News

Buying fish, sausage or meat saves you from breaking a social taboo in some industrialized nations, especially when hunting and fishing are conducted for recreation. In a perspective article in Nature Sustainability, a research team from the natural and social sciences and environmental philosophy adds a new perspective to the topic of "recreational use of wild animals". The hypothesis is that an emotionally intense interaction between hunters or anglers and wild animals can create a particularly strong sense of responsibility,

Researchers under the lead of Hans-Peter Grossart have now identified fungi that can efficiently degrade plastic polymers made of polyurethane, polyethylene and tyre rubber. Contrary to previous assumptions, no pre-treatment of the plastics was necessary. The study has been published in Science of the Total Environment.

The study in Nature Ecology & Evolution shows that shipping shipping has contributed to a significant loss of biodiversity of fish, mussels, snails and small crustaceans in European rivers in recent decades – and that the remaining animal communities are becoming increasingly homogeneous and river-typical species are being lost. Invasive species, on the other hand, are significantly increasing. 

Tailored and shielded street lamps make the light source almost invisible outside the illuminated area and significantly reduces the lethal attraction for flying insects in different environments. The researchers see this as an important technical solution to reduce insect mortality. The study was published in Communications Biology.

Study in Nature Communications reveals a gene locus responsible for sex determination in the European green toad. This is only the second known genetic mechanism for sex differentiation in amphibians. 

In thestudy, published in Nature Food, the research team estimates that recreational fishing in lakes and rivers accounts for more than eleven per cent of the annually reported catches in inland fisheries worldwide. The analyzed total consumption value of harvested fish is around 10 billion US dollars per year. Due to climate change and direct human impacts on freshwater ecosystems, the productivity of important fish species such as trout and salmon is declining, affecting the nutritional services offered by rivers and lakes.

Together with Dr Jörn Gessner from IGB and the Director of the Lower Oder Valley National Park, Dirk Treichel, Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke today released 600 sturgeons into the Oder River near Criewen. The new home of the young fish is a special habitat, as the Oder is the last major river in Germany where sturgeon and other animals can migrate unhindered over long distances. Since 2006, it has been a priority area for the reintroduction of the Baltic sturgeon.

In order to protect lakes from chronic diseases and threatening conditions and to heal them, strategies similar to those used in human healthcare should be applied: Prophylaxis, regular screening, treatment and mitigation on a local to global scale.