Press Releases
Confirmed: If sewage sludge is applied to fields, microplastics can get into deeper soil layers and onto adjacent areas
The fact that sewage sludge from municipal waste water treatment plants contains a high proportion of microplastics has already been shown in earlier studies. It was suspected that the use of such sludge for fertilising fields could also promote the uncontrolled input of microplastics into the wider environment. Now, studies conducted as part of the project MicroCatch_Balt funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research confirm this assumption.
Sea grass is no patent solution for climate change
Regenerating sea grass beds in coastal waters aims at removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to fight climate change. However, tropical sea grass beds can release more carbon dioxide than they absorb. This was shown in a study by an international research team led by biogeochemist Bryce Van Dam from the Helmholtz Centre Hereon, in which also scientists from the IOW participated.
» Read more … Sea grass is no patent solution for climate change
A Threat to the Baltic Sea? Long-term development of pollution by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are widespread, highly toxic and often carcinogenic environmental pollutants. Marion Kanwischer from the IOW and her team have studied the long-term development of PAH pollution in the Baltic Sea. Although the overall contamination has eased in recent years, PAHs still pose a toxicological threat to the Baltic Sea. Traffic emissions are a major contributor to the current PAH pollution.
The German sea shells – New publication presents an extensive documentation of mussels living in German sea areas (and beyond)
Michael L. Zettler, senior scientist at the IOW, has been researching the occurrence and living conditions of the inhabitants of the seabed of the Baltic Sea and other seas – the so-called zoobenthos – for many years. Now he has contributed his profound expertise to a monograph on the marine bivalves of Germany, thus closing, together with co-author Axel Alf, a gap in the renowned series “Die Tierwelt Deutschlands”.
Major Baltic Inflows can cause just minor and only temporary improvements of the Baltic Sea´s state of eutrophication
With detailed analyses of water and sediment samples from the Gotland Basin, geoscientists from the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research succeeded in tracing the geochemical processes, which followed the Major Baltic Inflow in 2014/2015. Their conclusion: even very large amounts of oxygenated waters cause only small and temporary improvements of the nutrient situation in the central Baltic Sea.
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