Business Fields Applied Ecology

With its Applied Ecology division located at Schmallenberg the Fraunhofer IME is the Fraunhofer Institute explicitly dedicated to ecological issues and thematically routed in agricultural production.

The overall aim of the division is to determine, assess and finally minimize the risk of synthetic and natural substances for ecosystems, and for humans via contamination of food, feed and consumer products.

Our activities focus on the characterization and assessment of the environmental friendliness of substances and products, such as plant protection products, biocides, human and veterinary medicinal products, industrial chemicals (REACH) and, e.g., nanomaterials. Based on our chemical-analytical competence, our activities also include project work aiming to ensure food safety and quality.

We carry out a large part of our contract research projects for clients from industry and medium sized enterprises. With projects performed for governmental agencies, consultancy services and expert memberships in regulatory boards the institute also takes considerable influence on environmental policy.

The research, development and service activities of the Applied Ecology Division in Schmallenberg are pooled in four business areas address clients from manufacturers of plant protection products, the chemical industry (including manufacturers of biocides and pharmaceutical products), food and feed manufacturing and processing industries, and governmental agencies.

The individual projects are carried out in interdisciplinary cooperation of our specialists from the different departments structured according to our core competencies.

Here you will find information about the Fraunhofer Institute in Schmallenberg.

The 35th Annual Meeting of Setac Europe will take place in Vienna in May 2025. Abstracts can still be submitted until November 20, 2024.
Dr. Sebastian Eilebrecht, Head of Department Ecotoxicogenomics, is co-chair of the session "1.05 - Molecular Ecotoxicology and Omics Perspectives: Advancing mechanistic understanding for environmental risk assessment”. Julia Peters, PhD student of the Department of Ecological Chemistry, is co-chair of the session “3.06 - Can biodegradable polymers serve as a safe and sustainable solution for the accumulation of polymers in the environment?”
Both are looking forward to the submission of numerous abstracts:

More Information:  

1.05 - Molecular Ecotoxicology and Omics Perspectives: Advancing Mechanistic Understanding for Environmental Risk Assessment

3.06 - Can Biodegradable Polymers Serve as a Safe and Sustainable Solution to Environmental Accumulation of Polymers?

35. SETAC Europe 2025

OECD test guideline published on June 25, 2024 covering the Hyallela azteca Bioconcentration Test (HYBIT). The test guideline provides a non-vertebrate test for bioconcentration in aquatic environments. We perform the Hyalella bioconcentration test with animals raised in the laboratory of Fraunhofer IME under standardized conditions. Fraunhofer IME offers testing adhering to GLP (Good Laboratory Practice) principles.

OECD test guideline

As of March 1^st, 2024, Prof. Dr Christoph Schäfers has been appointed to the management of the Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology IME and will now lead the institute with its four locations together with Prof. Dr Stefan Schillberg.

Christoph Schäfers knows Fraunhofer IME in Schmallenberg like the back of his hand. The qualified biologist and habilitated ecotoxicologist has been loyal to the Fraunhofer Institute for 30 years and has since promoted the further development of the Applied Ecology division as a European leader in substance-related environmental risk assessment and international guideline development. He joined the former Fraunhofer Institute IUCT in Schmallenberg as a scientist in 1994. He shaped the institute with his technical expertise as a laboratory and department head in ecotoxicology as well as leading Fraunhofer IME operationally and strategically through the Fraunhofer landscape as head of the Applied Ecology division since 2009, and also as acting institute director from 2017 to 2022. During this time, the turnover of contract research and the number of employees more than doubled, which justified a major expansion of the property on the Aberg in Schmallenberg. The Fraunhofer Institute is delighted to have an experienced and committed institute director in Prof. Schäfers, who is also highly appreciated by employees for his collegial management style.

The SETAC Europe 34th Annual Meeting is held in Seville, Spain from 5 - 9 May 2024 and hosts scientists from Europe and overseas.

Chemists and biologists of the Fraunhofer IME participate in the Setac meeting with numerous poster and platform presentations, where they present their current research results.

These contributions can be found on this website.

A HESI workshop on “Alternatives to Chronic Fish Toxicity Testing” was held in Paris, France on October 25-26 2023, attended by 35 multi-sector scientists from 12 different countries.  The workshop was aimed at developing a strategy to guide alternative approaches for the assessment of chronic toxicity to fish, with a focus on how new science and approaches can be effectively used to improve our ability to protect the environment from the potential chronic impacts of chemicals. From Fraunhofer IME in Schmallenberg, Dr. Matthias Teigeler and Dr. Sebastian Eilebrecht took part in the workshop.

The workshop key messages and Information HESI-Workshop

We present an insight into new assessment procedures and test methods that are required due to a changed perception of risks:

• When water fleas perceive fish: Fish kairomones initiate a protective reaction in the water flea Daphnia magna
• WildOMICs: Unravelling the biological potential of the German Environmental Specimen
• Leachability as a Measure for Substance Mobility in the classification as PMT/vPvM
• Portrait: our long-time colleague Uwe Boshof.

We hope you enjoy reading: Newsletter NOV23

The Federal Environment Agency (UBA) had commissioned the two Fraunhofer Institutes IME and ITEM as well as Ramboll Deutschland GmbH to conduct a survey to review the OECD test guidelines. With the help of international expert groups, test guidelines were identified that currently do not correspond to the current state of science and technology. Only the OECD TGs used to assess environmental impacts were considered. After completing the surveys, the results were discussed in three thematic workshops. Recommendations for the revision of the OECD TGs were developed and prioritized, which were finally presented to the members of the Working Party of National Coordinators for the OECD Test Guidelines Program (WNT). Contact Fraunhofer IME: Prof. Dr. Christian Schlechtriem.

Read the report

Read the press release of the project consortium on the successful conclusion

The iMulch Leitmarkt.NRW project was successfully completed with the participation of the Fraunhofer IME in Schmallenberg. In the study, Dr Dieter Hennecke and his team investigated the fate of microplastics from various agricultural mulch films in arable soils.

PRESS RELEASE

Contributions about the Fraunhofer Institute in Schmallenberg from previous years can be found here.