Lake Constance

An Animal Invasion

Whether they arrive as stowaways aboard ships, are abandoned from aquariums, or even deliberately introduced, more and more foreign animal species are arriving in German waterways from around the world. The result is that exotic animals that have almost no natural enemies are threatening native species. Researchers are studying this phenomenon, taking Lake Constance as an example to find out how the ecosystem is affected by the new arrivals.

An Animal Invasion
 

Duck Stop

Above all, they want to answer one question: do water birds prefer plant food? To find out, biologists from Constance and the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Radolfzell are diving into the depths of Lake Constance to study the menu of the water birds. And there are plenty of birds: up to 260,000 of them overwinter on Lake Constance. When they all go in search of food, there are most certainly consequences for the animal and plant world. What do life and survival look like on and in the lake? Do the feeding habits of the birds change over the course of the year? Are there gender-specific or perhaps individual differences in the choice of food? And what do the researchers discover on the bottom of the lake?

Duck Stop
 
Search
Field of Research
 
Universities/Institutions
 
Locations
 
Timeframe of Coverage
 
 
 

DFG Science TV on

Facebook Youtube Twitter Flickr