Russia and the countries of the former Soviet Union are home to the largest populations of most Palearctic bird species. Unfortunately, often little is known about the ecology and population changes of these core populations. Since 2011, the Amur Bird Project has been investigating bird populations and migratory routes. Those interested in the results of this year's expeditions are invited to attend the public lectures at the annual meeting on 07.12.2019 at the Institute for Landscape Ecology in Münster. This year, under the title "Ornithology in the wild east", numerous other projects will also be presented that deal with the bird world in the little explored vastness of Eurasia.  Programme

In the Ecohydrology & Biogeochemistry Group we study the relevance of peatlands and wetlands for greenhouse gas fluxes and carbon storage. We also assess efforts for restoration of in Germany often strongly degraded and drained peatlands, and the effects of permafrost thaw on peatlands in high latitutes. In the context of the climate change discussion, this has now been picked up by the WWU press office and other media. We are glad to see that peatlands are now getting more attention in ongoing discussions.

Dr. Hanna Meyer has accepted the offer for a position as Full Professor of Remote Sensing & Spatial Modelling at the Institute of Landscape Ecology and started working at October 1st 2019. We warmly welcome our new colleague and look forward to future collaboration.

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The world is currently looking to New York, where the 72nd United Nations General Assembly will focus primarily on climate protection and the fires in the Amazon. Since this topic is of the utmost importance also in Münster, it is rightly negotiated so prominently. Less well known, however, is the fact that the Cerrado, one of the most species-rich ecosystems in the world, which alone is home to 4800 endemic animal and plant species, is even more severely affected by deforestation, fires and land use change than the South American forest ecosystems. In the context of the second BIOBRAS Summer School from 10-28.09.2019, Cerrado, Campos rupestres and Cangas will be regarded as so-called "neglected ecosystems" and researched in the Serra do Cipó and Serra do Gandarela. Read more ...

Around 200 participants took part in a diverse program of lectures, discussions and workshops on the topic of insect decline at the 2nd Insect Conference. The current state of knowledge and ways to stop the decline of insects were presented and discussed at this conference, organized by the NABU NRW and the Institute of Landscape Ecology. A detailed report can be found here (in German).

The Institute of Landscape Ecology hosts the 49th Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Information on the conference and the possibility to submit proposals for symposia and workshops can be found on the conference webpage.

For more than 10 years unmanned aerial systems (UAS) have been used in teaching and research activities in the field of Geosciences. Initially started as the "ifgicopter" project group at the Institute of Geoinformatics, the focus has intensified in recent years on ecological applications. In order to emphasize this interdisciplinary nature of the project group (Geoinformatics & Landscape Ecology), the group has renamed itself in "GEO1copter". Interested parties can find out more about current research projects, theses and publications on the new homepage. New student members are always welcome in the project group. If you are interested, please send an e-mail to jan.lehmann

Together with Johannes Kollmann, Anita Kirmer, Sabine Tischew and Kathrin Kiehl, Norbert Hölzel has recently published a new textbook on restoration ecology. This book will cover the basics of restoration ecology, including their application and methods for restoring ecosystems. The book is addressed primarily to students and can be used for parallel reading.
The individual chapters can be downloaded here (free for university members).

In a joint project with the Stiftung Lebensraum Moor and the substrate manufacturer Gramoflor GmbH & Co. KG, the Institute of Landscape Ecology has produced a manual for the propagation of hummock peat mosses for restoration purposes (in German) as a guideline for restoration. In this project, funded by the German Federal Environment Foundation (DBU), various propagation methods were tested on irrigated greenhouse tables as well as in field trials. More information here

Nepal - mountains, yaks, yetis and culture. Together with Dr. Andreas Malkus and Christoph Nothelfer from the Institute of Landscape Ecology, a 16-day trekking tour and a visit to the colourful capital Kathmandu starts for enthusiastic students of the University of Münster.

Read more ... (in German)

The science magazine Logo on NDR Info reports on the Global Vegetation Database with more than one million vegetation surveys. Norbert Hölzel and Prof. Dr. Helge Bruelheide co-director of iDiv (German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research) Halle, Jena Leipzig discuss. Link to feature (in German).

Russia harbours significant populations of most Palaearctic birds, but only few information is available. During the Amur Bird Project annual meeting we will report on the progress of the ornithological work in the Far East and beyond. All presentations on the 15th of December 2018 at the Institute of Landscape Ecology in Münster are open for the public.
Programme

Migration routes used by birds travelling from Eurasia to Africa and vice versa are well studied, but little do we know on the whereabouts of birds moving to Asia. Since 2016 we use light-level geolocators to track individual songbirds from Russia. This year´s field work started in the Far East, and followed the Trans-Siberian Railway across Siberia to Northwest-Russia. One of the target species was the critically endangered Yellow-breasted Bunting Emberiza aureola. To study the survival rate of this declining songbird, we colour-ringed several individuals in the Selenga river delta at Lake Baikal and near Syktyvkar. Furthermore, a total of 113 individuals out of 8 species were equipped with new tracking devices during our expedition at four more study sites. Further information......