The Institute of Hydrobiology, Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences, v.v.i. (public research institution) is the principal institution in the Czech Republic devoted to complex freshwater research of man-made reservoirs and natural lakes. The research portfolio includes the assessment of biotic interrelations and their interactions with abiotic factors. Limnological interactions are studied both within the waterbodies and within whole catchment. The institute performs research on different levels of interactions from the ecosystem, community, population, organismal, through cellular to molecular levels. The investigations combine regular long-term ecological research on selected Czech reservoirs, comparative and methodical studies and different scale experiments that allow scrutinizing the phenomena in different time- and space-scales. The institute applies a holistic approach from elementary chemistry to high trophic levels and societal effects on water systems. It acts as an advisory body for the assessment of the ecological potential of heavily modified and artificial waterbodies. Special investigations going beyond the investigations of lakes and reservoirs involve ponds, running waters and other aquatic environment.
The Institute of Hydrobiology was established in Ceské Budejovice in 1990, building on the long-lasting research activities (since 1959) of the Hydrobiological laboratory of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences in Prague, which was relocated to Ceské Budejovice in South Bohemia between 1980 and 1984. The main research areas encompass water chemistry, fish biology, production processes of freshwater ecosystems, microbial processes, interactions and diversity using classical limnological approaches and novel molecular and isotopic techniques.
