OUR CURRENT PROJECTS

Invasive species are a global threat to native biodiversity and a primary cause of species extinction. The American bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeianus Shaw, 1802) is considered an invasive species in 40 countries. It has been named one of the 100 most dangerous invasive species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), due to its invasive traits and ecological impact. Since about 1996, the bullfrog has been observed along the northern Upper Rhine, and by the summer of 2001, it was confirmed in various water bodies. These include a network of water bodies such as gravel pits, oxbows, and ponds along the Rhine in the northern Rhine valley in the NATURA 2000 area from Karlsruhe to Philippsburg. Since 2023, occurrences of the bullfrog in neighboring Rhineland-Palatinate have also been recorded.

Issues such as microplastics, environmental protection, biodiversity loss, and resource consumption are increasingly gaining public attention. These challenges also reach the world of sports, especially football, where artificial turf fields significantly contribute to the year-round execution of sports activities. However, they cause uncertainties among football clubs and municipalities regarding knowledge, understanding, and management, particularly due to microplastic emissions. Many involved in the clubs are aware of the topic’s relevance but lack comprehensive means to educate themselves about artificial turf, infill materials, underlying elastic layers, maintenance practices, and biodiversity enhancement measures.

Sea urchins are one of the most important animal groups in the coral reefs of the Red Sea. They feed on algae and are therefore the “lawnmowers” of the reefs. They contain the spread of algae and thus create space for the settlement of beneficial larvae and slower-growing organisms, such as corals, mussels and Repeated mass mortality events in the Caribbean species Diadema antillarum peaked in the early 1980s due to a waterborne pathogen. In the Caribbean, 98 % of all diadem sea urchins disappeared at that time. The survivors have slowly recovered in recent years, but by 2022, the population crashed again when about 95 % of all sea urchins died.

The UNESCO World Heritage Wadden Sea is one of the largest wetlands in the world and a unique ecosystem with a very high species diversity. Especially the Rantum Basin on Sylt, now one of the most species-rich bird sanctuaries in northern Germany, has a very important international significance for migratory birds as a resting, breeding and wintering area on their way between the Arctic and southern Africa.

For the first time, Blancpain is involved in a German nature conservation project as part of the Blancpain Ocean Commitment. During the migration periods in spring and autumn, up to 10,000 birds such as Dunlin and Knot, Bar-tailed Godwit and Little Ringed Plover can be observed at the same time in the Rantum Basin. Many migratory bird species also breed here, such as terns, avocets, bluethroats, reed warblers, avocets, eiders, black-headed gulls, common and Arctic terns.

aquatil and the German Football Association (DFB), with its five regional associations North, West, South, Southwest and Northeast and 21 state associations, offer the opportunity to further educate themselves on the topic of “microplastic discharge from existing synthetic turf pitches” with concrete information, explanations and practical tips on dealing with synthetic turf systems. The topics of microplastics as well as environmental protection, biodiversity loss and resource consumption are becoming increasingly important in the public’s awareness. Since many sports have a negative impact on the environment and nature, these topics have also become important in sports. Especially the microplastics discharge from sports facilities with synthetic turf creates uncertainties in knowledge, understanding and handling for football clubs and municipalities.

About 400,000 divers in Germany explore the local inland waters with great interest and often with great biological knowledge. As Citizen Scientists, they will in the future be able to use LakeExplorer to inform themselves digitally and even more easily than before about the native plants and animals of the limnic habitats and in turn support science with their findings.

Aquatic plants, fish, pond insects – in contrast to terrestrial organisms, organisms of limnic habitats remain hidden from many people and are often less studied. So it makes sense to provide recreational divers interested in nature with suitable information and identification aids for use underwater and to ask them for their support in scientific work: Citizen Science in the mountain or quarry pond.

With the combination of a new digital and physical educational offer, recreational divers are to be sensitised to the topics of biodiversity, sustainability and climate change. The Corona pandemic has shown that many more dives are taking place in local waters. This means that there is also an increased demand for knowledge about these waters. The Württembergische Landesverband für Tauchsport (WLT) would like to use this opportunity to provide target group-specific information about sustainability as part of the training and further education activities. There are still enormous gaps in information about the 2030 Agenda, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and concrete sustainable action.

The bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeianus), originally from North America, is one of the world’s largest frogs. Its distribution as an alien and invasive species in Baden-Württemberg is currently still limited to individual water bodies in an area of about 1,500 hectares on the northern Upper Rhine. This area, known since 2001, is currently the only occurrence in Germany.

However, due to the numerous lakes and ponds in the immediate vicinity of the occurrences, a further spread can be assumed. Above all, the tadpoles, which are up to 18 centimetres in size, pose a massive threat to our biological diversity. This mainly affects native amphibians and insects (large dragonflies, swimming beetles and ground beetles), but also molluscs (nudibranchs and snails) as well as small mammals, birds and reptiles. The bullfrog is on the Union list (Regulation (EU) No 1143/2014), which provides for a tiered system of prevention, early detection and immediate removal, as well as management of already widespread invasive species.

A particular challenge for species conservation in our waters is posed by new, invasive species (neobiota), which, for example as a result of human activities, enter habitats that are new to them, establish and spread rapidly, and cause demonstrable ecological damage. They are considered one of the main causes of biodiversity loss worldwide.

In spring 2016, specimens of the invasive quagga mussel (Dreissena rostriformis bugensis) were discovered for the first time by divers in Lake Constance (Überlinger See near Wallhausen). The quagga mussel originates from the area of the tributaries to the Black Sea (e.g. Dnepr-Bug-Liman) and reached our flowing waters via the shipping lanes. The first observation in Germany was in May 2007 in the Main River and subsequently it was also observed in several ports of the Upper Rhine. In the meantime, the quagga mussel can be found in the Rhine, the Main, the Müritz and the Neckar, but also in Lake Constance. The occurrence and spread of the mussel in the course of a river is most likely due to the drifting of larvae by the current. The quagga mussel generally prefers stagnant waters. This coincides not only with the occurrence in Lake Constance, but also with the fact that in the Main and Rhine mainly harbor areas were colonized.

The quagga mussel is a related species of the invasive zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) already present in Lake Constance, which is also called the wandering mussel.