Exploratories for functional biodiversity research
DFG-funded Infrastructure Priority Programme SPP 1374

The image film provides an overview of the central objectives, the thematic research fields, the people behind the project and the special nature of our large-scale research platform.

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Central questions:
  • What are the effects of different forms and intensities of land-use on biodiversity and ecosystem processes?
  • What are the interactions between different components of biodiversity (e.g. between plant diversity and the diversity of soil organisms)?
  • How does biodiversity influence different ecosystem processes (such as biomass production, carbon cycling, flower pollination, or deadwood decomposition)?
The three Exploratories
For the integrated functional biodiversity research, study regions of long-term character have been established in three large German protected areas.
Background and research objectives
The Biodiversity Exploratories address crucial questions about biodiversity change. For the first time, they combine biodiversity and ecosystem research in real landscapes with a long-term perspective.
Interdisciplinary team of researchers
Scientists from different research disciplines from all over Germany and Europe work together in an interdisciplinary way on the common central questions of the Biodiversity Exploratories.
Icon Knowledge.Transfer
Knowledge.Transfer
Activities and research results that are particularly important for the practice of nature conservation, forestry and agriculture are presented in a short and practice-oriented way. The site is currently under construction and only available in German In the meantime we would like to refer to our public data section.
Marit Hertlein
Yang Yang
Prof. Dr. Heike Feldhaar
Eleonora Petzold
Sven Rubanschi
Prof. Dr. Berta Martín López
Dr. Harald Kellner
Stephan Wöllauer
Lara Schiltknecht
Yağmur Tarhana Çakır
Eva Schmidt
Sepideh Golshani
Dr. Klaus Kaiser
Tobias Spanner
Dr. Oksana Buzhdygan
Prof. Dr. Andrea Polle
Prof. Dr. Robert R. Junker
Prof. Dr. Hans Lambers
Dr. Sandra Müller
Dr. Cornelia Fürstenau
Natalia Conopliova
Dr. Bruno Pinho
Dr. Karen Baumann
Prof. Dr. Thomas Nauss
Dr. Julia Moll
Dr. Fons van der Plas
Dr. Marvin Ludwig
Dr. Sophie Peter
Rasmus Dam Jensen
Prof. Dr. Jaqueline Loos
Prof. Dr. Christoph Kleinn
Dr. Emmeline Topp
Prof. Dr. Martin Hofrichter
Dr. Rosario Iacono
Dr. Javier Muro
Anna Küchler
Prof. Dr. Michael Schloter
Prof. Dr. Olena Dubovyk
Karoline Jetter
Dr. Anna Katharina Franke
Jan Linnenbrink
Prof. Dr. Bruno Glaser
Christin Schreiber
Vidisha Bansal
Dr. Soumen Mallick
Felix Nößler
Prof. Dr. Tobias Plieninger
Nils Volles

News from the Exploratories

Prof. Dr. Markus Fischer

"Our coordinated long-term study of diverse facets of land use, biodiversity, and ecosystem processes and services adds tremendous value over individual studies. This allows for entirely new insights and significantly advances the education and training of young and established biodiversity researchers across all disciplines."

Prof. Dr. Markus Fischer
Universität Bern
40
+
Projects
More than 40 projects investigate cause-and-effect relationships in living nature using both observation and experiment.
250
+
Members
More than 250 members from 49 working groups from a total of 47 research institutions are active in the exploratories.
3,020
km2
The three exploratories "Schorfheide-Chorin", "Hainich-Dün" and the "Schwäbische Alb" cover an area in the Federal Republic of Germany of over 3,020 km².
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