https://phys.org/ en-us Latest news from Forschungsverbund Berlin e.V. (FVB) Nitrate pollution is a growing global environmental challenge due to the extensive use of fertilizer. A study published in Science, led by the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB) with the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research (UFZ), shows that both the amount of water moving through landscapes and how fast it moves play a key role in nitrogen pollution risk. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-landscape-velocities-europe-reshape-nitrogen.html Earth Sciences Fri, 12 Jun 2026 13:00:07 EDT news700487102 Bats are the only mammals that can actively fly, enabling many species to perform seasonal migrations. In migratory birds, remaining airborne for many hours is supported by burning fatty acids, something most mammals are incapable of. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-distance-migration-fatty-acids-limits.html Plants & Animals Wed, 27 May 2026 16:00:06 EDT news699112022 Spectroscopy has many applications, ranging from fundamental tests of quantum electrodynamics and investigations of molecular structure to environmental sensing, biomedical diagnostics and industrial monitoring. A highly promising spectroscopic instrument that has the potential to transform the field has emerged over the years: the dual-comb spectrometer, which relies on the interference of two mode-locked ultrafast lasers that produce broad frequency combs composed of evenly spaced narrow spectral lines. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-dual-spectroscopy-reshape-precision.html Optics & Photonics Tue, 26 May 2026 12:00:04 EDT news699014421 A team of scientists from Berlin analyzed water and sediment samples from six water bodies in Berlin and the adjacent federal states of Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, as well as the inflow and outflow of a wastewater treatment plant in Berlin. The scientists analyzed bacteria found in these samples and detected a higher diversity and load of antibiotic resistance genes in urban samples. The inflow and effluent from the treatment plant were the most heavily contaminated, but resistant bacteria were also found in rural lakes far from urban areas. The study is published in the journal iScience. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-antibiotic-resistant-bacteria-lakes-urban.html Ecology Mon, 04 May 2026 18:00:02 EDT news697125841 Quantum mechanics is extremely successful at describing the behavior of matter at the atomic level. This success forces one to accept that certain aspects of physical reality go far beyond our intuition. Among these, none is more intriguing than the concept of quantum entanglement, which mathematically describes how two particles that have at some point in the past interacted with each other retain a memory of this interaction to such an extent that acting on one of the two particles has a measurable influence on the properties of the other particle, even if the two have long ago stopped interacting and may be separated by such a vast distance that communication between them is no longer possible. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-quantum-entanglement-electrons-ions-captured.html Quantum Physics Thu, 02 Apr 2026 16:20:03 EDT news694359361 Only 25% of newly-delineated priority areas identified for the protection of freshwater fishes in Colombia overlap with existing protected areas, according to a recent study published in Diversity and Distributions by the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB). Strikingly, the required amount of area is similar to that of the existing protected areas. However, a more efficient spatial distribution would be important. This finding is in line with another study, published in Nature Communications, that found that protected areas in Europe are often insufficient to enhance the biodiversity and water quality of rivers because most protected areas were originally designated for terrestrial ecosystems. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-quarter-colombia-areas-effectively-freshwater.html Plants & Animals Wed, 01 Apr 2026 15:40:07 EDT news694275841 More than 40% of extant large freshwater animals (megafauna), including carp, salmonids, crocodilians, turtles, beavers, and hippopotamuses, have been deliberately introduced outside their natural range, often for economic gain. While these alien species can provide substantial benefits to certain groups in the introduced regions, they also pose profound and often underestimated risks to native biodiversity and local people, according to a new study published in One Earth, led by researchers at the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB) and the Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-carp-crocodilians-deliberately-freshwater-giants.html Plants & Animals Mon, 09 Mar 2026 14:00:02 EDT news692274249 Researchers at the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB) have used long-term data from the Spree River to discover that aquatic plants can compensate for declining water levels in a drier climate. In recent summers, the growth of aquatic plants in the lower part of the Spree has led to an increase in water levels compared to previous years, thus compensating for the declining discharge. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-dense-aquatic-spree-river-steady.html Environment Sun, 22 Feb 2026 12:30:02 EST news690800668 Researchers have identified a previously unknown mechanism by which the kidney precisely controls calcium excretion. The claudin-14 protein plays a key role in this process: It displaces the paracellular transport protein claudin-16 in the tight junctions of the kidney, thereby altering the flow of calcium. The findings have been published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-12-kidney-calcium-network-tight-junctions.html Endocrinology & Metabolism Tue, 16 Dec 2025 21:20:02 EST news685114017 Some bat species seek shelter during the day in the attics of large, mostly historic buildings within human settlements, even though they forage for insects at night in the dark surrounding countryside. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-urban-street-commuting-roosts-foraging.html Plants & Animals Fri, 28 Nov 2025 09:17:16 EST news683543770 Metal-organic (MO) precursors are the chemical building blocks at the heart of atomically precise complex oxide materials. Yet in vapor-phase deposition techniques like MOCVD, ALD, and hybrid-MBE, they have long been treated as a "black box"—their reactions poorly understood and often dismissed as "just another knob to tweak." https://phys.org/news/2025-10-guesswork-decoding-metal-precursor-chemistry.html Analytical Chemistry Wed, 01 Oct 2025 15:00:06 EDT news678549381 The field of ultrafast magnetism explores how flashes of light can manipulate a material's magnetization in trillionths of a second. In the process called all-optical switching (AOS), a single laser pulse of several femtoseconds (≈10-15 seconds) duration flips tiny magnetic regions without the need for an externally applied magnetic field. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-ultrafast-magnetization-boundary-previous-optical.html Condensed Matter Tue, 23 Sep 2025 10:42:04 EDT news677842922 A research team from the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB) has investigated the interplay between hydrology and microbial communities in small water bodies in Berlin. They discovered many microorganisms that indicate a higher anthropogenic influence. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-berlin-bacterial-city-population-potential.html Ecology Fri, 22 Aug 2025 13:11:03 EDT news675087054 A team of researchers at the Max Born Institute and collaborating institutions has developed a reliable method to create complex magnetic textures, known as skyrmion bags, in thin ferromagnetic films. Skyrmion bags are donut-like, topologically rich spin textures that go beyond the widely studied single skyrmions. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-laser-pulses-nanoscale-yield-stable.html Condensed Matter Mon, 28 Jul 2025 12:29:44 EDT news672924576 A new review article published in the Journal of Environmental Management summarizes the current state of knowledge on the occurrence of tire wear particles and the release of pollutants in aquatic ecosystems. The researchers warn of the toxic effects on aquatic organisms and associated ecological consequences. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-abrasion-pollutes-endangers-animals.html Plants & Animals Wed, 02 Jul 2025 10:30:01 EDT news670670596 Biological invasions are widely acknowledged as a serious threat to biodiversity, global economies, and a good quality of life. Yet, they are not universally perceived as a nuisance and are sometimes gaining—often unexpectedly—cultural acceptance in local communities around the world. The consequences of this acceptance are not trivial for invasive species management. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-invasive-species-culture.html Ecology Thu, 26 Jun 2025 11:01:00 EDT news670154456 People collect mussels from the shore, but do they also exist in freshwater ecosystems? Just how many of these inconspicuous mussels can be found beneath the surface of inland waters became apparent during the Oder River disaster in 2022, when tons of mussels perished. Empty mussel shells still line the banks of the Oder. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-qa-freshwater-mussels-invasive-quagga.html Ecology Wed, 14 May 2025 12:29:04 EDT news666444541 Two recent studies published in Biological Conservation and Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, led by researchers from the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB) and the Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, highlight the profound impacts of hydropower on biodiversity in river channels and at the land-water surface. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-hidden-hydropower-biodiversity.html Ecology Wed, 07 May 2025 10:21:05 EDT news665832061 The ambient temperature has a profound impact on the physiology and behavior of most species. In regions where individuals rely on low temperatures to hibernate effectively, global warming is likely to significantly affect their survival. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-shorter-warmer-winters-hibernation-area.html Plants & Animals Mon, 05 May 2025 16:18:28 EDT news665680702 Everyone is familiar with the light dome that shows from afar where cities are brightly lit at night. Artificial light that is scattered in the atmosphere and brightens the night sky can have an effect far from where it is emitted. This phenomenon is known as artificial skyglow. Skyglow can affect biodiversity over long distances. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-pollution-cyanobacterial-growth-metabolic-lakes.html Ecology Wed, 09 Apr 2025 04:16:58 EDT news663391009 Amphibians are land animals, but can only reproduce in water. They prefer to live in and around small bodies of water. But this habitat is becoming increasingly rare—in Germany alone, more than half of this type of body of water has disappeared in the last century. https://phys.org/news/2025-03-optimal-pond-amphibians-key-factors.html Plants & Animals Wed, 05 Mar 2025 14:29:05 EST news660407341 The phase and the group velocity of light propagating in conventional optical media cannot exceed the speed of light in vacuum. However, in so-called epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) materials, light exhibits an infinite phase velocity and a vanishing group velocity for a particular color (frequency). https://phys.org/news/2025-02-scientists-optical-phase-group-velocities.html Optics & Photonics Fri, 07 Feb 2025 04:38:07 EST news658125483 Night-time collisions with robotic lawnmowers are a significant animal welfare and conservation problem for hedgehogs as they often suffer serious or even fatal injuries. In order to make the operation of robotic lawnmowers hedgehog-safe, the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (Leibniz-IZW), the specialist crash test company CTS and the computer magazine c't are developing special hedgehog dummies and standardized tests to prevent fatal collisions. https://phys.org/news/2025-01-emergency-night-automated-lawnmowing-hedgehog.html Plants & Animals Thu, 16 Jan 2025 04:22:48 EST news656223758 Even deep clear water lakes, which are considered particularly valuable ecosystems, can show signs of eutrophication and algae growth—often for no apparent reason. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-deep-lake-analysis-shallow-areas.html Ecology Fri, 29 Nov 2024 14:01:05 EST news652111262 In order to use remote locations to record and assess the behavior of wildlife and environmental conditions, the GAIA Initiative developed an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm that reliably and automatically classifies behaviors of white-backed vultures using animal tag data. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-vultures-ai-death-detectors-high.html Ecology Tue, 19 Nov 2024 15:58:16 EST news651254291 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. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-qa-experts-discuss-beaver-controversial.html Plants & Animals Fri, 18 Oct 2024 11:07:04 EDT news648468421 Aquatic plants in lakes and rivers are important refuges for animals, bring oxygen into the water and remove nutrients. However, they are not universally popular: some people find them a nuisance when swimming or doing water sports, and they also change the hydrology of aquatic systems. When aquatic plants grow in large numbers, they are often removed. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-aquatic-option.html Plants & Animals Tue, 10 Sep 2024 11:28:15 EDT news645186488 Tons of dead fish, mussels and snails were seen floating on the Oder River (Germany) in early August 2022. It soon became clear what was causing the environmental disaster in the German-Polish border river: a mixture of excessive salinity, high water temperatures, low water levels and excessive inputs of nutrients and wastewater triggered a bloom of the brackish water algae Prymnesium parvum, whose algal toxin prymnesin has a lethal effect on organisms. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-chemical-cocktail-micropollutants-amplified-effect.html Environment Fri, 06 Sep 2024 11:25:53 EDT news644840746 AP180 is a protein involved in endocytosis and in signal transmission between nerve cells. This protein, which largely lacks a three-dimensional structure, has never been fully studied. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-interaction-network-endocytosis.html Cell & Microbiology Fri, 26 Jul 2024 11:50:46 EDT news641213442 In the summer of 2022, around 1,000 tons of fish, mussels and snails died in the River Oder. Although the disaster was manmade, the immediate cause of death was the toxin of a microalgae with the scientific collective name Prymnesium parvum, often referred to as "golden algae." https://phys.org/news/2024-07-genome-toxin-genes-microalgae-oder.html Ecology Tue, 09 Jul 2024 15:30:04 EDT news639757801