BioDiversum at the MPI-NAT

BioDiversum at the MPI-NAT

A 65 percent decline in birds since 1965, 80 percent in insects since 1980 – this development in Germany is alarming and has to be stopped. With our biotope project at the Fassberg, the BioDiversum, our institute wants to actively contribute its share.

It is an ecological disaster that finally reached public awareness in recent years: The massive decline of birds and insects – both in species and individuals – threatens nature as we know it, and thus the basis of our life. The phenomenon is not limited to Germany but part of a worldwide, rapid loss of animal and plant species. Around one million species are on the brink of extinction, mainly due to increasingly intensive agriculture and loss of land due to development, settlement, and traffic, which affects plants and animals alike.

Numerous organizations and initiatives are now determined to fight this worrying development. Our institute is also taking action: in 2019, we launched our biotope project BioDiversum Biotope at the Fassberg Campus of the MPI for Multidisciplinary Sciences (former MPI for Biophysical Chemistry). We have created a diverse biotope – a habitat tailored to the needs of animals and plants – on the institute’s Fassberg Campus in Göttingen. The aim is to significantly improve the living conditions for native insects, birds, and many other species – including endangered ones.

The project comprises a whole range of measures: the installation of over a hundred nesting boxes, the sowing of wildflower meadows, the reconstruction of fallow land and beds around the institute by planting insect-friendly perennials, and the creation of a meadow orchard. The heart of the BioDiversum is a newly designed pond of around 900 square meters, fed sustainably with surface water.

An overview of all measures can be found here.

Why you are not allowed to release animals into our pond

Illegally released fish and turtles in particular would destroy the pond's ecosystem in no time.  more

We are creating a biotope - explained by landscaper Ulrich Küneke (EN subs)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Np8klpL0WWs

Press releases

A small Noah's ark

A small Noah's ark

October 20, 2021

On October 18, the institute's biotope project BioDiversum was inaugurated. Guest of honor was the well-known ornithologist and conservationist Peter Berthold, who even in his old age never tires of promoting his heartfelt mission: a conservation concept that also works in our intensively used and spoiled landscape. more

Counteracting the rapid decline of birds and insects: MPI for Biophysical Chemistry creates diverse biotope

The BioDiversum will be built in the coming months. It will provide a habitat for endangered animal and plant species. Today, earthworks for the pond began, the biotope’s central measure. With this project on its premises near Nikolausberg, the institute wants to contribute its share to stopping the massive loss of biodiversity. more

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