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Environment - Paleontology - 28.03.2023 
80 million years old rainforest
Plant fossils from Egypt shed light on the evolutionary history of rainforests An international team of researchers led by first author Dr. Clément Coiffard of Freie Universität Berlin and Senckenberg scientist Dieter Uhl has taken a close look at the evolutionary history of tropical rainforests.
Environment - Agronomy / Food Science - 22.03.2023 
’We optimize water quality with mathematics’
Water is one of the essential resources of all life. Ensuring that all people have access to clean drinking water and safeguarding its quality is not just a task for politicians. Scientists like Prof. Pu Li, head of the Process Optimization Group at the TU Ilmenau, also make an important contribution to our water supply with their research.
Environment - 16.03.2023
Environment - Life Sciences - 16.03.2023
Environment - Life Sciences - 14.03.2023 
Air pollution impairs successful mating of flies
High levels of ozone destroy the chemical mating signal of the insects and may thus contribute to global insect decline A research team at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena, Germany, demonstrates that increased levels of ozone resulting from anthropogenic air pollution can degrade insect sex pheromones, which are crucial mating signals, and thus prevent successful reproduction.
Environment - Life Sciences - 09.03.2023 
Life in the smoke of underwater volcanoes
The plumes from hydrothermal vents provide an ecological link between the open ocean and the seafloor Disconnected from the energy of the sun, the permanently ice-covered Arctic deep sea receives miniscule amounts of organic matter that sustains life. Bacteria which can harvest the energy released from submarine hydrothermal sources could thus have an advantage.
Life Sciences - Environment - 08.03.2023 
How nanoplastics can influence metabolism
PET, the plastic used to make bottles, for example, is ubiquitous in our natural environment. In a joint study, scientists from Leipzig University and the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) investigated the negative effects that tiny plastic PET particles can have on the metabolism and development of an organism.
Environment - 07.03.2023 
Plant roots fuel tropical soil animal communities
Research team led by Göttingen University reveals that living roots are as important as dead leaves to sustain tropical soil biodiversity A research team led by the University of Göttingen has shed new light on the importance of plant roots for belowground life, particularly in the tropics. Millions of small creatures toiling in a single hectare of soil including earthworms, springtails, mites, insects, and other arthropods are crucial for decomposition and soil health.
Environment - Agronomy / Food Science - 03.03.2023 
Additive to make slurry more climate-friendly
Study by the University of Bonn confirms reduction of the greenhouse gas methane by 99 percent Livestock farming produces large quantities of greenhouse gases, especially methane, which is particularly harmful to the climate. Among other things, it escapes during the storage of animal excrement, the slurry.
Environment - 03.03.2023 
Ecological improvement of freshwater ecosystems benefits fish and people
Freshwater biodiversity is declining at alarming rates. In a large-scale effort, a research team led by the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB) and the Humboldt Universität zu Berlin (HU) in cooperation with angling clubs, has conducted whole-lake experiments in 20 lakes to improve ecological conditions.
Environment - 02.03.2023 
Mechanical weeding promotes ecosystem functions and profit in industrial oil palm
Research led by Göttingen University compares reduced fertilizer and mechanical weeding with conventional management Oil palm trees are the most productive oil crop and global demand is increasing. However, their productivity is due to conventional management practices including high fertilizer usage and herbicide application, resulting in severe environmental damage.
Environment - Life Sciences - 01.03.2023 
Mulching time of forest meadows influences insect diversity
Researchers at the University of Freiburg have examined how mulching at different times affects insect flower-visitors and larvae Mulching is a possible management method for forest meadows and is important to their upkeep. During the process, the meadow is cut and the cuttings are shredded and left on the meadow.
History / Archeology - Environment - 01.03.2023 
Hunter-gatherers resettled central Europe from southwest 18,000 years ago
International research team creates largest genome analysis of ice-age ancestors to date Who resettled Central Europe after the last ice age when the ice sheets were at their greatest? This has been a topic of debate for over 100 years. Now an international research team led by the University of Tübingen and including the University of Göttingen, has conclusively proved the genetic history of European ancestors using the largest genome data set of European hunter-gatherers ever compiled.
Environment - Life Sciences - 01.03.2023 
Ice Age Survivors
Large-scale genomic analysis documents the migrations of Ice Age hunter-gatherers over a period of 30,000 years With the largest dataset of prehistoric European hunter-gatherer genomes ever generated, an international research team has rewritten the genetic history of our ancestors. This study was led by researchers from the University of Tübingen and the Senckenberg Center for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment, Peking University and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, in collaboration with 125 international scientists.
Environment - Earth Sciences - 28.02.2023 
Invasive plant species will spread even further in Germany
They are called giant hogweed, Japanese knotweed or ragweed - but they all have one thing in common: they are invasive plant species that found their way to Germany many years ago and are increasingly displacing other plant species. Many of them have not even reached their potentially suitable habitat yet.
Environment - Agronomy / Food Science - 28.02.2023 
Modelling to protect crops of the future
International research team shows benefits of adapting barley varieties to climate change Extreme weather events such as heavy rains and flooding triggered by the intensification of the water cycle due to climate change, are increasingly threatening food security. Large collaborative research projects around the world are working to better adapt plant genetics to the climate conditions of current and future barley-growing regions.
Chemistry - Environment - 23.02.2023 
Scientists discover new superacid
Scientists discover new superacid: Substance converts harmful compounds into sustainably usable chemicals Scientists at the University of Paderborn have succeeded in producing very special catalysts, so-called Lewis superacids, with the help of which strong chemical bonds can be split and reactions accelerated.
Environment - Life Sciences - 23.02.2023 
Seabirds in the eye of the storm
Tolerance to strong winds and storm avoidance strategy differs among seabird species Hurricanes are becoming more intense due to the climate crisis. Therefore, researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Animal Behavior in Germany and Swansea University in the United Kingdom have studied the wind speeds that different seabird species can withstand.
Environment - 22.02.2023 
Passerine bird takes advantage of human settlements
Daurian redstarts move closer to humans to protect their nests from brood parasitism Daurian redstarts move their nesting sites closer to or even inside human settlements when cuckoos are around. In doing so, they actively protect their nest against brood parasitism, as cuckoos avoid human settlements.
Life Sciences - Environment - 21.02.2023 
Symbiotic fungi produce attractants for bark beetles
When metabolizing spruce bark, the insect's fungal partners release volatile compounds that bark beetles recognize through specialized olfactory sensory neurons In a new study, an international research team led by the researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology demonstrates that the European spruce bark beetle Ips typographus uses volatile fungal metabolites of plant defense substances as important chemical signals in their attack on spruce trees.
Environment
Results 1 - 20 of 405.
Plant fossils from Egypt shed light on the evolutionary history of rainforests An international team of researchers led by first author Dr. Clément Coiffard of Freie Universität Berlin and Senckenberg scientist Dieter Uhl has taken a close look at the evolutionary history of tropical rainforests.
Water is one of the essential resources of all life. Ensuring that all people have access to clean drinking water and safeguarding its quality is not just a task for politicians. Scientists like Prof. Pu Li, head of the Process Optimization Group at the TU Ilmenau, also make an important contribution to our water supply with their research.
Soil Ecosystems Under Stress
Research team led by Freie Universität Berlin professor publishes study on the human and natural stressors threatening soil ecosystems around the world By statistically analyzing data from around the world, scientists have determined that multiple natural and human stressors are reducing levels of biodiversity and soil functioning in soil ecosystems.
Research team led by Freie Universität Berlin professor publishes study on the human and natural stressors threatening soil ecosystems around the world By statistically analyzing data from around the world, scientists have determined that multiple natural and human stressors are reducing levels of biodiversity and soil functioning in soil ecosystems.
How fishermen benefit from reversing evolution of cod
News from Intense fishing and overexploitation have led to evolutionary changes in fish stocks like cod, reducing both their productivity and value on the market. These changes can be reversed by more sustainable and far-sighted fisheries management.
News from Intense fishing and overexploitation have led to evolutionary changes in fish stocks like cod, reducing both their productivity and value on the market. These changes can be reversed by more sustainable and far-sighted fisheries management.
High levels of ozone destroy the chemical mating signal of the insects and may thus contribute to global insect decline A research team at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena, Germany, demonstrates that increased levels of ozone resulting from anthropogenic air pollution can degrade insect sex pheromones, which are crucial mating signals, and thus prevent successful reproduction.
The plumes from hydrothermal vents provide an ecological link between the open ocean and the seafloor Disconnected from the energy of the sun, the permanently ice-covered Arctic deep sea receives miniscule amounts of organic matter that sustains life. Bacteria which can harvest the energy released from submarine hydrothermal sources could thus have an advantage.
PET, the plastic used to make bottles, for example, is ubiquitous in our natural environment. In a joint study, scientists from Leipzig University and the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) investigated the negative effects that tiny plastic PET particles can have on the metabolism and development of an organism.
Research team led by Göttingen University reveals that living roots are as important as dead leaves to sustain tropical soil biodiversity A research team led by the University of Göttingen has shed new light on the importance of plant roots for belowground life, particularly in the tropics. Millions of small creatures toiling in a single hectare of soil including earthworms, springtails, mites, insects, and other arthropods are crucial for decomposition and soil health.
Study by the University of Bonn confirms reduction of the greenhouse gas methane by 99 percent Livestock farming produces large quantities of greenhouse gases, especially methane, which is particularly harmful to the climate. Among other things, it escapes during the storage of animal excrement, the slurry.
Freshwater biodiversity is declining at alarming rates. In a large-scale effort, a research team led by the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB) and the Humboldt Universität zu Berlin (HU) in cooperation with angling clubs, has conducted whole-lake experiments in 20 lakes to improve ecological conditions.
Research led by Göttingen University compares reduced fertilizer and mechanical weeding with conventional management Oil palm trees are the most productive oil crop and global demand is increasing. However, their productivity is due to conventional management practices including high fertilizer usage and herbicide application, resulting in severe environmental damage.
Researchers at the University of Freiburg have examined how mulching at different times affects insect flower-visitors and larvae Mulching is a possible management method for forest meadows and is important to their upkeep. During the process, the meadow is cut and the cuttings are shredded and left on the meadow.
International research team creates largest genome analysis of ice-age ancestors to date Who resettled Central Europe after the last ice age when the ice sheets were at their greatest? This has been a topic of debate for over 100 years. Now an international research team led by the University of Tübingen and including the University of Göttingen, has conclusively proved the genetic history of European ancestors using the largest genome data set of European hunter-gatherers ever compiled.
Large-scale genomic analysis documents the migrations of Ice Age hunter-gatherers over a period of 30,000 years With the largest dataset of prehistoric European hunter-gatherer genomes ever generated, an international research team has rewritten the genetic history of our ancestors. This study was led by researchers from the University of Tübingen and the Senckenberg Center for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment, Peking University and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, in collaboration with 125 international scientists.
They are called giant hogweed, Japanese knotweed or ragweed - but they all have one thing in common: they are invasive plant species that found their way to Germany many years ago and are increasingly displacing other plant species. Many of them have not even reached their potentially suitable habitat yet.
International research team shows benefits of adapting barley varieties to climate change Extreme weather events such as heavy rains and flooding triggered by the intensification of the water cycle due to climate change, are increasingly threatening food security. Large collaborative research projects around the world are working to better adapt plant genetics to the climate conditions of current and future barley-growing regions.
Scientists discover new superacid: Substance converts harmful compounds into sustainably usable chemicals Scientists at the University of Paderborn have succeeded in producing very special catalysts, so-called Lewis superacids, with the help of which strong chemical bonds can be split and reactions accelerated.
Tolerance to strong winds and storm avoidance strategy differs among seabird species Hurricanes are becoming more intense due to the climate crisis. Therefore, researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Animal Behavior in Germany and Swansea University in the United Kingdom have studied the wind speeds that different seabird species can withstand.
Daurian redstarts move closer to humans to protect their nests from brood parasitism Daurian redstarts move their nesting sites closer to or even inside human settlements when cuckoos are around. In doing so, they actively protect their nest against brood parasitism, as cuckoos avoid human settlements.
When metabolizing spruce bark, the insect's fungal partners release volatile compounds that bark beetles recognize through specialized olfactory sensory neurons In a new study, an international research team led by the researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology demonstrates that the European spruce bark beetle Ips typographus uses volatile fungal metabolites of plant defense substances as important chemical signals in their attack on spruce trees.
