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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 …
Illustration ökologischer Prozesse

“We need a more complex picture of ecological processes.” – Why a paradigm shift towards an individual-based ecology is necessary

The world is in crisis. But not only climate change is alarming researchers; the biodiversity crisis has also assumed threatening proportions. There …
Data collection with a field spectrometer

Understanding Tipping Points in Savannas – Ecologist Prof. Anja Linstädter Researches How Humans Affect the Development of African Savannas and Grassland

 

Since September 2020, Anja Linstädter has been Professor for Biodiversity Research and Systematic Botany at the University of Potsdam and Director of …
Neckargmünd under water

When Heavy Rainfall Turns into Flash Floods – Hydrology research group examines the hazards of flash floods for cities

In July 2021, there were devastating floods caused by heavy rainfall with 180 deaths and immense economic damages in Rhineland-Palatine and …
Prof. Peter van der Beek. Photo: T. Schildgen.

The Ups and Downs of Mountains – Peter van der Beek, guest scientists at the University of Potsdam, obtains an ERC Advanced Grant

The internationally well-known geologist Prof. Peter van der Beek who is currently a guest professor and scientist at the Institute for Geosciences …
Simon Schneider and Yannick Garcin. Photo: Corinna Kallich

The Mystery of the Rainforest – Geoscientists show that humans were already shaping the central African landscape 2,600 years ago

Fields, roads, and towns but also forests planted in neat rows, and dead-straight rivers: people shape nature to better suit their purposes. The fact …
Diskussion am Kalderarand des Mount Longonot. Foto: Henry Wichura.

Underway in Kenia – February, 15: “Oloonong’ot – mountain of many ridges

Geoscientists on an Excursion in the East African Rift System

February, 15th Today we want to study one of the largest caldera volcanoes of the Kenya Rift - Mount Longonot at an elevation of about 2560 m. …
Prof. Dr. Dirk Wagner. Photo: Karla Fritze.

Quite Warm, Quite Cold – Geomicrobiologist Dirk Wagner researches the smallest lifeforms in extreme environments

The Arctic, deserts, and volcanos: Life exists in very unexpected places – and on a surprising scale. Geomicrobiologist Prof. Dr. Dirk Wagner tracks …
Dr. Natalia Ospina-Alvarez. Photo: Karla Fritze.

In Her Element – Why thallium and other trace elements are becoming a problem for the environment and what can be done about it

They are everywhere: in the soil, in the water, and sometimes even in the air, albeit often in such small quantities that they are hardly traceable. …
The fossils (ammonites) at 3000 meters altitude are witnesses of an earlier sea. Photo: Henry Wichura.

Underway in the Andes – March, 9: Fossils in the late summer snow

Travel Journal: Doctoral Students on an Excursion in Western Argentina

We are leaving Mendoza and drive to the South along the famous “Ruta 40”, the longest road in South America. Today we are heading to Malargüe and the …