news 2020
« BACK
ARAS test aircraft successfully completes maiden flight
Plant diversity in Germany on the decline
’Asynchrony’ important in crop diversity for global food security
How Stable is the Antarctic Ice Sheet?
Climate-adapted plant breeding
Infection by parasites disturbs flight behaviour in shoals of fish
More plant diversity, less pesticides
From nitrate crisis to phosphate crisis?
The seductive scent of sweet fruits
Biodiversity monitoring programmes need a culture of collaboration
Intensive Land Management Impairing Ecosystem Interactions
Land management in forest and grasslands: how much can we intensify?
Shifts in Flowering Phases of Plants Due to Reduced Insect Density
On the way to fish-friendly hydropower
A molecular break for root growth
Environment
Results 1 - 20 of 64.
Transport - Environment - 27.12.2020

Students of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Stuttgart have developed and built the unmanned testing platform Aircraft for Research and Applied Science (ARAS). In the process, they designed the components for it to be able to withstand high loads. After the mechanical and electronic integration was finished, the "UAStudents Gruppe" (a compound made up of Unmanned Aerial System, another word for drone, and students) carried out extensive ground testing before the aircraft successfully took off for the first time in October.
Environment - 16.12.2020

Most comprehensive evaluation of the occurrence of vascular plants in Germany to date Life Germany's plant diversity is on the decline: in the last 60 years, decreases by an average of 15 percent have been observed across Germany in over 70 percent of the more than 2,000 species examined. These are the findings of the most comprehensive analysis of plant data from Germany ever conducted, recently published in "Global Change Biology".
Environment - Social Sciences - 16.12.2020
Gender equality crucial to address climate change
A new study published today highlights the importance of overcoming gender inequality for climate change adaptation and explores future pathways of gender equality for sustainable development Vulnerability to the impacts of climate change differs on a wide range of factors including socio-economic status, education, ethnicity and gender.
Environment - 10.12.2020

Research team with participation of the University of Göttingen analyses ways to ensure food supply Ensuring global food security is a key challenge, especially because of the challenges of climate change and increasing demand from a population expected to reach almost ten billion. A high diversity of crops can help ensure food security in agriculture.
Environment - Earth Sciences - 27.11.2020

Scientists from Heidelberg University investigate which factors determine the stability of ice masses in East Antarctica As temperatures rise due to climate change, the melting of polar ice sheets is accelerating. An international team of researchers led by geoscientist Dr Kim Jakob from Heidelberg University has now examined the dynamics of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet more closely.
Environment - 10.11.2020

Improvement of crops with seeds from gene banks Securing plant production is a global task. Using a combination of new molecular and statistical methods, a research team from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) was able to show that material from gene banks can be used to improve traits in the maize plant.
Life Sciences - Environment - 09.11.2020

In order to escape predators, many fish - including insects, fish and birds - have developed strategies for rapidly transmitting information on threats to others of their species. This information is transmitted within a group of hundreds, or even thousands, of individuals in (escape) waves. This collective response is also, in the case of fish, known as shoal behaviour.
Environment - Life Sciences - 06.11.2020

Species-rich plant communities help to naturally reduce herbivore impacts Life Increasing plant diversity enhances the natural control of insect herbivory in grasslands. Species-rich plant communities support natural predators and simultaneously provide less valuable food for herbivores. This was found by a team of researchers led by the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research Halle-Jena-Leipzig (iDiv), who conducted two analogous experiments in Germany and the USA.
Environment - 02.11.2020

International research team including Göttingen University call for a Europe-wide phosphate directive The aim of the EU Nitrates Directive is to reduce nitrates leaking into the environment in order to prevent pollution of water supplies. The widely accepted view is that this will also help protect threatened plant species which can be damaged by high levels of nutrients like nitrates in the soil and water.
Environment - 02.11.2020
Consequences of Glacier Shrinkage
Researchers from the South Asia Institute and the Heidelberg Center for the Environment of Ruperto Carola investigated the causes of a glacial lake outburst with subsequent flooding in the Ladakh region of India. In order to frame the case study in a larger picture, the research team led by geographer Marcus Nüsser used satellite images to create a comprehensive survey of glacial lakes for the entire Trans-Himalyan region of Ladakh.
Life Sciences - Environment - 29.10.2020

New research group investigates the communication between plants and their consumers A new research area will be established at the Friedrich Schiller University. From November 2020, the biologist Dr Omer Nevo will head the new Junior Research Group "Evolutionary Ecology", that works at the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) in Leipzig.
Environment - Life Sciences - 27.10.2020

Biodiversity loss is continuing relentlessly worldwide. In order to counteract this more effectively, monitoring programmes are needed which precisely map the circumstances of animal and plant species and the extent to which they are under threat. But too often, these are still inadequate - the range of species examined is not extensive enough, and there is too little coordination.
Environment - 27.10.2020

High land-use intensity reduces the beneficial effects of biodiversity on ecosystem services. This is the main result of a study conducted by an international team led by researchers from the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) and the University of Bern.
Environment - 27.10.2020

<p><em><strong>Based on a media release by the University of Bern</strong></em></p> <p><strong>Leipzig/Bern. High land-use intensity reduces the beneficial effects of biodiversity on ecosystem services. This is the main result of a study conducted by an international team led by researchers from the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) and the University of Bern.
Environment - Life Sciences - 27.10.2020

It still sounds unlikely today, but declines in insect numbers could well make it a frequent occurrence in the future: fields full of flowers, but not a bee in sight. A research group of the University of Jena and the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) has discovered that insects have a decisive influence on the biodiversity and flowering phases of plants.
Environment - Life Sciences - 27.10.2020

EU project "FIThydro" studies environmental impact of hydroelectric power plants In the Europe-wide project "FIThydro" coordinated by the Technical University of Munich (TUM), researchers worked with industrial partners to study existing hydroelectric power plants. Based on their results, they have developed new assessment methods and technologies such as a fish population hazard index, fish migration simulations and an open-access decision support tool for power plant planning.
Life Sciences - Environment - 26.10.2020

Length of plant roots is controlled by hormones The dynamic change in root growth of plants plays an important role in their adjustment to soil conditions. Depending on the location, nutrients or moisture can be found in higher or lower soil layers. This is why, depending on the situation, a short or a long root is advantageous.
Environment - 21.10.2020
Vanilla cultivation under trees promotes pest regulation
Research team led by University of Göttingen investigates agroforestry systems in Madagascar The cultivation of vanilla in Madagascar provides a good income for small-holder farmers, but without trees and bushes the plantations can lack biodiversity. Agricultural ecologists from the University of Göttingen, in cooperation with colleagues from the University in Antananarivo (Madagascar), have investigated the interaction between prey and their predators in these cultivated areas.
Environment - 21.10.2020
Humanity Has Consumed More Energy since 1950 than in the Past 12,000 Years
An international research team is investigating human energy consumption over the last millennia - and has even determined a new geological epoch No 197/2020 from Oct 21, 2020 Researchers from many different countries - including paleontologist Professor Reinhold Leinfelder from Freie Universität Berlin - have joined forces to investigate how humanity's ecological footprint has developed over the millennia.
Social Sciences - Environment - 19.10.2020
High social and ecological standards for chocolate
Research team including agroecologists from Göttingen University study conditions in Peruvian cocoa agroforestry systems Worldwide demand for food from the tropics that meets higher environmental and social standards has risen sharply in recent years. Consumers often have to make ethically questionable decisions: products may be available to the global market through child labour, starvation wages or environmental destruction.
Advert