History
The Leibniz Institute for Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB) was established in 1992, and combined three institutions which had previously been separate in the former East Germany. The recommendation for the establishment of the new Institute was made in 1991 during evaluation of non-university research facilities in the former East Germany.
- Entrance hall in Müggelseedamm 310
Fisheries, hydrological and limnological research in the institutes in Berlin and Neuglobsow preceding IGB
|
Evaluation by Scientific Advisory Boards
For each of the four institutes that preceded IGB, specialized groups of external scientific advisors recommended that cooperation continue as "Blue List Institutes" (funded 50% by the central government, and 50% by the regional government). The history of the former Institute's established research profiles and scientific working principles, was consistent with this, and continues today
The activities of the former institutes, and which are now continued by the IGB include:
- Ecological foundations and research on protection of ecosystems, with corresponding interdisciplinary empirical and system analysis approaches.
- Applied research on the protection and sustainable management of freshwaters, and applications of ecotechnology to freshwaters affected by eutrophication and degradatio.
- Bridging the gap between research and teaching through courses of study in fisheries and fish culture at Humboldt University.
- An international role via scientific cooperation with Institutes in other countries, including those of Central and Eastern Europe.
- A detail from the basin
Thus the activities of the original institutions, and the recommendations of the scientific advisors, have lead to the scope of work of the newly devised IGB, which was defined on 20 December 1991 in the Founding Principles:
The IGB shall pursue
- Interdisciplinary research to further the fundamental scientific knowledge of the natural world, particularly that concerning the structure and function of aquatic ecosystems, including the food web from bacteria to fish, and its interaction with the terrestrial environment,
- Acquisition of long time sequences for environmental data, thus permitting determination of large time constants or cycles, stochastic disturbances in ecological processes, and optimisation strategies for ecosystems,
- Scientific foundations for the development and application of ecotechnology and aquaculture, in both temperate and tropical latitudes,
- Ecological foundations for the restoration of anthropogenically damaged freshwater ecosystems, for the basis of decision making for environmental protection, and for environmentally compatible fisheries and aquacul
- Fostering scientific training of graduate students and those seeking higher doctorates, through teaching activities at University and in the work of the Institute.
|
