News

Jonathan Jeschke took over as head of the new IGB Department of Evolutionary and Integrative Ecology on 1 January 2022. In an interview, he tells us why integration is his guiding principle, what new methods and approaches he is pursuing, and how he would like to promote young scientists in particular.

Sonja Jähnig has been appointed Head of Department at IGB since 1 January 2022. In an interview, the professor talks about her personal goals, what each of us really should know about rivers and lakes, and why water bodies are often overlooked.

Justyna Wolinska has successfully passed the six-year tenure track phase, and has now been jointly appointed to a permanent professorship for Aquatic Evolutionary Ecology by IGB and Freie Universität Berlin.

Light pollution is a serious threat to all levels of biodiversity – from genes to ecosystems. An international team of researchers has identified 11 urgent research questions that need to be addressed in order to mitigate the effects of light pollution on biodiversity.

Researchers from 90 scientific institutions worldwide have stated that freshwater biodiversity research and conservation lag far behind the efforts carried out in terrestrial and marine environments. In a new publication in Ecology Letters, they propose a research agenda with 15 priorities aimed at improving research on biodiversity in lakes, rivers, ponds and wetlands. This is urgently needed, as biodiversity loss is taking place much faster in inland waters than on land or in the oceans.

Scientific memorandum "Energy transition not at the expense of aquatic biodiversity" formulates seven concrete proposals to defuse conflicts of goals between climate and biodiversity protection.

In the run-up to the UN Climate Change Conference, scientific societies in the field of water research once again recommend that the high relevance of inland waters should be better taken into account in the context of climate policy. The scientific findings and data from IGB also prove this urgency.

After 25 years, the programme to reintroduce the European sturgeon into the Elbe and the Gironde is now bearing fruit – adult specimens have returned to the rivers for the first time this year. In an interview, IGB scientist Jörn Geßner tells of the obstacles encountered along the way, as well as more fortunate occurrences. And he explains why the task of reintroducing sturgeon into the North and Baltic Seas will continue to be difficult despite past successes.