Bayreuth Center of Ecology and Environmental Research

Strasburger-Preis für Severin Irl

Dr. Severin Irl vom Lehrstuhl für Biogeografie erhält den diesjährigen Eduard Strasburger-Preis der Deutschen Botanischen Gesellschaft. Mit dem Preis wird alle zwei Jahre eine hervorragende und originelle Leistung einer oder eines Promovierten aus dem Gesamtbereich der Botanik ausgezeichnet. Die Verleihung findet am 19. September auf der Botanikertagung in Kiel statt.

Biodiversity Day: What is living on the Campus?

On July 28th, for the first time, the Biodiversity Day takes place at the University of Bayreuth. While animal and plant species in the Ecological-Botanical Garden are already well-known, the rest of the campus is now being looked at. Junior and senior experts on flora and fauna collectively map what grows, creeps and flies on the green areas of the university. More volunteers are welcome - just notify the Green Campus team!

Grundwasserquellen auf der Spur

Ein Messplattform schwimmt aktuell auf dem Steißlinger See: Zusammen mit dem Institut für Seenforschung in Baden-Württemberg untersucht Catharina Keim vom Lehrstuhl für Hydrologie der Uni Bayreuth den Grundwasserzustrom in den See. Noch bis Ende August 2017 wird hier Wasser aus zehn Meter Tiefe hochgepumpt und auf den Indikator Radon analysiert, um so den Einfluss des Grundwassers auf das See-Ökosystem abschätzen zu können. Mehr dazu im Logbucheintrag des Verbundprojekts ‚SEEZEICHEN‘:

11th Symposium on Cladocera

The triannual meeting of international experts on the biology of cladocerans - also known as water fleas - will take place from 24-29 September, 2017, in the castle Plassenburg in Kulmbach. Topics include ecology, evolutionary biology and diversity of Cladocera, thereby stressing their use as model organisms. Deadline for submitting contributions is June 30th 2017.

4th Central European Geomorphology Conference

BayCEER Workshop 2017

At the BayCEER Workshop 2017 on October 12 before the start of the lecture period, junior and senior scientists from over 20 disciplines in ecology end environmental research will present their work. Poster and oral contributions are welcome, deadline for submission is September 18. Preliminary program and registration:

Meadow orchids: Exploiting mycorrhizas in broad daylight

In a study in the Journal of Ecology researchers from the BayCEER Laboratory of Isotope Biogeochemistry investigate the nutritional mode of meadow orchids using stable isotope natural abundances. They find that partial mycoheterotrophy plays a far greater role in rhizoctonia‐associated orchids growing in full light conditions than previously assumed and demonstrate that partial mycoheterotrophy is a trophic continuum between the extreme endpoints of autotrophy and full mycoheterotrophy, ranging from marginal to pronounced.

Hotspot of evolution: the Philippines

The Philippines are a hotspot of plant biodiversity. Botanists from the Chair of Plant Systematics at the University of Bayreuth discovered reasons for this analysing the evolutionary history and biogeographic relationships of the Philippine members of the pantropical genus Ixora: The Philippines were colonized at least five times independently and from different geographic regions by plants of this genus. The liaison of the different lineages became the starting point for the evolution of new species.

Tropical viruses: coming soon to Europe?

The mosquito-borne viral disease Chikungunya is usually found in tropical areas. Researchers from the Chair of Biogeography at the University of Bayreuth and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) in Stockholm analyze in a study in Scientific Reports how climate change is facilitating the spread of the virus. If it only progresses moderately – as scientists are currently observing – the risk of infection will continue to increase in many regions of the world through the end of the 21st century. If climate change continues unchecked, the virus could even spread to southern Europe and the United States.

Thioarsenate Toxicity and Tolerance

Thioarsenates form from arsenite under sulfate-reducing conditions, e.g., in rice paddy soils, and are structural analogues of arsenate. Even though rice is one of the most important sources of human arsenic intake, nothing is published about uptake, toxicity, or tolerance of thioarsenates in plants. Experiments of researchers from Environmental Geochemistry and Plant Physiology at the University of Bayreuth using the model system Arabidopsis thaliana show that thiolated arsenic species have to be taken into account.