A bigger picture
We research the sea and its function for humans and the environment
The Helmholtz Institute for Functional Marine Biodiversity (HIFMB) is a research institute located in Oldenburg. It researches marine biodiversity and its importance for the function of marine ecosystems. In doing so, it develops the scientific basis for marine nature conservation and ecosystem management.
Junior Professorship (m/f/x) in Marine Policy and Management
HIFMB develops the scientific basis for marine conservation and marine ecosystem management by analysing the functional role of biodiversity in marine ecosystem and understanding the general principles constraining this role.
We invite applications for a joint professor position in Junior Professorship (m/f/x) in Marine Policy and Management salary scale W1 with tenure track W2 commencing as soon as possible.
Oceans are not only the richest in species but also the largest habitat – due to their depth, oceans make up more than 90 percent of the total habitat on earth.
They regulate the climate, bind CO2 and are an important food source for humans. Every second breath we take contains oxygen from the ocean.
In order for the sea to continue to fulfil these functions, which are also important for humans, intact habitats are needed. And these in turn depend on marine biodiversity, i.e. the diversity of species, genetic variants of each species and ecosystems.
How strongly and in what form this biological diversity reacts to global warming and human-induced influences is still largely unclear today.
Marine ecosystems are changing – also and especially through human influence. According to a recent study, for example, only 13 percent of the oceans can still be described as wilderness.
What do the changes in marine ecosystems mean for us and what measures do we take to counter them?
Our approach is interdisciplinary: At HIFMB, scientific research goes hand in hand with social science expertise in the analysis of social and political processes.
Biodiversity Change
Quantifying & predicting biodiversity change
Ecosystem Functions
Understanding functional consequences of change
Conservation & Management
Maintaining biodiversity & functions and enabling socio-ecological management
From tooth fish to food webs, from molecular genetic tools to underwater acoustics: dive into our current research
Reviving PALAOA or the Acoustic Homecoming
Slowly the impressive lance sinks into the ice. It reminds of a Jules Verne-like scientific instrument in the way its copper plates are bolted so craftfully. It is attached to an enormous installation with howling diesel-powered engines that breathes a slow primitive power. Maybe exactly the type of primitive power and patience that is needed to melt through 100m thick shelf ice. We are in the Antarctic standing on the Eckstroem Iceshelf and we are melting holes to finally revive our passive acoustic observatory after a 2-year data gap due to an ice shelf break off in February 2022.
Did you know?
Reef-building corals enhance the light available for their algal symbionts by 3 to 8 times relative to ambient light conditions.
A Kind of Magic – the Diversity of the North Sea Fauna Revealed by Genetic Traces in Seawater
Do we have sufficient reference data and the appropriate methods and techniques to identify the biodiversity of marine fauna in the dynamic waters of the North Sea using genetic traces from seawater? The aim of a study by the HIFMB Focus Group Marine Molecular Ecology was to evaluate these uncertainties and to bring the method of environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding into application for monitoring and questions on marine conservation in the North Sea.
Insights into Marine Biodiversity Research – Lectures for Pupils
Two detailed presentations (held in German), developed by two young scientists, enable teachers to find an exciting introduction to the topic of marine biodiversity with their pupils. Specifically, they deal with whale research, the food web in the Antarctic and the special ability of whales to hear and utilise sound waves.
The Ocean – an Empty Space?
The ocean is most often seen as an empty space, for example in maps, where it is most often depicted as a blue shaded area next to colorful lands, mountains and valleys, forests and deserts, towns and roads. This is due to the traditional approach to creating maps and thinking about landscape (the clue is already in the term), people going as far as they can and writing about the things they find. The ocean in contrast is an inhospitable place to wander for humans, only with the aid of devices such as boats it becomes possible to leave the shore, creating the image of a vast desert in our minds.
MEET THE TEAM
Our staff are the heart and driving force of our research.