About the Seminar Series Environment & Biodiversity
In the seminar series “Environment & Biodiversity”, current research results from the fields of evolutionary biology, ecology, climate change effects, environment and biodiversity trends are presented. This seminar series is a public event and is suitable for both scientific staff and students, as well as for non-university guests. We cordially invite you to participate!
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Winter term 2024.25
More details and dates will follow soon…
Friday, October 4 2024, 3 P.M., Room 435 (3rd floor)
The Plastisphere and Plastic Pollution
Linda Amaral-Zettler und Erik Zettler
Prof. Dr. Linda Amaral-Zettler und Dr. Erik Zettler
Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, Abteilung Mikrobiologie und Biogeochemie / Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
The discovery that ~8 million metric tons of plastic litter finds its way from land to the ocean per year, with the largest measured concentrations ending up in the very remote reaches of the ocean’s “garbage patches”, has mobilized the scientific, citizen science, government, NGO, and media communities to action in search of solutions to prevent further waste mismanagement in the future. Attention has focused on the smallest of marine organisms – the microbes – some of which call this plastic pollution „home” as a potential solution to this growing global problem. Collectively, we refer to this collection of life on plastics as the „Plastisphere“. Broadening interest in the topic has extended to plastic debris in rivers and other freshwater environments. Our research team has been studying microbial interactions with PMD using a multiphasic approach including high-throughput amplicon and metagenomics sequencing, culturing, Scanning Electron Microscopy, and more recently Combinatorial Labelling and Spectral Imaging – Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization (CLASI-FISH). Over the past several years, our laboratory has been invested in understanding the relationship between microbial diversity and biodegradation in the marine environment, including performing respirometry experiments following established standard test methods. This lecture will review what is known about diversity in the „Plastisphere“ to date and discuss the advantages and disadvantages different technologies present in addressing some of the most urgent questions regarding this newest of marine habitats
Language: Englisch
To the profile of Linda Amaral-Zettler
To the profile of Erik Zettler
Host: Univ. Prof. Dr. Ulrike-Gabriele Berninger und Assoz. Prof. Dr. Stephen Wickham
Friday, November 8 2024, 2 P.M., Room 424 (2nd floor)
Dr. Sebastian König
Technical University of Munich/National Park Berchtesgaden, Department Life Science Systems
To the profile of Dr. Sebastian König
Host: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Jan Christian Habel
Friday, November 15 2024, 2 P.M., Room 436 (3rd floor)
Dr. Hannah Burger
Universität Ulm – Institute of Evolutionary Ecology and Conservation Genomics
To the profile of Dr. Hannah Burger
Host: Univ.-Prof. Dipl.-Biol. Dr. Stefan Dötterl
Friday, November 22 2024, 2 P.M., Room 424 (2nd floor)
Sex roles in coucals – a unique model system to answer Tinbergen’s four questions
Dr. Wolfgang Goymann
Max Planck Institute Seewiesen, Behavioral Neurobiology
Female-biased investment into zygote formation (anisogamy) often leads to ‘Darwinian sex roles’ with stronger male competition and larger female choice. Often, this also comes with larger female investment into parental care. In some species, however, these sex roles are ‘reversed’ with females competing more strongly, and males providing more care. In birds, this occurs in about 1% of all species, most of which are precocial, that is the young are covered with feathers at hatching and leave the nest, immediately. So far, the only known group of altricial birds (where young hatch naked and need to be warmed and fed in the nest) in which sex roles are reversed are coucals (Centropodinae). At least one species – the black coucal (Centropus grillii) – has evolved a classical polyandrous mating system with large females competing for access to small males. A female forms a ‘harem’ with up to five males, each of which tends his own nest and young without help from the female. In south-western Tanzania, black coucals share their habitat with white-browed coucals (C. superciliosus), which are socially and genetically monogamous and provide biparental care, allowing me to study close relatives with different mating systems in the same habitat. I ask how and why sex roles in coucals evolved, attempting to explore the phenomenon from all four angles of Tinbergen’s questions. Specifically, I wonder which mechanisms drive sex roles, how do sex roles develop during ontogeny, what are the benefits of reversed sex roles, and which life-history and ecological factors led to their evolution?
language: Englisch
To the research website of Dr. Wolfgang Goymann
To the personal website of Dr. Wolgang Goymann
Host: Dr. Beate Anna Apfelbeck
Friday, November 29 2024, 2 P.M., Room C.3.006 (3rd floor)
The heartbeat of the forest: ecological drivers and consequences of mast-seeding
Mario Pesendorfer, Ph.D.
University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU), Institute of Forest Ecology (IFE)
In temperate forests, tree populations tend to show highly synchronized variation in annual seed production, so-called mast-seeding. The resulting bumper crops or years of crop failure, in turn, determine population dynamics of seed predators and dispersers, their predators, and parasites. This hearbeat of the forest even drives tick densities and the rate of zoonotic disease transmission to humans. In this talk, I will describe our search for the internal (resource dynamics, size) and external (weather, competition) drivers of seed production in trees and what we have learned about the effects of masting on seed fate and recruitment in old-growth forests. Finally, I will describe the ongoing breakdown in reproductive synchrony of beech and oaks, and how we try to use forecasting and other tools to help practitioners to use the forest’s heartbeat to their advantage.
Language: Englisch
To the profile of Mario Pesendorfer, Ph.D.
Host: Assoz. Prof. Dr. Jana Petermann
Friday, December 6 2024, 2 P.M., Room C.3006 (3rd floor)
PD Dr. Sebastian T. Meyer
Technische Universität München, Chair for Terrestrial Ecology
To the profile of PD Dr. Sebatian T. Meyer
Host: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Jan Christian Habel
Friday, December 13 2024, 2 P.M., Room 424 (2nd floor)
Dr. Elke Ludewig
Geosphere Austria, Salzburg, Head of the Sonnblick Observatory
Das Sonnblick Observatorium ist eine Hightech-Klima- und Umweltforschungsstation auf über 3.000m. 24/7 werden hier nach internationalen Standards Daten für die Forschung, den internationalen Klimabereicht IPCC, sowie für zahlreiche Monitoringprogramme erfasst. Mit der Gründung 1886 ebnete das Sonnblick Observatorium den Weg für die moderne Meteorologie und verfügt nun über die längste klimatologische Zeitreihe der Welt im Hochgebirge. Die Leiterin des Sonnblick Observatoriums, Dr. Elke Ludewig, wird die internationalen Aufgaben und Schwerpunkte dieser faszinierenden Forschungsstation näher beleuchten und den Klimazustand des ALpenraums aufzeigen. Es wird Raum für Diksussion und Austausch gelassen, insbesondere unter dem Schwerpunkt Ökosystemforschung am Hohen Sonnblick.
To the profile of Dr. Elke Ludewig
Host: Assoz.-Prof. Dr. Jana Petermann
Friday, January 10 2025, 2 P.M., Room 435 (3rd floor)
Dr. Johannes Rüdisser, University of Innsbruck, Department of Ecology
To the profile of Dr. Johannes Rüdisser
Host: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Jan Christian Habel
Friday, January 17 2025, 2 P.M., Room 421 (2nd floor)
Thema 1: A multi-proxy analysis of lake sediments reveals plant and animal dynamics in the Eastern European Alps over the last 14.000 years
Thema 2: From myth to reason: Progress towards unravelling the mysteries of Indian Ocean Anguillid eels
Mag. Dr. Robert Schabetsberger
Paris Lodron University Salzburg, Department Environment & Biodiversity
To the profile of Mag. Dr. Robert Schabetsberger
Friday, January 24 2025, 2 P.M., Room 424 (2nd floor)
Pestizide in der Agrarlandschaft und ihre Auswirkung auf die Biodiversität mit einer besonderen Betrachtung der Insekten
apl. Prof. Dr. Carsten Brühl
RPTU Kaiserslautern Landau, Fachbereich Natur- und Umweltwissenschaften
Der Rückgang von Insekten in landwirtschaftlichen Landschaften ist ein alarmierendes Phänomen, das in den letzten Jahren zunehmend dokumentiert wurde. Die Biomassenreduktion von Insekten stellt eine ernsthafte Bedrohung dar, da Insekten eine Vielzahl von Ökosystemdienstleistungen erbringen, die für die Aufrechterhaltung einer gesunden Umwelt und für die landwirtschaftliche Produktion von entscheidender Bedeutung sind. Unter anderem sind sie für die Bestäubung von Nutzpflanzen und die biologische Schädlingsbekämpfung unverzichtbar.
Die Intensivierung der landwirtschaftlichen Produktion hat zu einer Reihe von Veränderungen in den Landschaftseigenschaften geführt. Dazu gehört auch der flächendeckende Einsatz von Pestiziden. In diesem Vortrag werden nicht nur die verschiedenen Arten von Pestiziden und ihre Wirkung erläutert, sondern auch die räumlichen Anwendungsmuster analysiert. Aktuelle Messungen in verschiedenen Landschaften liefern ein detailliertes Bild von der Verbreitung der Pestizide.
Durch die Zusammenführung von Daten aus Labor- und Feldstudien können die potenziellen Auswirkungen der Pestizide auf die Umwelt und die biologische Vielfalt besser bewertet werden. Dies ermöglicht eine Risikobewertung, die im Kontext der bestehenden Regulierungsverfahren in der Europäischen Union betrachtet und diskutiert wird. Es ist von entscheidender Bedeutung, die Herausforderungen im Zusammenhang mit dem Einsatz von Pestiziden anzuerkennen und Maßnahmen zu ergreifen, um die Biodiversität in landwirtschaftlichen Landschaften langfristig zu erhalten.
Zum Profil von apl. Prof. Dr. Carsten Brühl
Host: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Jan Christian Habel
Friday, January 24 2025, 9 A.M.-5 P.M., Room C3.006 (3rd floor)
Lecture program in the context of the doctoral seminar 796.300 (Ecology and Evolution) and the Master’s thesis seminar 230.340
We will make the detailed program available for download here.
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