Dense aquatic plants kept Spree River levels steady despite a near 50% flow drop

Researchers at the Leibniz Institute for Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB) used long-term data from the Spree River to discover that aquatic plants can compensate for falling water levels in a drier climate. In recent summers, the growth of aquatic plants in the lower Spree has caused water levels to increase compared to previous years, thus compensating for the reduced flow.