Living conditions for forests at high elevations have changed significantly in recent decades as a result of climate change. In many mountain regions, they have become more favorable above the tree line than in lower-lying forested areas. Nevertheless, climate change has not yet led to forests adapting directly to this change and shifting to higher regions. This is confirmed by a new biogeographical study of the University of Bayreuth using the example of the Mediterranean island of Crete. The scientists present their research results in the journal "Forest Ecosystems". They warn of the possible consequences.
Dr. João De Deus Vidal Jr. from Brazil was nearly forced to give up his research due to the financial crisis in his home country. However, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation then awarded him one of their prestigious international climate protection fellowships for postdoctoral researchers, giving him an opportunity to spend a research visit with Professor Christine Schmitt who holds the Chair of Physical Geography with a focus on Human-Environment Research at the University of Passau.
Freight and goods traffic has increased to a degree that it now makes up nearly 30 percent of all the traffic in German cities. “The coronavirus pandemic has reinforced and accelerated this trend, as online trade and with it deliveries have boomed,” says Prof. Dr. Pirmin Fontaine. He holds the junior professorship for Operations Management at the Catholic University of Eichstätt-ingolstadt (KU) and is currently looking into the potential of cargo bikes for city deliveries.
How thick is the remaining layer of glacial ice in the Alps? And what is going on underneath that cover of ice? A research team of the Geography Department at the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Inolstadt (KU) is taking a look at what happens when glaciers melt - and thereby identifies potential danger zones.
The nature park "Franconian Switzerland - Franconian Jura" is a biodiversity hotspot in Germany and exceptionally rich in habitats that are part of the EU's Natura 2000 network of protected habitats. The biodiversity is particularly high here in the pine forests that grow on the dolomite bedrock of the Northern Franconian Jura. A new study by the University of Bayreuth shows that the area of the Northern Franconian Jura covered by these forests has declined by more than 75 percent since 1990, and by as much as about 99 percent since 1950. In the journal "Biodiversity and Conservation", the scientists explain this dramatic loss of a valuable biodiversity resource.
Sparse data often make it difficult to track how climate change is affecting populations of insect species. A new study by the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) has now evaluated an extensive species mapping database (Artenschutzkartierung, ASK) organized by the Bavarian State Office for the Environment (LfU) and assessed the population trends of butterflies, dragonflies and grasshoppers in Bavaria since 1980. The main finding: heat-loving species have been increasing.
The newly founded non-profit organisation think.sportainable, co-founded by five professors at the University of Bayreuth, is entirely focused on sustainable sports. The first international Sustainable Sport Symposium is planned for September 2023 at the University of Bayreuth.
Reducing energy consumption caused by cooling systems and reducing plastic waste in the environment are key requirements for a sustainable economy. In a research project on novel functional films, Bayreuth-based physical chemist Prof. Dr. Markus Retsch aims to tackle both problems simultaneously: In the future, plastic waste is to be processed into large-area films that can cool without the need to supply energy from outside. The project is funded by the Proof of Concept Grants programme of the European Research Council (ERC) with around 150,000 euros.
Worldwide, almost all technology-intensive industries depend on readily available metallic raw materials. Consequently, precise and reliable information is needed on how long these raw materials remain in the economic cycle. To obtain the necessary data, a research team from the universities of Bayreuth, Augsburg and Bordeaux has now developed a new modelling method and applied it to 61 metals. The study published in Nature Sustainability shows that the metals needed for specific high-tech applications, which in many cases are scarce around the world, are in use for only a decade on average.
Scientists at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) conducted a multi-year empirical study to assess the impact of trees on city temperatures. Taking the city of Würzburg as an example, the researchers showed that vegetation cover of approximately 40 percent is needed to bring about lower summer temperatures.
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