Geosciences

An Animal Invasion

Whether they arrive as stowaways aboard ships, are abandoned from aquariums, or even deliberately introduced, more and more foreign animal species are arriving in German waterways from around the world. The result is that exotic animals that have almost no natural enemies are threatening native species. Researchers are studying this phenomenon, taking Lake Constance as an example to find out how the ecosystem is affected by the new arrivals.

An Animal Invasion
 

Duck Stop

Above all, they want to answer one question: do water birds prefer plant food? To find out, biologists from Constance and the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Radolfzell are diving into the depths of Lake Constance to study the menu of the water birds. And there are plenty of birds: up to 260,000 of them overwinter on Lake Constance. When they all go in search of food, there are most certainly consequences for the animal and plant world. What do life and survival look like on and in the lake? Do the feeding habits of the birds change over the course of the year? Are there gender-specific or perhaps individual differences in the choice of food? And what do the researchers discover on the bottom of the lake?

Duck Stop
 

Giant Dinosaurs

The sauropods were the largest animals that ever lived. Modern-day heavyweights are barely any match for these prehistoric giants. These dinosaurs continue to pose unanswered questions: How did the largest ever land-dwelling beings get to be that size? Using their fossilised bones, researchers are attempting to unlock the secret to the dinosaur’s incredible size.

Giant Dinosaurs
 

Polar Archive

Drilling into the past: located at the outer edge of northeastern Siberia is Lake El'gygytgyn, which was formed 3.6 million years ago by a meteorite strike. The sediment layers at the bottom of the lake represent an invaluable climate archive of the Arctic: they provide us with information on how the continental Arctic responded to past climate changes. With the knowledge that is gained, it will be possible to take a look into the future: researchers from the Institute of Geology and Mineralogy at the University of Cologne are asking themselves "how will the Arctic respond to renewed climate change and what implications will that have for the rest of the planet?"

Polar Archive
 

Sinking Coasts

Around 10,000 years ago, people lived in the exact place where the waves of the Baltic Sea now break. Stone Age hunters and gatherers could still travel on foot to Scandinavia. How did the Baltic Sea come into being? A research team made up of geoscientists, biologists, climatologists and archaeologists went in search of facts.

Sinking Coasts
 

The City of 5 Million

Worldwide, the number of cities with a population of over five million is steadily increasing. What is life like for the inhabitants of these megacities? How do people cater for their daily needs? Such cities are almost impossible for the state and official authorities to govern. To compensate for this, forms of self-organisation arise to enable life to continue in such tightly packed communities. Taking Delhi, Dhaka and the Pearl River Delta as examples, Frauke Kraas takes a first-hand look at living conditions in megacities.

The City of 5 Million
 
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