News Cyanobacteria / blue-green algae

June 5, 2024The Aquascope underwater camera has been installed in Lake Zug. It is the second permanent measuring station for plankton in Swiss water bodies.

October 17, 2023The guidelines of the WHO list only four substances produced by cyanobacteria. This is a small fraction of all the metabolites that can have ecotoxicological effects.

June 7, 2023Nutrient changes, invasive species and climate change have a major impact on the ecosystem of Lake Constance. This is the conclusion of a large-scale project conducted by seven institutions in Switzerland, Germany and Austria. At the close of the project, the results will be presented at two events.

March 23, 2023Thanks to a unique data set from lakes, Eawag has succeeded in determining how plankton networks respond to climate change and phosphate levels.

June 14, 2022In the future, drones could open up new possibilities for taking water samples fully automatically in remote areas. To this end, Eawag researchers tested a drone model developed at Empa and Imperial College.

November 2, 2021Our lakes, rivers and streams are teeming with the smallest creatures, plants and bacteria that are barely visible to the naked eye, if at all. An underwater camera makes it possible to observe and identify the species of these creatures in real time.

August 5, 2021Blue-green algae and other phytoplankton are very important for the proper functioning of aquatic ecosystems. When they accumulate in high quantities, however, they can be harmful to people and animals because some blue-green algae species produce toxic chemicals. For this reason, the aquatic research institute Eawag is currently working on methods to improve the prediction of bloom events.

October 16, 2019In aquatic ecosystems, both mussels and macrophytes increase water clarity and generally help to prevent excessive algal growth. However, according to a study carried out at Eawag’s experimental pond facility, these stabilizing effects can be disrupted when the co‑occurrence of species gives rise to complex interactions.

October 8, 2019Daphnia can adapt rapidly to changing environmental conditions. This was shown by a study carried out by scientists from Eawag and Cornell University in Oneida Lake (NY, US). This adaptation influences daphnia population density, thus affecting the entire lake food web.

May 14, 2019Cyanobacteria were among the first organisms to produce oxygen, which meant they were a significant milestone in the evolution of plants and animals. Countless species of cyanobacteria inhabit almost all habitats around the world. For her doctorate at Eawag, Marie-Eve Monchamp analysed sediment cores from ten different lakes around the fringes of the Alps, thus gaining an insight into the communities of cyanobacteria living over the past 100 years.