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Prof. Dr. Michael Hofreiter. Photo: Karla Fritze.

Fishing for DNA – A drilling core reveals the history of an entire ecosystem

How wild horses and chickens were bred thousands of years ago, which species were closely related to the long-extinct European straight-tusked …
Prof. Dr. Elke Dittmann. Photo: Thomas Roese.

Old as the Hills and Still in Top Form – Cyanobacteria are survival specialists – and the research focus of Elke Dittmann

It could have all turned out differently. Looking back, Prof. Dr. Elke Dittmann attributes her success in becoming Professor of Microbiology at the …
Hare. Photo: Wiebke Ullmann

Movement in the Fields - Biologists research interactions between biodiversity and movement patterns

A good 50% of Germany’s land – about 18 million hectares – is used for agriculture. This land is subject to rhythms of plowing, sowing, harvesting, …
While the invasion of plants and animals has been widely examined, microorganisms have received little attention. At the University of Potsdam, PD. Dr. Guntram Weithoff and his team will contribute to filling this gap. Photo: Karla Fritze

Who Is the Strongest? – Team of biologists is looking for the invasive success of blue-green algae

 

 

The Himalayan balsam (Impatiens glandulifera) has succeeded. So has the Chinese mitten crab (Eriocheir sinensis). Both belong to the plant and animal …
In their experiments the researchers grow the algae under specific conditions. Picture: Elly Spijkerman

A Question of Transport – Microalgae Fixate Carbon Dioxide

They are invisible to the naked eye. Only in massive quantities do they color water green. Aquatic microalgae are tiny organisms, which usually …
Björn Huwe and Annelie Fiedler made the moss fit for space. Foto: Annelie Fiedler

Surviving in Space – Why There’s Moss on the ISS

All the lights on campus are off. Only in Björn Huwe’s office a screen is flickering. The biologist is sitting at his desk in the institute building …
Two levels of fluvial terraces overgrown with vegetation. Today’s riverbed lies a few meters lower than during the time the fluvial terraces were formed. Picture: Taylor Schildgen

On Precipices – Landscape Response to Climate Change

Landscapes change over hundreds of thousands, even millions of years. Tectonic events and erosion create mountain ranges and remove them again. The …
Hönicke has gathered more than 2,500 ticks over the past three years. Picture: Daniel Rolke

Field Research – The influence of environmental parameters on the infection risk of Lyme disease

They aren’t only bloodsuckers. Ticks can also be dangerous, transmitting serious diseases like Lyme disease and tick-borne encephalitis (TBE). The …
Stefanie Krüger and Professor Taubert in the lab. Picture: Karla Fritze

SpiderMAEN – Prof. Andreas Taubert and his team of chemists “spin the silk” from gene to material

SpiderMAEN is the current project of Prof. Andreas Taubert – alluding to the well-known comic superhero. The professor and his research group are not …
Bees find ample forage in the Petzow orchards at Schwielowsee lake. Picture: Karla Fritze

Under Stress – Ecological models to help protect endangered bees

Their industriousness is legendary. Without them there would be no fruit. Of all plants dependent on insects over 85% are pollinated by bees. Their …