Lake Balaton, the largest shallow lake in Central Europe, is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Hungary. Millions of people visit here annually, making the preservation of its good water quality, ecosystem, and biological diversity crucial from an economic perspective as well.
The HUN-REN Balaton Limnological Research Institute has been operating for nearly 100 years, and with its unique and versatile array of equipment, specializes in environmental research of freshwater bodies, focusing on Lake Balaton and its watershed. The Institute examines the flora and fauna of Lake Balaton and the associated watercourses, their spatial and temporal changes, the nutrient cycling and dynamics, and the abiotic and biotic environmental factors influencing aquatic ecosystems. The Institute possesses a complex array of equipment valued at nearly 1.6 billion Hungarian Forints, which is outstanding by international standards and meets the challenges of the time. In recent years, researchers of the Institute have addressed fundamental questions such as the water level and quality of Lake Balaton, the phenomenon of aquatic macrophyte proliferation, reed degradation, summer algal blooms, various types of human-induced pollution, and the phenomenon of salinization.
Using its extensive array of equipment, the Institute conducts comprehensive examinations of samples collected from natural ecosystems (e.g., Lake Balaton) and experimental systems (e.g., from the mesocosm facility). The research infrastructure includes important elements such as outdoor and indoor experimental systems, modern instrumental analytical devices, microscope systems, sample collection-, preparation-, and processing tools, remote sensing system for water quality monitoring, microbiological and molecular biological laboratories. Such a comprehensive research infrastructure suitable for studying aquatic life and the aquatic environment is not found within a single institution elsewhere in the country, making it unique.
Information about the results obtained with the Institute's equipment can also be found under the "Public Research" section.
The main research tools are illustrated in the following gallery.
