News from the Network

Artists transformed the subway of Bonn's UN Campus railway station into a large mural that draws attention to insect protection by preventing light pollution. The project, initiated by go.Rheinland and Deutsche Bahn in collaboration with the Museum Koenig Bonn of the Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change (LIB), was implemented by the association InUrFaCE.

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Researchers at the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) have published a new study showing that an agriculture with an optimised silicon supply is better adapted to climate change. Systems with sufficient amorphous silicon in the soil require less phosphorus fertiliser and pesticides, improve water retention and protect plants from fungi and insects.

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The Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) receives approval for the special status “Innovation Center for Agricultural System Transformation” (IAT) for the expansion of practice-oriented agricultural research. From 2026, the IAT will form the organizational framework for developing a total of five regional real-world laboratories in Hesse and Brandenburg.

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The General Assembly of the Federation of European Microbiological Societies (FEMS) elected Braunschweig researcher Dr. Cecilia G. Flocco from the Leibniz Institute DSMZ-German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures to the FEMS Board of Directors from 2025-2027 on September 12, 2024 in The Hague (Netherlands). The pan-European organization can play a central role in promoting the field of microbiology for the sustainable advancement of societal and environmental well-being.

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Researchers from the Leibniz Institute German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures (DSMZ), including Dr Amber Hartman Scholz, are calling for better global coordination of benefit-sharing rules for the use of digital sequence information (DSI) to ensure open and equitable access for life science research. They emphasise that clear and harmonised rules are crucial to promote scientific progress and innovation.

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On 12 September 2024 researchers from the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) shared their latest research on the resilience of community-supported agriculture (CSA) with the Apfeltraum market garden in Eggersdorf near Müncheberg. The gardeners made their farm available to the researchers as a case study and provided detailed insights into their operations. The study, published in the journal Agricultural Systems, shows how CSA farms can strengthen their resilience to market and environmental changes through community and diversity.

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Whereas global biodiversity has declined between two and eleven percent during the 20th century due to land-use change alone, climate change could become the main driver of biodiversity decline by the mid-21st century. According to the findings of the largest modelling study of its kind – published by over 50 scientists from more than 40 institutions - climate change stands to put additional strain on biodiversity and ecosystem services. For all scenarios, the impacts of land-use change are expected to decline biodiversity in all world regions but much higher when climate change is considered. The study was led by the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), with contribution of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK).

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Scientists from the Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB) and the University of Potsdam have identified four strains of fungi that have a high potential to degrade common plastics such as polyurethane, polyethylene and tire rubber. The study, led by Professor Hans-Peter Grossart at IGB, found that polyurethane is the most degradable plastic. This research offers new insights for the sustainable management of plastic waste and for large-scale recycling solutions.

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