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A swallow starts out on one hand.

Infections with parasites affect the local flight behaviour of swallows

Swallows infected with parasites move less and in smaller ranges than healthy ones – with detrimental effects on their foraging success and their …
Savanna vegetation in Southern Africa

Diversity as survival strategy – How plants adapt to extreme climates in drylands

In a large-scale international study under leadership of the French research organizations INRAE/CNRS and the King Abdullah University in Saudi Arabia …
Prof. Zoran Nikolski

“We are bridging a gap that cannot yet be closed in the lab.” – Zoran Nikoloski about the world of bioinformatics

Biology is the scientific research of life, and computer science is the art of automatic information processing. Does that go together? Absolutely! …
Computer-generated illustration of a protein

How plants adjust their photosynthesis to changing light – Publication in “Nature Communications”

Light supplies the energy plants need to build up biomass. A research team from Bergen, Bochum, Düsseldorf, Münster and Potsdam headed by Heinrich …
Three apparently unhappy examiners ask the test subject to solve difficult problems and pose uncomfortable questions.

Stress Fest at the Stress Test – A visit to Prof. Dr. Pia-Maria Wippert’s laboratory

A plain and white-painted room in the historic building no. 12 at Neues Palais, one table, three chairs. Nothing suggests that things are about to get …
Uni-Präsident Prof. Oliver Günther, Ph.D.

“Ambitious But Not Presumptuous” – President Oliver Günther about research excellence at the University of Potsdam

The University of Potsdam wants to establish itself in the top tier of international research universities. For this purpose, it has submitted three …
African antelopes seeking for shady places during phases of extreme heat

Keeping cool – how African antelopes respond to the climate crisis

The climate crisis is turning the temperature up all over the world, but in southern Africa, the rise has been particularly concerning. Scientists …
The walk-in sample chamber from the "DynaTrait" project.

Diversity Provides Stability – In the Priority Program “DynaTrait”, biologists combine mathematical models, field studies, and laboratory experiments to explore how nature works

It is comfortably warm and bright in the climate chamber. At first glance, you don’t see that the numerous glass flasks filling the illuminated …
Behavioral experiment with wild rodents.

“We Recognize Animals as Individuals” – Researchers of the University of Potsdam investigate the personalities of wild animals

Jana Anja Eccard knows her mice well. For 27 years, she has been researching the behavior of small rodents in numerous experiments, both in the …
“The three phases of exceptional dynamics: (1) Predation on the unprotected bacteria by predators, (2) toxin formation as cooperative defence and recovery of the bacterial population, (3) filament formation as individual defence through evolution and stabilisation of densities”.

In the end, it’s the individual advantage that counts – Bacteria rely on cooperation and evolution in order to defend themselves against predatory protists

Eating and being eaten is a normal process in nature. These predator–prey dynamics help to stabilise ecosystems. It ensures that individual species do …