News

Many of the world's clear lakes are deteriorating at an alarming rate: at the shore, where people want to play and swim, the lake bottom is covered with green carpets of algae.

The IGB is also involved in the Leibniz research network "Integrated Earth System Research". Our competencies on aquatic biodiversity and the role of water bodies in the landscape tie in with pressing challenges such as species loss, land use conflicts and urbanisation.

Rita Adrian has been working as a climate impact expert at IGB for 28 years. Now she is going into retirement – well, almost. In an interview, she explains how she became a limnologist, and why she believes it is right to have a quota for women in science.

Global warming is increasing the surface temperatures of lakes worldwide – are species finding the temperatures they need to survive? Researchers led by IGB have quantified the long-term temperature changes in 139 lakes worldwide. 

Oxygen levels in freshwater lakes are declining rapidly – faster than in the oceans. Over the past forty years, for example, oxygen levels in the deep waters of temperate lakes have dropped by nearly 19 percent. 

In the Leibniz Research Alliance INFECTIONS'21 Hans-Peter Grossart will investigate the antibiotic resistances and species compositions of microorganisms in the freshwater ecosystems of Berlin.

From 5 to 12 April 2021 is the International Dark Sky Week. We want to draw attention to the issue of light pollution. Researchers from IGB are studying the effects of artificial light on insects.

Lakes in Arctic or boreal regions are usually covered by ice for several months. Such lakes are home to specialised algae (phytoplankton) that grow right under the ice and dominate the spring bloom. But what happens when the ice cover of these waters decreases as a result of climate change? A new model predicts abrupt changes.