Functional Ecology: Research Themes

The particular strength of this section is the combination of advanced biodiversity analysis, ecological experimentation, biochemical and molecular genetic analysis as well as new technological approaches such as ship-based and airborne remote sensing, aiming at the development of prognostic models of ecosystem function.
The principal framework of our activities is the research program “Polar Regions and Coasts in the Changing Earth System” (PACES). We participate in the PACES themes:

Topic 1: the changing Arctic and Antarctic
•  Ocean warming and  acidification: organisms and their changing role on marine ecosystems
Topic 2: coastal change
•  Food webs and diversity under global and regional change
•  Integrating evolutionary ecology into coastal and shelf processes
Topic 3: Lessons from the past
• Proxy development and innovation - the baseline for progress in paleoclimate research

Over the next five years we focus on the following specific projects:
•  Changes in rocky shore ecosystems: We study environmentally driven change in seaweed ecology, physiology and gene expression, and its effect on ecosystem functioning in Arctic, Antarctic and northern boreal systems. We identify direct and indirect interactions, their role in community structuring, and reveal the driving forces. In order to observe ongoing changes, we examine the current development of seaweed communities especially on Helgoland.

• Crustacean biology and the Krill indication: Crustaceans are key-constituents of all major marine ecosystems. We use Krill and other key crustacean species as “standardized bio-tools” for comparative analysis of environmental change effects across climatic and hydrographic gradients. Effects of changing temperature, salinity, pH and tropic conditions are analyzed in view of metabolic and reproductive performance, enzymatic response and gene expression.

• Age, stress & fitness in molluscs: Regarding animals fitness, oxygen related damage at the cellular level is the major lever of environmental change. We use marine bivalves of different lifestyle and lifespan (Pectinidae, Arcticidae) as model organisms to study the evolutionary development of protection and defense against oxidative damage.

• Macroorganism bio-recorders: We use carbonate archives of bivalves, e.g. the long lived Arctica islandica, and of coralline red algae to reconstruct environmental and ecological conditions in high spatial and temporal resolution.