Abstract:
“Climate change and the loss of biodiversity are major environmental challenges on a global scale. Both syndromes exhibit multiple facets, and the interactions thereof are complex and scale dependent. Current anthropogenic changes in climate include decadal trends and short-term events, both in temperature and in precipitation. For ecosystems, emerging unexperienced climatic extremes in precipitation are most challenging. Biodiversity loss includes changes in species richness and in species assemblages. Taxonomic depauperation (loss of alpha diversity) and homogenization (loss of beta diversity) can reduce ecosystem stability and resilience. A better understanding of these processes is urgently needed, because important ecosystem services and nature’s contributions to people are at risk, with possible negative consequences for economy, health and societal stability. To provide knowledge for decision making and policy requires to link big data with modelling, and to link experiments with monitoring approaches across disciplinary borders. The right questions need to be asked, and focused research strategies need to be implemented. Here, I present ongoing research related to nature conservation, land use, and human health, where climatic conditions and forecasts are linked to ecological processes at different scales from local to continental.”
About Prof. Beierkuhnlein:
Dept. of Biogeography, University of Bayreuth, Germany and Departamento de Botanica, Universidad de Granada, Spain.
Diploma in Geoecology in 1989, Research Scientist NGO Friends of the Earth until 1991, Freelancer in Nature Conservation until 1994, PhD in 1994, Habilitation in Biogeography in 1999, Associate Professor for Landscape Ecology at University of Rostock from 1999 to 2002, Since 2002 Full Professor (Chair) for Biogeography at University of Bayreuth, Since 2025 Guest Scientist at University of Granada. Research: Oceanic Islands, Springs, Grasslands, Vector-Borne Diseases, Geodiversity.