News

Studies of the Anthropocene continue to uncover the complex and dynamic interrelations between the societal world and the Earth system. At an international conference, researchers from the natural sciences, engineering, social sciences and humanities have joined forces to address the question of how these increasing mutual impacts can be better understood and further developed towards global sustainability.

Researchers from IGB and the Adam Mickiewicz University (AMU) in Poznań (Poland) tested whether water fleas (Daphnia) are more frequently infected by the parasite Caullerya mesnili in warmer waters. For the infected water fleas, the disease usually ends fatally.

IGB’s LakeLab in Lake Stechlin, containing “24 lakes within a lake”, is globally unique. This year, the large-scale experimental facility is celebrating its 10th anniversary. Reason enough to look at the past and the future with Mark Gessner, head of the “Plankton and Microbial Ecology” department at Lake Stechlin and initiator of the LakeLab.

Whether a lake appears blue or green is also related to its chlorophyll-a content. Researchers led by IGB used satellite data to draw conclusions about the concentrations of the green pigment produced by algae. They showed that 63 percent of the lakes have become greener since 1997. 

Inland waters are becoming increasingly saline. An international research team with Stella Berger, Jens Nejstgaard from IGB and the AQUACOSM-plus consortium published an analysis of the present status of knowledge and propose a new research agenda on the topic.

 Urbanization introduces large amounts of nutrients, chemical pollutants and antimicrobial products, and thereby changes the makeup of the microbiome by favouring groups of bacteria that contain human pathogenic bacteria, with yet unknown consequences for ecosystem functioning and human and animal health.

Freshwaters are underestimated sources of greenhouse gases. Researchers with IGB have now shown that even dry water bodies can release considerable amounts of methane. An overview of the causes and magnitudes of methane emissions from freshwaters and an outlook on future developments in climate change make this evident: cleaner waters and more moorland, please.

German scientists have summarised in a policy brief what smart flood protection should look like and what benefits nature-based solutions in particular provide.