News Archive 2017

all news | only media releases

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Woodlice are important detrivores in the soil. (Picture: Sarah Zieger)

Study questions assumptions on mechanisms underlying warming feedback.  › more

21.12.2017 | Experimental Interaction Ecology, Media Release, TOP NEWS
Scientists take samples in the tree diversity experiment BEF-China in August 2017. Picture: Helge Bruelheide

Major success for biodiversity research in Central Germany: A new international research training group (IRTG) at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) focuses on how trees interact with…  › more

20.12.2017 | TOP NEWS, iDiv Members

Stan Harpole new in this important list  › more

20.12.2017 | Research, TOP NEWS, iDiv Members, Physiological Diversity

Results reveal large local variability currently unaccounted for in climate models  › more

18.12.2017 | TOP NEWS, iDiv Members
NutNet site in Jena

Ecosystems can only function well if there is a diverse mixture of plants across the landscape.   › more

05.12.2017 | TOP NEWS, Physiological Diversity
St. John's wort is successful overseas (Foto: Pixabay)

This text is only available in German.  › more

04.12.2017 | TOP NEWS, sDiv
The „Jena Experiment“ (Photo: Christoph Scherber)

Media release about the ‘Jena Experiment’  › more

28.11.2017 | TOP NEWS, Experimental Interaction Ecology
Dimitra Papantoniou

Dimitra Papantoniou is a first year PhD student in the laboratory of Plant and Environmental Biotechnology in the department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, University of Thessaly, Larisa, Greece.  › more

27.11.2017 | MIE Group News
Metacommunity ecology links smaller-scale with larger-scale processes (Photo: Oliver Thier)

Mathew A Leibold and Jonathan M Chase are authors of the book ‘Metacommunity Ecology’ published this week by Princeton University Press.  › more

24.11.2017 | TOP NEWS, Biodiversity Synthesis
Farmland in Germany (Photo: Guy Pe’er)

iDiv scientists present in Brussels a Fitness Check assessment of the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).   › more

20.11.2017 | TOP NEWS, Biodiversity and People
Biodiverse autmn forest with Norway spruce, beech and birch trees. (Picture: Christian Hueller)

Specifically in hot and dry summers, forests with more tree species have higher functionality  › more

17.11.2017 | Media Release, TOP NEWS, iDiv Members, Research

Recently Nicole van Dam was interviewed by Anne Krebiehl, a journalist who writes for the online journal “Whine Enthusiast”.  › more

16.11.2017 | MIE Group News
A selection of caterpillars associated with New Guinean figs.

Martin Volf and his colleagues collaborate on interdisciplinary projects focusing on eco-evolutionary dynamics driving formation of plant defenses and insect diversity. Their recent work has been…  › more

16.11.2017 | MIE Group News
Coral reefs provide habitat for many fish species. (Photo: Pixabay)

This is due to site-to-site variations of species compositions (aggregation) in the “coral triangle”.  › more

16.11.2017 | TOP NEWS, Biodiversity Synthesis
Martin Volf

Martin is a postdoctoral researcher who specializes on insect-plant interactions, evolution of plant defensive traits, and chemical ecology.  › more

14.11.2017 | MIE Group News
Anett Richter (right) discussed Science Communication at symposium in New Delhi (photo: German Embassy New Delhi)

On 7 November the German Embassy in New Delhi hosted an Indo-German symposium on Science communication  › more

14.11.2017 | Biodiversity and People
Heating elements used to warm one of the forest plots in Minnesota, U.S.A. Plots are also warmed belowground using heating cables (photo: Benjamin Schwarz).

... and even more so when tree logging and drought occur at the same time  › more

10.11.2017 | TOP NEWS, Experimental Interaction Ecology, Theory in Biodiversity Science

Paper of Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry (IPB) and iDiv   › more

10.11.2017 | Biodiversity Informatics Unit (BDU), iDiv Members, TOP NEWS
Eco-Metabolomics Workshop Group

From the 16th to 18th October, 34 experts from Ecology, Biochemistry and Bioinformatics joined together at the iDiv core centre to discuss the current challenges and pitfalls of applying Metabolomics…  › more

25.10.2017 | Molecular Interaction Ecology
Grassland and forest biodiversity experiments: grassland experiment from the Jena Biodiversity experiment (Germany, left) and  forest experiment from the Sardinilla Experiment (Panama, right). Photos: Anja Vogel (FSU Jena) & Nathaly R. Guerrero-Ramírez (iDiv/ Leipzig University)

new study published in Nature Ecology & Evolution  › more

10.10.2017 | Experimental Interaction Ecology, TOP NEWS
Modelers from around the world meet at iDiv. Photo: Stefan Bernhardt, iDiv

Global biodiversity and ecosystem services modelling community promotes integration of Shared Socio-Economic Pathways  › more

04.10.2017 | TOP NEWS, Biodiversity Conservation

Important milestone in highly competitive application process  › more

02.10.2017 | iDiv Members, TOP NEWS
The workshop's multi-disciplinary team (photo: Stefan Bernhardt).

iDiv hosted a workshop that aimed at providing scientific evidence for promoting the EU restoration agenda.  › more

29.09.2017 | TOP NEWS, Biodiversity Conservation
'Brainstorming session' during iDiv Annual Conference (photo: Stefan Bernhardt).

This year’s iDiv Annual Conference brought together iDiv scientists from 19 to 20 September in “Leipziger Kubus”.  › more

21.09.2017 | TOP NEWS, iDiv
iDiv General Members Assembly at UFZ Kubus (Photo: Stefan Bernhardt, iDiv)

iDiv members met for the annual General Assembly at the UFZ-Kubus in Leipzig on Tuesday.  › more

19.09.2017 | TOP NEWS, iDiv
Dr Saori Fujii

Dr Saori Fujii (VU Amsterdam) will visit iDiv on 10 October 2017.  › more

18.09.2017 | Molecular Interaction Ecology
Participants of the summer school during an excursion to the Bad Lauchstädt field site (photo: Volker Hahn).

From 3-15 September, the 3rd iDiv Summer School 2017 on “Synthesising and modelling biodiversity data” took place.  › more

15.09.2017 | TOP NEWS, yDiv, Experimental Interaction Ecology
Adam McCarthy

Adam McCarthy is an undergraduate student from Manchester University studying Cell Biology. He is doing a 9 month industrial placement at iDiv in the Molecular Interaction Ecology department. He is…  › more

11.09.2017 | MIE Group News

Interview with iDiv scientist Aurora Torres  › more

07.09.2017 | TOP NEWS, Biodiversity Conservation

Plant-eating animals switch negative biodiversity effect to positive  › more

05.09.2017 | TOP NEWS, Physiological Diversity
Nicola Gorringe

Nicola Gorringe is currently studying for her Bachelor’s degree at Cardiff University and is undertaking a traineeship in her third year at iDiv in the Molecular Interaction Ecology research group,…  › more

05.09.2017 | MIE Group News

paper of iDiv summer school published  › more

04.09.2017 | yDiv, iDiv, Research, Experimental Interaction Ecology, TOP NEWS

Scientists from Göttingen University investigate effects of land conversion in South-East Asia  › more

28.08.2017 | TOP NEWS, Research, Media Release

press release of IPK Gatersleben  › more

28.08.2017 | TOP NEWS, Research

press release from the University of Amsterdam  › more

16.08.2017 | TOP NEWS, GEO BON
Temperate grasslands of Europe are incredible hotspots of biodiversity and are key habitats of conservation concern. Many are in decline and require ecological restoration for habitat improvement (photo: Emma Ladouceur).

Only a small proportion of plant species relevant to ecological restoration are available as seeds, a new study found.  › more

08.08.2017 | TOP NEWS, Research
In the Ivory Coast’s Taï National Park the anthrax pathogen Bacillus cereus biovar anthracis is posing a serious threat to wildlife, including chimpanzees (Photo: MPI f. Evolutionary Anthropology/ L. Samuni)

Researchers illuminate the epidemiology of a cryptic pathogen  › more

02.08.2017 | TOP NEWS, Media Release, Sustainability and Complexity in Ape Habitat

Scientists propose a new method for improving the assessment of changes in biodiversity   › more

02.08.2017 | TOP NEWS, Biodiversity Synthesis, Physiological Diversity, iDiv Members

press release by the Senckenberg Society  › more

01.08.2017 | iDiv Members, TOP NEWS
The African elephant is the largest animal on land, but not the fastest. (Picture: Bernd Adam)

A new mathematical model shows why the largest animals are not always the fastest.  › more

17.07.2017 | Theory in Biodiversity Science, TOP NEWS, Media Release
Experimental meadow plots with heating lamps (photo: Jacob Miller).

In meadows with high plant species richness, nematode communities cope better with warming.  › more

14.07.2017 | TOP NEWS, Experimental Interaction Ecology, Media Release
One of the study authors, Nils Stein, observes cereal plants in the greenhouse (photo: IPK/Sebastian Mast).

A team of researchers has published the first-ever wild emmer wheat genome sequence.  › more

07.07.2017 | TOP NEWS, Domestication Genomics

Collaborative Research Centre of the University of Jena: AquaDiva funded for further four years with over 9.5 million euros from German Research Foundation   › more

16.06.2017 | TOP NEWS, Media Release, iDiv, Research

Exploring different aspects of biodiversity  › more

16.06.2017 | Experimental Interaction Ecology, iDiv

The working group of the International Synthesis Consortium (ISC) just published their second paper on Synthesis Centers as Critical Research Infrastructure in BioScience! You can find the paper…  › more

16.06.2017 | sDiv News

This text is available only in German.  › more

15.06.2017 | TOP NEWS, Media Release, iDiv
The Gray Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) displaces the native European Squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris) in the United Kingdom and other EU countries. It was therefore included in the blacklist of the EU ("List of invasive non-resident species of Union concern") in 2016 and must be actively combated in the European Union. Photo: Tim M. Blackburn, University College London

Global hotspots for non-native animal and plant species have been identified for the first time  › more

13.06.2017 | Media Release, sDiv, Macroecology and Society, TOP NEWS
As a present, Mr Tillich was given a miniature version of the 'taxamap', a picture representing all known genuses on earth (photo: Stefan Bernhardt).

The research centre was one of two priorities during his visit to the Leipzig University  › more

09.06.2017 | TOP NEWS, Media Release, iDiv

FlorSoz2017 is organised by Senckenberg Museum für Naturkunde Görlitz  › more

08.06.2017 | iDiv Members, TOP NEWS
Galini Papadopoulou

Our PhD student Galini Papadopoulou received a grand by Friedrich Schiller University of Jena for participation at the “VII International Symposium on Brassicas” in Pontevedra, Spain.  › more

29.05.2017 | MIE Group News, yDiv

The sDiv working group sFIND who met in Leipzig in 2015, just got their paper accepted to be published in OIKOS! Keith Farnsworth one of the group PIs gives a short insight here. Congratulations!  › more

29.05.2017 | sDiv News

The iDiv Ecotron will provide insights into interactions among species.  › more

17.05.2017 | Experimental Interaction Ecology, Media Release, TOP NEWS

Congratulations! The paper by sIMPACT working group entitled “Defining the Impact of Non-Native Species,” by Jonathan M. Jeschke, Sven Bacher, Tim M. Blackburn, Jaimie T. A. Dick, Franz Essl, Thomas…  › more

16.05.2017 | sDiv News

Study by Senckenberg, iDiv, MLU, UFZ and others  › more

12.05.2017 | yDiv, Media Release, TOP NEWS
The Maxwell's duiker (Philantomba maxwellii), a small antelope that lives in western Africa (Photo: Paul Cools / Naturalist.org).

Estimating how many animals of a certain species live in a remote region has become easier thanks to a new analytical method  › more

10.05.2017 | TOP NEWS, Media Release, Sustainability and Complexity in Ape Habitat
Stefanie Pencs

After writing her Master thesis in molecular resistance genetics at the JKI Quedlinburg, Stefanie worked as a scientific assistant at the IPK Gatersleben in the group for plant reproductive biology…  › more

09.05.2017 | MIE Group News
Bonobos during a grooming session (Photo: Zanna Clay /  LuiKotale Bonobo Research Project).

Researchers found that chimpanzees associate more with partners of the same sex while bonobos of either sex associate preferentially with females  › more

03.05.2017 | TOP NEWS, iDiv Members

Scientists met on 27 April in Leipzig to discuss a broad range of topics from the field of “biodiversity economics”.  › more

27.04.2017 | TOP NEWS, iDiv
Barley on the fields of the Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK) in Gatersleben (Photo: Heike Ernst/ IPK).

A new study in Nature reports the first high-quality reference genome sequence of barley.  › more

27.04.2017 | TOP NEWS, Media Release, Domestication Genomics

At regional level, urbanisation is increasing the number of plant species, but it is also associated with a loss of evolutionary diversity  › more

26.04.2017 | Research, sDiv, TOP NEWS
Delia radicum larvae

A research article by Tomonori Tsunoda, Sebastian Krosse, and Nicole M. van Dam entitled “Root and shoot glucosinolate allocation patterns follow optimal defence allocation theory” is now published…  › more

24.04.2017 | MIE Group News
Bob Raijmakers

Bob Raijmakers is a MSc student in Biology at the Radboud University Nijmegen. The focus of his master is on plant-herbivore interactions.   › more

24.04.2017 | MIE Group News
During the night, a tobacco hawkmoth (Manduca sexta) uses its proboscis to suck nectar from a flower of the wild tobacco Nicotiana attenuata. Sensory neurons located on the tip of the proboscis respond to the floral volatile (E)-α-bergamotene (Photo: Danny Kessler, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology).

The plant volatile compound bergamotene is alluring, but also lethal for Manduca sexta months, a new study finds.  › more

21.04.2017 | TOP NEWS, Media Release, Ecological Functions of Plant Secondary Metabolites, iDiv Members
The larger prey species used in the experiment, the springtail Folsomia candida (Photo: Andy Murray).

An experiment shows how rising temperatures change interactions between species.  › more

06.04.2017 | TOP NEWS, Media Release, Experimental Interaction Ecology
Central Apennines rewilding area, Italy (Photo: Sandra Bartocha / Wild Wonders of Europe / Rewilding Europe).

A new coalition of five organisations including iDiv aims at promoting biodiversity restoration at a European level through the application of rewilding principles.  › more

05.04.2017 | TOP NEWS, Biodiversity Conservation

Household income and knowledge about health risks drive the consumption of wild animal meat in West Africa. Study by Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology  › more

03.04.2017 | TOP NEWS, Sustainability and Complexity in Ape Habitat

A Straightforward Method for Glucosinolate Extraction and Analysis with High-pressure Liquid Chromatography (HPLC)  › more

30.03.2017 | EcoMetEoR

sDiv Postdoc Katharina Gerstner along with collaborators from the sDiv working groups LU-BD-ES and Restoration Synthesis published a commentary in Methods in Ecology and Evolution about how to make…  › more

27.03.2017 | sDiv News
The predatory soil centipedes can be found worldwide (Photo: Sarah Zieger).

In a commentary in Nature Ecology and Evolution, scientists from iDiv and Leipzig University call for initiatives to fill knowledge gaps  › more

24.03.2017 | TOP NEWS, Experimental Interaction Ecology

yDiv together with the iDiv Research Group Molecular Interaction Ecology were visited by Dr. Tjeerd Snoeren on the 21st of March. Tjeerd is the Entomology Lead at Limagrain, which is a cooperative…  › more

22.03.2017 | yDiv

to further develop the content of chapter 2  › more

20.03.2017 | TOP NEWS, Biodiversity and People, Biodiversity Conservation
Glucosinolate extraction

The article by Katharina Grosser and Nicole M. van Dam entitled “A Straightforward Method for Glucosinolate Extraction and Analysis with High-pressure Liquid Chromatography (HPLC)” is now published…  › more

16.03.2017 | MIE Group News
Måns Kling

Im Rahmen seiner Facharbeit im Fach Chemie führte der Schüler Måns Kling (16) aus Dresden einige Experimente am iDiv durch.  › more

16.03.2017 | MIE Group News

findings appear in BMC Genomics  › more

02.03.2017 | TOP NEWS, sDiv, Media Release

A new framework, presented in "Ecology"  › more

21.02.2017 | TOP NEWS, Biodiversity Synthesis

New research shows that rate of alien species introduction is higher than ever before / press release of Senckenberg  › more

15.02.2017 | TOP NEWS, sDiv

results of sDiv workshop „Restoration synthesis“ published / press release of the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC)   › more

10.02.2017 | TOP NEWS, sDiv

Nicole van Dam and six of her group members participate in this year's Gordon Research Seminar and Conference on Plant-Herbivore Interactions.  › more

10.02.2017 | MIE Group News
The brown bear (Ursus arctos) is among those carnivore species that are most exposed to roads globally.

The protection status of several species should therefore be reconsidered, researchers from iDiv and MLU say.  › more

08.02.2017 | TOP NEWS, Media Release, Biodiversity Conservation

The working group Acacia invasions from the joint project of SESYNC-UFZ-sDiv found a weak signal of interdisciplinarity in invasion science. They call for more integration of social sciences in this…  › more

07.02.2017 | sDiv News
The Jena Experiment. Photo: Christoph Scherber

This text is only available in German.  › more

03.02.2017 | TOP NEWS, Experimental Interaction Ecology
Cabbage white caterpillars (Pieris brassicae) were one of the herbivore species used in the study (photo: Nicole Van Dam).

When plants are eaten by herbivores, they emit odours to attract the natural enemies of their enemies. These odours vary according to the characteristics of the herbivore species, a new study shows.  › more

31.01.2017 | TOP NEWS, Media Release, Molecular Interaction Ecology
Hordeum comosum: One example of wild barley containing nonnative DNA-sequences of Panicoideae origin. Photo: Dr. Frank Blattner/IPK

A Czech-German team of researchers publishes findings suggesting that the transfer of nuclear genes from one vascular plant species to another without sexual fertilisation is not a rare event.  › more

31.01.2017 | TOP NEWS, Research
Old-growth forest Hainich. Photo: Tilo Arnhold

Researchers report that in old forests with high species richness the effect of climate variability on photosynthetic capacity is dampened.  › more

30.01.2017 | TOP NEWS

Press release of UFZ about the "Ecological Focus Areas" introduced under the EU's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) greening rules   › more

29.01.2017 | Research, sDiv
Logo ChemBioSys

Professor Nicole van Dam’s application ‘It takes three to tango. Tripartite interactions between cabbage root flies, their gut microbiome and host plant defence compounds’ was granted by ChemBioSys.   › more

19.01.2017 | MIE Group News
Dr. Katharina Grosser

How do I become a better supervisor for PhDs? A subject Dr. Katharina Grosser is aware of during her daily work as a Co-supervisor for our PhD students. In various courses on this subject, she noted…  › more

19.01.2017 | MIE Group News

press release of the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU)  › more

16.01.2017 | yDiv, TOP NEWS
The plantpathogenic fungus Fusarium oxysporum is strongly inhibited in growth due to volatiles produced by bacterial communities with rare species. Loss of rare species allows this fungus to spread faster (Photo: Perro de Jong/NIOO-KNAW).

Low-abundance bacterial and fungal species can have disproportionate effects, a new review concludes.  › more

11.01.2017 | TOP NEWS, sDiv
This domino effect is a particular threat to animal species that only interact with a small number of plant species, such as Chelostoma rapunculi. Photo: Andreas Haselböck, www.naturspaziergang.de

When plant species disappear due to climate change, this may lead to the subsequent loss of various animal species.  › more

04.01.2017 | TOP NEWS
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