Conveners
Biodiversity and Society
- Kevin Rozario (UFZ / iDiv / Uni Jena / Uni Leipzig)
- Marie Meemken (Uni Jena)
Biodiversity and Society
- Kevin Rozario (UFZ / iDiv / Uni Jena / Uni Leipzig)
- Marie Meemken (Uni Jena)
As the globe is experiencing an increasing number of crises, the work of scientists – inter alia at iDiv – d becomes increasingly challenging. We want to understand the world: how species behave, how ecosystems work, and how we humans affect all this. We want our work to be valued and want to be approached for our knowleddge, yet we also have the urge to help address some key elements of the...
Rewilding has emerged as a prominent strategy for ecological restoration in Europe, yet public support remains uneven and shaped by political values. As debates surrounding the Nature Restoration Law intensify, understanding how political identity influences support for rewilding is increasingly vital. We present findings from a discrete choice experiment (DCE) conducted in the Oder Delta, a...
Seawilding, the large-scale restoration of marine ecosystems, presents significant potential for biodiversity enhancement and improved ecosystem services but faces unique challenges compared to land-based rewilding initiatives. Our study provides a first comprehensive analysis of marine rewilding by integrating its ecological, socio-economic, and governance perspectives. We examine the...
In this paper we analyze the role of social norms regarding sustainable agricultural produce and nature protection in sustainable behavior. For this purpose, we conduct a survey and two experiments, a discrete choice experiment and a dictator game, with a representative sample of German residents. In a second data collection we test the effect of an information intervention – using information...
Social-ecological transformation is needed to face today´s global envionmental and socio-economic changes without loosing essential parts of biodiversity. However, the initiation, promotion and support of social-ecological transformation for the conservation and restoration of biodiversity still needs to be further explored. In this study, 22 projects and processes were analysed in Germany...
Taxonomic description patterns illustrate how the rate of new descriptions within taxonomic groups changes over time. This study combines description dates, phylogenetic information, and author numbers for all eukaryotic life on Earth from LifeGate, alongside occurrences from GBIF, public interest data from the Biodiversity in Literature project, and habitat preferences and body size data from...
The new EU sustainability reporting requirements require companies to evaluate and reveal their impact on nature, in particular on biodiversity, as well as the associated risks and opportunities. While these regulations aim to promote accountability and environmental responsibility, they pose significant challenges for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which often lack the necessary...
Cultural ecosystem services (CES) – one of the key categories of ecosystem services – are often overlooked in research and management. Trees contribute to the provisioning of a wide range of CES, e.g. by enhancing the aesthetic value of landscapes or supporting the cultural identity of people to nature. Despite the clear contribution of trees to CES, research on how individual tree species...
Oil palm is the world’s main source of edible oil, supporting rural incomes but also driving deforestation and other impacts. As new production regions emerge, understanding the links between sustainability and governance— ranging from government regulations to market demands —is essential. We examined Peru’s oil palm sector, focusing on the main producing Regions, San Martin and Ucayali. We...
In many cultures worldwide, the use of psychedelics is an integral part of spiritual practices. Psychedelics are suggested to increase mental wellbeing, while their potential for improving nature and social connectedness as part of spiritual wellbeing is an emerging research area.
With this cross-sectional survey based on 212 participants, we assessed whether experiences with natural and...
Urban environments influence human health, both through negative and positive effects. This study investigates the associations between urban environmental conditions and psychological as well as physical health outcomes in a large, population-based sample from Leipzig, Germany (N ≈ 5000, age 19-87 years, 52% women). Drawing on a comprehensive dataset, we examine associations between...
One third of the world's population suffers from pollen-induced respiratory allergies. For those affected, knowing the local pollen loads and thus the local risk of allergy symptoms is of the utmost importance for their daily life and medication. However, real data on pollen abundance needs to combine knowledge of flowering times, pollen release and ultimately local pollen occurrence, and this...
Human consumption and international trade are key drivers of global biodiversity loss. Major pressures such as land-use change, overexploitation, climate change, invasive species, and pollution are often rooted in unsustainable business practices. In response, global and European policy frameworks have introduced ambitious targets to protect nature, climate, and human well-being. As a result,...
Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs) and Essential Climate Variables (ECVs) are best provided as spatiotemporal data. When these data are structured on regular spatial and temporal grids, they are known as Analysis Ready Data Cubes (ARDCs). Recent developments in the Earth observation community have led to broad adoption of ARDCs, facilitated by cloud-native data formats that support...
