Biodiversity research in Göttingen

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A large number of groups at the Georg-August University are actively involved in biodiversity research. Some collaborative projects are supported by CBL e.g. in their planning phase or coordination. This overview gives a group overview and some projects are highlighted.

Groups and projects (selection)


Collaborative Research Centre 990 "Ecological and Socioeconomic Functions of Tropical Lowland Rainforest Transformation Systems (Sumatra, Indonesia)"
This research is funded by the "German Research Foundation" (DFG). The international team works on development of land use concepts. The project leader is Prof. Dr. Stefan Scheu.

Agroecology
Head of Agroecology at the Department of Crop Science is Prof. Dr. Teja Tscharntke. Agroecology studies life communities of plants and animals, food web interactions and conservation evaluation of cultural landscapes and agricultural ecosystems in temperate and tropical zones.

Animal Ecology
Head of Animal Ecology at the Johann-Friedrich-Blumenbach-Institute of Zoology and Anthropology is Prof. Dr. Stefan Scheu. This group investigates the structuring forces for soil animal communities and their role in soil processes, plant growth and infection of plants by herbivores.

Functional Agrobidiversity
This group, lead by Prof. Dr. Catrin Westphal was recently established to investigate into development and exploration of novel ecological intensification practices that sustain and promote productivity, agrobiodiversity and its multiple functions within agricultural systems.

Biodiversity Exploratories - core project "Forest structure"
The Biodiversity Exploratories are the priority programme No. 1374 of the German Research Foundation. The UGOE group Silviculture and Forest Ecology of the Temporate Zones headed by Prof. Dr. Christian Ammer coordinates core project 6 >> Forest structure - Properties, structure and management of the forest experimental plots<<.

Grassland Science
Headed by Prof. Dr. Johannes Isselstein in the Department of Crop Sciences, the group investigates biodiversity of cultivated grassland systems, the relation between vegetation and herbivores on arable land and grassland as well as the effectiveness of agro-environmental measures.

Plant Ecology and Ecosystems Research
Plant Ecology and Ecosystems Research headed by Prof. Dr. C. Leuschner, formerly associated to the Systematic-Geobotanical Institute of the University of Göttingen and now is part of the Albrecht-von-Haller-Institute for Plant Sciences of the Faculty of Biology. The research covers forest dynamics, from population ecology to biodiversity and ecosystem functions.

Soil Science of Tropical and Subtropical Ecosystems
Within the faculty of forestry it is studied how natural (e.g. forest, grassland) and managed (e.g. agricultural, agroforestry, pasture, tree plantation) ecosystems are affected by global change processes (e.g. changes in temperature and rainfall regimes, increases in nutrient depositions, and land-use change). This group is lead by Prof. Dr. Edzo Veldkamp.

Biodiversity, Macroecology and Biogeography
This group was established as a free-float junior research group at the faculty of forestry headed by Prof. Dr. Holger Kreft. The research focuses on broad-scale ecological and biogeographic patterns.

Ecosystem Modelling
The group Ecosystem Modelling is headed by Prof. Dr. Kerstin Wiegand. The research focuses on spatial dynamic modelling of populations and communities in savannas, forest and agricultural ecosystems, and examines the relation between (spatial) patterns and processes.