{"id":15220,"date":"2026-06-09T09:38:45","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T07:38:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uni.lu\/lcsb-en\/?post_type=news&p=15220"},"modified":"2026-06-09T09:38:47","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T07:38:47","slug":"tracing-environmental-change-through-river-microbiomes-in-luxembourg","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.uni.lu\/lcsb-en\/news\/tracing-environmental-change-through-river-microbiomes-in-luxembourg\/","title":{"rendered":"Tracing environmental change through river microbiomes in Luxembourg"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL<\/a>) and regional partners, including the Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine (LCSB) at the University of Luxembourg, have launched a pilot project in the Luxembourg area to investigate how microbial life within river ecosystems responds to human-driven environmental pressures. Researchers sampled water, soils, and a wastewater treatment plant along the Moselle to investigate microbial diversity, antimicrobial resistance, and chemical pollutants. The project, which is part of EMBL\u2019s TRaversing European Coastlines (TREC) initiative<\/a>, aims to detect environmental stress and to help set up long-term ecosystem monitoring, while strengthening cross-border collaboration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nThe Rhine-Moselle ecosystem: A good model to study the impact of human activities<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Rhine, one of the major rivers of Europe, and the Moselle, one of its biggest tributaries, form a complex ecosystem spanning France, Luxembourg, and Germany. Both rivers have been heavily engineered and serve as major transport routes, carrying the fingerprints of human activity across Europe. They pass through densely populated and industrial areas, as well as regions with intensive agriculture, constituting a perfect cross-border natural laboratory to assess our impact on the environment and water quality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Human activities are placing increasing pressure on ecosystems, with consequences for both environmental and human health. The current study focuses on riverine and terrestrial environments influenced by pollution and human-induced ecosystem changes, including climate change, aiming to better understand how microbiomes reflect and shape these impacts.

\u201cMicroorganisms are highly sensitive to environmental change and can act as early indicators of ecosystem health,\u201d details Jan Korbel<\/a>, Interim Head of EMBL Heidelberg. \u201cThrough TREC, we are building a coordinated framework to study these changes across Europe, and this project now assesses this approach in freshwater ecosystems. EMBL \u2013 with its extensive network of partners across its member states, including Luxembourg \u2013 is uniquely positioned to enable and coordinate such pan-European studies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nLinking microbes and environmental change<\/h3>\n<\/div><\/section>\n\n\n
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