The Climatology Research Group [en] and the Micrometeorology Group of the University of Bayreuth [en] concluded their intensive observation period of urban climate. The focus was on the analysis of weak wind situations in urban settings and their role in surface exchange processes. Further, the urban heat island of the city of Münster was intensively studied and its relation to the spatial distribution of the atmospheric aerosol concentrations. Further information... [de] (available in German language only)

A feature on the project "Microplastics in dams and reservoirs: sedimentation, distribution, effects (MikroPlaTaS)" has been published in the series Sustainability at the WWU (in German Language).
A new video informs about the project on which Dr. Friederike Gabel and Diana Michler-Kozma are the involved researchers at ILÖK. Numerous theses have also been written in this field of reserach.

Significant amounts of carbon are stored in Central European forests. In addition, forests and their soils are important for biological diversity, which in turn strengthens the adaptability and stability of the forest ecosystem. The aim of this project, which is carried out jointly by the Soil Ecology and Land Use Research group [en] and the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research Group [en] with the NABU-Naturschutzstation Münsterland [de] and the Landesbetrieb Wald und Holz Nordrhein-Westfalen (NRW) [en], is a synoptic view of the carbon balance and biodiversity - above and below ground. The studies planned for the next three years should help to better assess the influence of the intensity of use on the performance of forests in terms of biodiversity, carbon storage and climate stability.

Further information:
Project homepage [en]
Project homepage of the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research Group [en]

Plastic pollution of the oceans has gained broad media coverage. However, also freshwater ecosystems are heavily polluted by microplastics with crucial impacts on aquatic organisms. The Institute of Landscape Ecology is a partner of the joined research project MikroPlaTaS [en] (funded by the BMBF), which investigates the distribution and sedimentation of microplastics and the impacts on aquatic organisms. In the framework of this project, a travelling exhibition to the topic of microplastics [en] was developed that can be hired by schools for free. The exhibition was first presented at the Mariengymnasium Warendorf (school's report [de]). If you are interested in the borrowing the exhibition, please contact Dr. Friederike Gabel.

"Monitoring of modern agroforestry ecosystems - new cultivation systems as meeting points for agriculture, civil society and science" is the name of the research project that Julia Binder and Thomas Middelanis have designed. The two students of the “Master Landscape Ecology” want to develop and apply over several years an ecological catalogue of methods together with fellow students, the working groups of the ILÖK and above all interested volunteers, school classes, farmers or conservationist groups. The multi-perspective cooperation has the aim to examine ecological interactions and climatic advantages that the integration of trees in the arable context brings with it. The University of Münster supports the initiative within  the "WWU-Citizen-Science-Competition" with 7.500 € [de].

Federal Environment Minister Schulze and BfN President Jessel visited the project KennArt [de], which is a future-oriented cooperation project between the NABU station Münsterland and the Institute of Landscape Ecology at the University of Münster as part of the Federal program for Biological Diversity.
Link to the press release of BfN and BMU [de]

Researchers from the Institute of Landscape ecology study the importance of plant-pollinator interaction in ecosystem restoration. The work, lead by PD Dr. Anna Lampei Bucharova [en], in cooperation with David Ott [en], Michael Mayer [en], Dr. Christian Lampei [en], and Malte Conrady [en], was highlighed in the university magazine wissen|leben [de].

Soil is a huge habitat hidden beneath our feet, especially during this online semester. The education videos of the Research Group Soil Ecology and Land Use [en] deliver a first insight into pedologic methods and into soils which frequently occurr not only in the Münsterland.

On May 8th, a project was started in the Lippspringer Forest, in which the insect diversity in the forests of North Rhine-Westphalia is investigated. It will be studied, how age, forest structure and dead wood content affect the insects. As part of the investigation, in which the Landesbetrieb Wald und Holz NRW [de] and the Research Group Animal Ecology and Multitrophic Interactions [en] are involved, various projects will be carried out in the forests of NRW over the next two years.

From subtropical marshlands, methane fluxes and flood protection areas: 16 students of Geography and Landscape Ecology at the University of Münster set off for Taiwan to study the topics of climate, environmental meteorology, air hygiene and bio- and atmosphere. Click here for the blog [de]...