From tooth fish to food webs, from molecular genetic tools to underwater acoustics: dive into our current research
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Diving in with “Die Maus”
“What do I have to study to work here?” a girl of about ten asks me, and I’m absolutely delighted, because it seems we’ve achieved what we set out to do: to show how exciting marine research can be and how much joy we find in it.
Did you know?
Unicellular plankton covers a size range that is comparable to the size difference between a small fish and a city like Oldenburg.
Spatialising Approaches to Marine Governance
This year has marked an exciting time for the Marine Governance Group at HIFMB, one of the core groups of the institute, feeding one of the key pillars of research: conservation and management. New staff at PhD and Postdoctoral level have arrived and Masters students have begun to undertake original research projects. Together they (we!) have been quickly shaping the group, raising critical questions about governing ocean spaces.
57 Days on Board the Polarstern
Bio-acoustician Irene Roca is a postdoctoral researcher at HIFMB. In March and April 2022, she takes part in a research cruise of the FS Polarstern through the Southern Ocean. The expedition starts in Capetown, traverses the Weddell Sea and ends in Punta Arenas in Chile. Logo of the Polarstern expedition “PS129” The mission of the …
Our New Home under Construction
A three-story building with almost 2,000 square meters of floor space will be built by 2023. In addition to 85 office workplaces, the building will also offer around 650 square meters of laboratory space, creating the best conditions for marine biodiversity research.
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 …