"If you eat mussels, you eat microplastics." This was already known to a limited extent about mussels from individual ocean regions. A new study by the University of Bayreuth, led by Prof. Dr. Christian Laforsch, reveals that this claim holds true globally. The Bayreuth team investigated the microplastic load of four mussel species which are particularly often sold as food in supermarkets from twelve countries around the world. The scientists now present their research results in the journal "Environmental Pollution".
The environmental damage arising from the production of foods is not currently reflected in prices. If the consequential costs of the greenhouse gases emitted are determined and added to current food prices, animal products such as milk, cheese and especially meat would have to become far more expensive. The price difference between conventional and organic products would also be less. These results have been published in the journal Nature Communications by a team of researchers led by an Augsburg economist, Dr. Tobias Gaugler.
An exciting research project with current relevance and a wide range of possible applications is currently underway at Hof University of Applied Sciences: The Institute for Material Sciences (ifm) is doing research on antibacterial surface coatings. In the future, these paint compounds are going to be used in hospitals, doctors' surgeries or even in public transport systems in particular and will inhibit the spread of bacteria and viruses. For the first time, a natural substance, which can be obtained by the remains of crustaceans that has been little used so far, will help.
How do killer whales communicate? A team of researchers at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) set out to find answers. In order to find out how whales communicate, the researchers used deep learning to analyse the audio recordings and then compared these with the animals’ behaviour. The project has received 400,000 euros in funding from the German Research Foundation (DFG).
Coral reefs are hotspots of biodiversity. As they can withstand heavy storms, they offer many species a safe home. A team of researchers from Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) and the University of Bayreuth have now discovered that a very specific type of ‘cement’ is responsible for the stability of coral reefs – by forming a hard calcareous skeleton, coralline red algae stabilise the reefs, and have been doing so for at least 150 million years.
Earth and all the living organisms on it are constantly changing. But is there any way we can detect if these changes are occurring at an abnormal rate? An international team of researchers including scientists from Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) have developed a method of detecting such developments and tracking how new ecosystems are formed. They have published their findings in the specialist journal Science.
In a new review article in the journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution, researchers from the University of Regensburg and the National University of Singapore recommend a more cautious assessment of the so-called Janzen-Connell hypothesis. A summary of the current state of knowledge reveals two important unresolved questions. First, it is not clear whether the interactions between neighbouring trees are strong enough to have a significant impact on tree diversity. Second, it cannot yet be said whether the regulatory effect is actually stronger or more frequent in the tropics.
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