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The website Hi Knowledge presents a new approach for combining heterogeneous data and information on biological invasions. It also provides innovative tools for finding knowledge quickly and easily.

A new study led by the University of British Columbia (UBC), with contributions from IGB, has revealed alarming results: climate change could lead to an increase in bacterial and fungal infections in cold-blooded animals such as corals, insects and fish. 

DNA metabarcoding is a molecular analysis method that offers a promising solution for efficient insect monitoring. A study published in the journal Molecular Ecology Resources, to which researchers of IGB contributed, provides detailed guidelines for the large-scale application of this method, including estimates of the costs and time required.

When an endangered species succeeds in repopulating its former habitat, the immediate reaction is one of joy. In the long term, however, its spread is often associated with conflict. One example is the beaver, a keystone species. Other keystone species include the wolf and the bison. These are animals that have an extraordinary impact on the ecosystems in which they live. The reintroduction of such keystone species often restores important processes and ecosystem functions.

A study in Nature Communications has shown at the genetic level how bacteriophages can maintain an important metabolic pathway in infected aquatic bacteria – presumably in order to have enough energy for their own reproduction. 

Researchers from all over Europe, with the participation of IGB, have created high-standard reference genomes for 98 species as part of the European Reference Genome Atlas (ERGA) pilot project. This collaboration of scientists from 33 countries is an important milestone on the way to a reference genome database for European animals, plants and fungi. The results were presented in an article in the scientific journal npj Biodiversity.

It is a milestone in European species conservation: Today, one hundred young European sturgeon (Acipenser sturio) were released into the Elbe River near Magdeburg as part of a long-term reintroduction programme and in the presence of the German Environment Minister Steffi Lemke. It is the first sturgeon offspring for the river since 2015. This action is an important step towards re-establishing a self-sustaining sturgeon population in one of Germany's largest river systems.

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.