Extreme events

What causes extreme flooding?

If rivers breach their banks, the consequences can be devastating. In order to limit flood damage and optimise flood risk assessment, it is important to better understand what factors can lead to extreme forms of flooding and to what extent. Using methods of explainable machine learning, researchers at UFZ have shown in the journal Science Advances that floods are more extreme when several factors are involved in their development. 

Plastic waste

Large accumulations of plastics in the ocean

Large accumulations of plastic can disrupt the biological balance of marine ecosystems. But which areas are particularly affected? A research team from UFZ has found large quantities of plastic waste and microplastics in a marine protected area in the Pacific Ocean. The quantities were similar to those found in one of the world’s largest known “garbage patches”. The researchers highlight in Environmental Science & Technology that plastics are distributed much more widely than expected. 

Chemical exposure

Chemical footprints in streams

If chemicals enter water bodies via sewage treatment plants, agriculture and industry, this can endanger freshwater ecosystems. In order to find out more about the pollution of European rivers, a research team from UFZ analysed around 450 samples from 22 European watercourses and found more than 500 harmful chemicals, some of them in high concentrations. According to an article published recently in Environment International, these pose a high risk for invertebrates in particular. 

Energy transition

How nature-compatible is the energy transition?

The German government wants to implement the energy transition. However, related discussions are not dying down because, among other things, the expansion of renewable energies can have a negative impact on nature. UFZ’s EE Monitor uses 41 indicators to describe the status of the expansion of renewable energies. The core message is that a nature-compatible energy transition can succeed if plants are technologically more efficient and the land provided for them is better utilised.

Butterfly Monitoring Germany

What’s that fluttering in the meadow?

Since the spring of 2005, volunteers from the Butterfly Monitoring Germany programme have been recording which diurnal butterflies are out and about on defined transects every week. The data is important because it documents the development of butterfly species and reveals trends. UFZ biologist Elisabeth Kühn coordinates the project and explains in a podcast how butterfly populations are developing and why they are important indicators of the state of ecosystems. 

Solidarity agriculture 

Working together for a sustainable diet

Numerous private individuals jointly bear the costs of a farm and receive its harvests in return. This is the model of “solidarity agriculture” (Solawi). A transdisciplinary research team with UFZ involvement is analysing how farms in structurally weak regions can switch to this model. UFZ agroecologist Dr Lukas Egli reports in a podcast on the conditions under which this can succeed. 

Dr Thorsten Wiegand

Ecosystem modeller Thorsten Wiegand from UFZ has received around 2.5 million euros from the European Research Council (ERC) for research in the field of theoretical ecology. Over the next five years, he and his UFZ colleague Prof. Andreas Huth will develop a theory to understand the spatial dynamics and stability of species-rich forests. This is the second ERC Advanced Grant for the scientists.

Prof. Wolfgang Köck & Prof. Josef Settele

German Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke has appointed 16 renowned scientists to the Scientific Advisory Board for Natural Climate Protection (WBNK). Among them are environmental lawyer Wolfgang Köck and agricultural biologist Josef Settele from UFZ. The WBNK will provide independent advice to the German Federal Government on natural climate protection issues and provide scientific support for the implementation of the Natural Climate Protection Action Programme. 

Prof. Matthias Liess 

UFZ environmental toxicologist Matthias Liess was appointed by the German Federal Minister of Agriculture Cem Özdemir together with 11 other experts to the Scientific Advisory Board of the National Action Plan for the Sustainable Use of Plant Protection Products (NAP) and will take over its chairmanship. The NAP contains quantitative targets, measures and timetables for reducing the risks and effects of plant protection products on human and animal health and on the ecosystem. 

Prof. Doris Vetterlein 

Scientific policy advice on the transformation of agricultural and food systems is the aim of the new Permanent Senate Commission of the German Research Foundation (DFG). It takes the entire value chain into account: natural conditions, cultivation and production systems for plants and animals, food processing methods and consumer eating habits. The 18-member committee will be chaired by UFZ agricultural biologist Doris Vetterlein.