsec/fiae073

September 2024

Limnology and Oceanography. - 69(2024)8, 1882-1899

Migrating ripples create streambed heterogeneity altering microbial diversity and metabolic activity

Anna Oprei; José Schreckinger; Norbert Kamjunke; Anja Worrich; Michael Mutz; Ute Risse-Buhl

The field study compared sediment characteristics as well as multitrophic diversity and function in two vertical layers of migrating ripples and stationary patches in sandy lowland streams. It indicates that migrating bedforms create streambed heterogeneity by modulating the abundance, diversity, and structure of different trophic guilds of microbial communities and their resource acquisition.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/lno.12631

September 2024

Nature Water. - XX(2024)X, XX-XX

Mixtures of organic micropollutants exacerbated in vitro neurotoxicity of prymnesins and contributed to aquatic toxicity during a toxic algal bloom

Beate I. Escher; Jörg Ahlheim; Alexander Böhme; Dietrich Borchardt; Werner Brack; Georg Braun; John K. Colbourne; Janek Paul Dann; Joern Gessner; Annika Jahnke; Maria König; Nils Klüver; Martin Krauss; Jungeun Lee; Xiaojiang Li; Stefan Lips; Luisa Orsini; Karsten Rinke; Mechthild Schmitt-Jansen; Stefan Scholz; Tobias Schulze; Stephanie Spahr; Nadin Ulrich; Markus Weitere; Elisabeth Varga

This study investigated how organic micropollutants and the algal toxins prymnesins interact as mixtures in water extracts from the Oder River using neurotoxic effects on human nerve cells in vitro. The authors showed that prymnesins dominate the neurotoxic effects, but many of the detected organic micropollutants exacerbate the lethal effect of prymnesins.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s44221-024-00297-4

To the press release

September 2024

Water Research. - 262(2024), Art. 122267

Persulfate activation by biochar and iron: Effect of chloride on formation of reactive species and transformation of N,N-diethyl-m-toluamide (DEET)

Yiling Zhuang; Stephanie Spahr; Holger V. Lutze; Christoph J. Reith; Nikolas Hagemann; Andrea Paul; Stefan B. Haderlein

This study investigated the formation of reactive species during the activation of the chemical oxidant persulfate with biochar and iron in different water types for the removal of organic contaminants. The presence of organic matter and chloride altered the reactive species formed, emphasizing that the water matrix is a critical factor for the application of this oxidation process .

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2024.122267