The research vessel "Robert Lauterborn" is regularly used to travel from the pier in the port of Konstanz to a sampling point in Lake Überlingen near Wallhausen. There, using multi-parameter probes, depth profiles of the lake's water column are recorded (temperature, pH, oxygen, chlorophyll, etc.) and samples of zooplankton, phytoplankton and bacterioplankton are taken as well as for DNA sequencing. In this way, the seasonal cycle of plankton, i.e. the seasonal development (succession) of the complex and ecologically important microplankton community in the open water of Lake Constance, and the effects of climate change on the Lake Constance ecosystem can be documented.
The forum.konstanz and the Limnological Institute offer school groups and the interested public the opportunity to take part in a boat trip and sample collection on selected dates as part of lake excursions. The lake excursions take place on Thursdays in spring and summer and last from 9 a.m. to around 2 p.m. School groups are didactically supported by biology teacher training students from a seminars in the excursions module (extracurricular learning locations).
