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2025

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  Research Press release

  LIB establishes Centre for biodiversity research in Ecuador

  18 February 2025

  The Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change is working with the Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador (PUCE) in Quito to establish a scientific center for biodiversity research in Ecuador.

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  Knowledge transfer

  "SciXit": Withdrawal from Platform X:

  17 February 2025

  Numerous academic institutions left Platform X in January 2025 following a widely recognised public appeal. By now, more than 120 universities and research institutes have joined the call to cease communication on X, including the LIB.

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  Research Press release

  Pesticides have greater impacts on animals, plants, and microorganisms than previously thought

  13 February 2025

  Pesticides are used primarily in agriculture to control pests. However, they can also harm many beneficial animal, plant and fungal species.

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  Museum of Nature Hamburg Press release

  Insight and exchange: New rooms and exhibition opened at the Museum der Natur Hamburg

  12 February 2025

  Since 12 February, two newly designed rooms in the zoological exhibition at the Museum der Natur Hamburg have been inviting visitors to linger, marvel, discover and join in.

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  Museum Koenig Bonn Press release

  Museum Koenig Bonn opens special exhibition ‘Meadow habitat’

  06 February 2025

  The Museum Koenig Bonn is presenting her impressive photographs in the special exhibition ‘Habitat Meadow’, which opens on 19 February.

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  Research Press release

  Quarries, sand and gravel pits as habitats: how the building materials industry can promote biodiversity

  29 January 2025

  With funding from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), the ‘Holistic Biodiversity Management in the Building Materials Industry’ (GiBBS) project has produced a handbook to help raw materials companies implement species ...

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  Research Press release

  Scientists Resolve “Identity Crisis” for Australia’s Deadliest Spider

  13 January 2025

  An international team of scientists has revised the classification of Australia’s most famous spider.

2024

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  Press release Knowledge transfer

  Art meets science on insect protection at the ‘UN Campus’ railway station

  17 December 2024

  Beetles, butterflies and other insects have recently been hanging around the UN Campus railway station in oversized graffiti. What looks beautiful has a larger goal: the graffiti draws attention to the threat posed to insects by light pollution.

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  Museum of Nature Hamburg Press release

  Elbtower: option for new natural history museum in Hamburg

  16 December 2024

  The discussion about the location for the new natural history museum in Hamburg is gathering pace. As confirmed by the Senate of the City of Hamburg, proposals for housing the ‘Evolutioneum’ in the new building on the Elbe bridges are being ...

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  Research Press release

  Decoding the world’s largest animal genome

  14 August 2024

  Thirty times the size of the human genome: An international team of researchers led by Konstanz evolutionary biologist Axel Meyer and Würzburg biochemist Manfred Schartl, including researchers from the LIB has sequenced the largest genome of all ...

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  Museum Koenig Bonn Knowledge transfer

  Bronze of the "Bundesgiraffe" on board the MS Wissenschaft

  30 July 2024

  "Freedom" is the motto of the Science Year 2024, which the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) has proclaimed to mark the 75th anniversary of the Federal Republic of Germany. With a wide range of activities to take part in, a swimming

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  Museum of Nature Hamburg Museum Koenig Bonn Press release Knowledge transfer

  Science meets street art

  09 July 2024

  InUrFaCE (Initiative of Urban Facades Creature Exposition) aims to create facade artworks on biodiversity that "jump out at you". Internationally renowned street artists create the so-called murals together with

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  Research Museum of Nature Hamburg Knowledge transfer

  Wanted: Butterflies in Hamburg - Who's in?

  01 July 2024

  We don't have to travel far to find rare species. There are many places in Hamburg where we can find rare or even endangered animals. Even in densely populated areas such as Hamburg, there is a lack of constant biomonitoring in order to find rare ...

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  Museum Koenig Bonn Knowledge transfer

  Over 10,000 visitors at the Museum Mile Festival at Museum Koenig Bonn

  27 June 2024

  For two days from 22 to 23 June 2024, Museum Koenig Bonn opened its doors as well as the Museum Park to young and old at the legendary Museum Mile Festival of the five major museums on the Museum Mile. In addition to live music from Klassik

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  Museum Koenig Bonn Press release Knowledge transfer

  Painted democracy: 75 years of the Basic Law in pictures by Markus Lüpertz

  03 May 2024

  To mark the 75th anniversary, the Museum Koenig Bonn is showing the exhibition "Painted Democracy - 75 Years of the Basic Law in Paintings by Markus Lüpertz."

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  Museum of Nature Hamburg Press release Collection

  Unique "Elmshorn" meteorite now on display at the Museum der Natur Hamburg

  25 April 2024

  It is a meteorite of superlatives that fell from the sky in Elmshorn near Hamburg on 25 April 2023: from a scientific and cultural-historical point of view, it represents a globally unique piece. At 3.7 kilograms, it is also the largest in

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  Research Press release

  What medicine can learn from ants...

  05 April 2024

  Mixing livestock farming and arable farming, integrating flower strips and trees, water and soil conservation and much more: diverse agriculture not only benefits nature, but also secures the food base and the agricultural sector for us humans.

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  Research Collection

  What medicine can learn from ants...

  27 February 2024

  When biology and technology intersect, we usually talk about bionics. The mouthparts of ants could, for example, help to improve needle holders during endoscopic procedures. Dr Benjamin Wipfler, together with colleagues from various disciplines

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  Research Press release Knowledge transfer

  FOGS database against illegal wildlife trade launched

  22 February 2024

  The global illegal wildlife trade threatens around 6,000 protected species and their populations. With the FOGS reference database and new analytical methods, the Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change (LIB) supports authorities and species conservation organisations in their efforts to combat this ...

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  Museum Koenig Bonn Press release Knowledge transfer

  Biomorphic worlds: Where art and science merge

  09 January 2024

  Exciting and flowing at the same time, close to nature and abstract: Bielefeld artist Henning Bock interprets specimens from the mammal collection at Museum Koenig Bonn, combining art and science. From 25 January to 3 March 20

2023

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  Research Museum of Nature Hamburg Museum Koenig Bonn

  Women in Herpetology - 50 stories from around the world

  22 November 2023

  Umilaela Arifin works as a herpetologist at the Museum der Natur Hamburg and has already experienced a great deal in her career as a researcher. Now she has teamed up with 49 other female experts from the world of science to publish the book "Women in ...

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  Research Press release

  Foundation stone laid for multinational research centre in the Caucasus

  26 October 2023

  The freely accessible database is up and running, the laboratory infrastructure is functioning. The Caucasus Barcode of Life (CaBOL) cooperation project has laid the foundations for a multinational research centre in the Caucasus. However, it is still unclear how the ...

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  Museum Koenig Bonn Press release Knowledge transfer

  Solve puzzles from the world of pollinators in our new escape game

  25 October 2023

  Make an entire city liveable again for insects: Players can now immerse themselves in the fascinating and colourful world of "PROJECT POLLINATION: A BUZZING RESCUE". The educational escape game raises awareness in a playful way.

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  Museum of Nature Hamburg Press release Knowledge transfer

  Expedition Schneeleo" exhibition now at the Museum der Natur Hamburg

  11 October 2023

  Look a snow leopard in the eye, guess its voice, catch prey on a monitor: NABU's "Expedition Snow Leopard" exhibition follows the endangered "spirit of the mountains" with a mixture of analogue and digital hands-on activities.

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  Research Press release

  "It's not the weather - we humans are causing insect mortality"

  28 September 2023

  Can the weather really be the main cause of insect mortality? A recent STUDY in the scientific journal Nature blames (changing) weather conditions for the sharp decline in insects. Christoph Scherber, Deputy Director

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  Museum Koenig Bonn Press release Knowledge transfer

  Highlights of nature photography 2023

  12 September 2023

  The "Highlights of Nature Photography" were sought for the 25th time.

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  Research Press release

  Mixed crop cultivation offers insect protection without loss of yield

  04 September 2023

  How can we stop the drastic decline in biodiversity? A recent STUDY led by the Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change (LIB) shows possible solutions for agricultural landscapes. The investigations prove

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  Museum Koenig Bonn Press release

  75 years of the Parliamentary Council: Ceremony at Museum Koenig Bonn

  01 September 2023

  75 years ago, Museum Koenig Bonn wrote a piece of German democratic and parliamentary history. On 1 September 1948, the Parliamentary Council met here in the atrium for its constituent session. Today, the German Bundestag is celebrating this

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  Research

  The effects of deep-sea mining are unpredictable

  08 June 2023

  Bizarre-looking creatures cavort in the diffuse light at sea depths of 200 metres and below. Yet we know almost nothing about life in the deep sea, our largest ecosystem. But what we do know: The seabed harbours valuable minerals

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  Museum of Nature Hamburg Knowledge transfer

  The LIB at the Long Day of Urban Nature Hamburg

  30 May 2023

  We're grabbing our nets, binoculars and wellies - 17 June is once again the LONG DAY OF CITY NATURE in Hamburg. As a close partner of the event, which is initiated by the Loki Schmidt Foundation, the Museum der Natur Hamburg is of course also i

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  Museum of Nature Hamburg Knowledge transfer

  Long Night of Museums: Full house with 4,500 revellers

  24 April 2023

  What a night it was! Scorpions crawled over researchers' hands, minerals glowed in the dark and our dinosaur researcher told us what dinosaurs did at night to pass the time. Almost 4,500 night owls came to the Long Night on 22 April.

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  Research Press release Collection

  Global database links collections from the world's 73 largest natural history museums

  24 March 2023

  The LIB's scientific collections, with their 16 million objects, are now part of a global database of the world's largest natural history museums. The digital catalogue links more than one billion objects from scientific collections of

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  Research Press release

  Non-native land snail species are increasing exponentially

  19 January 2023

  Invasive land snail species can displace native species and harm human health. A recent study by the Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change (LIB) provides an overview of the exponential increase and dy

2022

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  Museum of Nature Hamburg Museum Koenig Bonn

  "Nature can still be saved" - Bernhard Misof on the World Nature Conference

  06 December 2022

  The aim is to save the planet and turn the tide of the biodiversity crisis. From 7 December, government representatives from almost 200 countries will meet in Montreal, Canada, with the aim of forging a pact to protect nature. LIB Director General

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  Research Museum of Nature Hamburg Museum Koenig Bonn

  Frankfurt Declaration: Working together for biodiversity

  02 December 2022

  One week before the start of the 15th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP15) in Montreal, an alliance of German scientific and non-governmental organisations calls in its "FRANKFURT DECLARATION", published today, for the protection of biodiversity in the ...

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  Museum of Nature Hamburg Press release

  New home for natural history in Hamburg

  29 November 2022

  The new building of the Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change (LIB) will be built on construction site 51 in HafenCity. The LEUCHTTURMPROJEKT for the world of science and museums will offer innovative exhibitions as well as space for research and ...

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  Research Press release

  Pan-European genome research to save biodiversity worldwide

  28 September 2022

  Experts from all over Europe are joining forces today to launch the pan-European consortium "Biodiversity Genomics Europe (BGE)". The comprehensive application of genomics to the study of biodiversity will revolutionise science.

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  Research Press release Collection

  Reporting portal for alien species extended to northern Germany

  28 July 2022

  Hamburg's portal for reporting non-native animal species is now available for the whole of northern Germany. On NEOBIOTA-NORD.DE, citizens can now compare and report species that were previously not native to northern Germany. With the Eng

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  Press release

  One year of LIB: researching and acting together

  23 June 2022

  Joining forces to preserve nature and shape the future: The Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change (LIB) began its work a year ago with this goal against the backdrop of an increasing biodiversity crisis.

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  Research Museum of Nature Hamburg Museum Koenig Bonn Press release Collection

  Berlin Declaration: For the future of humanity

  20 May 2022

  Thirty years after the first World Summit on Nature in Rio de Janeiro, the loss of biodiversity and global climate change are the greatest and most pressing challenges of the future. Nothing less than our very existence is at stake. U

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  Museum of Nature Hamburg Press release Knowledge transfer

  "Multifaceted insects": Travelling exhibition opens in Hamburg

  23 March 2022

  Dazzlingly beautiful, successful, useful - and endangered. Although insects do a great deal for us humans, we are responsible for their decline. From today, 23 March 2022, the travelling exhibition "Multifaceted insects: Diversity I G

2021

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  Research

  A close look at the dinosaurs: What did the prehistoric lizards eat?

  10 November 2021

  "The Hamburg dinosaurs will play a key role in the project." Humboldt Fellow Emanuel Tschopp wants to find out more about the lifestyle of long-necked dinosaurs through the wear and tear and changing of their teeth. An important part of his ...