From tooth fish to food webs, from molecular genetic tools to underwater acoustics: dive into our current research
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Exploring Belonging: A Day on the Island of Spiekeroog
Our one-day retreat on the island Spiekeroog aimed to further strengthen the connections within our Marine Governance group and to explore the notion of “Belonging.” Already the passage to the island with the small speedboat, which rocked with every sigle wave, raised the question, “Do we actually belong here?”—on the water amidst all the ship traffic, right in the middle of the Wadden Sea National Park, surrounded by countless marine organisms that all depend on this rare and threatened habitat?
Did you know?
Reef-building corals enhance the light available for their algal symbionts by 3 to 8 times relative to ambient light conditions.
Undersea Cables: A Reminder for the Highly Wired World and Political Creatures
Lately, people worldwide have been caught off guard from hearing the news about the volcanic seamount eruption in the Tongan sea. This eruption caused tsunami waves—sweeping the Pacific Islands, including Tonga Island. This pacific island nation also suffers from fiber optic cable malfunctions laying on the seafloor, often undisturbed by human activities.
Embracing Tensions in Research, or: Why I Can’t Answer the Question, “What is the ocean?”
Tension. What springs to mind when you think of tension? Images of frustration and anxiety might arise; situations you may not want to revisit, interactions you’d rather forget. As someone who suffers from anxiety and PTSD on a daily basis, it seems counterintuitive for me to argue that tension can be good. But I think it can be.
How Singing Whales Tell us Where They Come From
The humpback whale is probably the most iconic species among the baleen whales. Anyone who listens to Kate Bush knows their long and complex songs. These songs are produced by humpback whale males as a reproductive display, most likely transferring information about individual fitness both to surrounding females and males. Humpback whales accumulate during the winter …
Shade Sails for Coral Reef Recovery
Tropical coral reefs are changing. Some researchers suggest that modern tropical reefs could take the shape of habitat mosaics. Each patch of the mosaic are small patch-habitats of different regime types (e.g. coral-, sponge-, or algae-dominated) that coexist next to each other.
The Wadden Sea and Its Stakeholders
The Wadden Sea creates the largest unbroken tidal flat system in the world. This allows marine organisms of all shapes and sizes to flourish and draws in other migratory species like birds and seals from great distances. However, climate change and other anthropogenic forces have disrupted the balance of the Wadden Sea.
Grant for New Project on Ocean Infrastructure
Oceans are vital for the transport of goods and data – but they are not in good shape. How can we reconcile the benefits for people and the protection of the oceans? How can the sea be sustainably used and protected?