Wolfgang Kießling traces Earth’s history through layers of fossils. The data he uncovers together with his team serves to create a reliable database for climate research, opening up opportunities for nature-based conservation solutions.
Biodiversity researchers develop mechanistic simulation models to unravel the processes influencing biodiversity origin, maintenance and dynamics across space and time, from individuals to entire ecosystems.
Scientists at the University of Bayreuth are investigating how extreme weather events affect biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Together with their international partners, they study the local impacts of global climate change.
Although more than half of the world’s rivers have been altered by human activity and climate change, the floodplain ecosystems along the Naryn River in Kyrgyzstan remain largely untouched.
Lightning has a greater impact on forests than previously thought. Researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have developed new model calculations that, for the first time, estimate the global influence of lightning on forest ecosystems. According to their findings, an estimated 320 million trees die each year due to lightning strikes. Tree losses caused by direct lightning-ignited wildfires are not included in these figures. In the future, lightning-induced tree mortality could rise due to an increase in flash frequency.
SNSB and LMU paleontologists identify a new ancient reptile from the Solnhofen limestone slabs. Thanks to a chance discovery: a PhD student recently found the counterpart of the original fossil at the Natural History Museum in London. The research team published their findings in the journal Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.
The Cluster of Excellence “From the Origin of the Universe to the First Building Blocks of Life”, ORIGINS Cluster for short, will start its second funding period on 1 January 2026. This was de-cided today by the Excellence Commission under the leadership of the German Research Foun-dation (DFG). The interdisciplinary research network investigates the origin and development of the Universe, from the Big Bang to the emergence of life.
SNSB and LMU Paleontologists identify a new species of predatory dinosaur from the Cretaceous period in North Africa, around 95 million years old. What makes this discovery so special is that the original fossil from Egypt was completely destroyed 80 years ago, during World War II. For their work, the researchers analyzed previously unknown archival photographs of the dinosaur skeleton from the period before 1944. The findings are published in the scientific journal PLoS ONE.
Mountain meadows are unique ecosystems. A research team led by the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has now discovered that climate change reduces the humus content as well as the nitrogen stores in the grassland soils of the Alps and disturbs the soil structure. Organic fertilization, for example with liquid manure, can compensate this loss of soil organic matter to some extent.
In a groundbreaking study, researchers at the University of Bayreuth have gained new insights in the field of high-pressure carbon chemistry: They synthesized two new carbides – compounds of carbon and another chemical element – with unique structures. The results may provide an unexpected explanation of wide spread of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in Universe.
