The Future of the Ecosystem - Focus Area Functional Ecology and Evolution

What is the impact of global change on the world’secosystem? How do global warming and depletion of natural resources affect biodiversity? What does this mean for humans? All these are pressing concerns for the 21st century. In order to find answers to these questions, the scholars at the University of Potsdam are looking far into the past to develop predictions for the future and examine the connections between biosphere and climate. The Focus Area Functional Ecology and Evolution aims at gaining a better understanding of past developments on the earth through empirical findings, new theories, and computer-based models. Only this will allow predictions of future changes in the biosphere under alternative climate and usage scenarios.

In their work, biologists and geologists combine modern ecological and evolutionary approaches. Using methods from molecular genetics, this approach, for example, allows the scientists to analyze Kenyan sea sediments in order to reconstruct the former biodiversity of the region and to put it in relation to volcano eruptions, extreme droughts, and natural climate fluctuations in the past. A project in Brandenburg investigates how invasive plants, so called neophytes, are adjusting to climate change.

The cooperative graduate program “Adaptive Nature Conservation under Climate Change” – a joint program with the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and the University of Applied Sciences in Eberswalde – uses such projects to develop concrete proposals for domestic nature conservation. The focus area’s multi-disciplinary approach is also reflected in the Master’s program “Evolution across Scales”, which is funded by the Volkswagen Foundation. Especially gifted students are integrated very early on into scientific projects ranging from molecular biology and bioinformatics to geological climate research. Sometimes projects go much further, such as when astrobiologists search for chances to live on other planets.

For more details please consult
Focus Area Functional Ecology and Evolution (Homepage)

"In times of climate change, understanding ecological and evolutionary processes is becoming increasingly relevant. How will our ecosystem change and what impact does that have on humans?"

Prof. Dr. Ralph Tiedemann
Spokesperson for the Focus Area Functional Ecology and Evolution

Photos: Karla Fritze, Jörg Müller

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