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In focus
Using water wisely
09 January 2026
The availability of water is one of the key challenges of the future. In our thematic focus, we bring together knowledge and proposed solutions relating to water.
During the 18th Global Food Forum Agriculture (GFFA) from 14 to 17 January in Berlin, participants will discuss the increasing water scarcity in food systems and potential solutions. The Thünen Institute is organising two expert panels on this topic.
During the dry years, Germany's forests largely lost their function as carbon sinks. Now it has become apparent that the forest soil compensated for almost all of the negative effects during this period, thus taking over the sink function of the trees. Scientific models must therefore be adapted for…
Extreme events change the ecology of oceans abruptly: For example, a marine heat wave in 2003 had such strong effects on species composition and trophic interactions of the subpolar North Atlantic that these impacts last until today. Researchers led by the Thünen Institute of Sea Fisheries in…
The Thünen Institute.
Research and policy advice on rural areas, agriculture, forests and fisheries.
As a research institute in the portfolio of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Regional Identity (BMLEH), we work at the interface of science, politics and society.
- 1 180
Employees, 651 of them scientists
- 15
Institutes conduct research in the fields of rural areas, agriculture, forestry and fisheries
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Lectures in 2024
- 1 046
Publications in 2024
KnowledgeSnack
Energy from the field. How much energy a hectare of land provides depends heavily on how it is used. A Thünen study shows that wind power and solar power are significantly more efficient than bioenergy. A car can travel around 3,000 times further on wind energy than on biodiesel from rapeseed. Similar differences also exist in electricity and heat production.
To Wissenschaft erleben (only in German)
New publications
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Gwinner M, Haslob H, Neumann H, Khodami S, Schupp PJ, Bonthond G (2026) Flatfish intestinal microbiota depend on various host traits, and vary with sediment type and bottom trawling effort. Sci Rep 16:632, DOI:10.1038/s41598-025-34195-w
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Weber-Blaschke G, Dieter M, Knoke T, Lindner M, Bauhus J (2026) Ermittlung der Klimaschutzleistung von Wald und Holznutzung. AFZ Der Wald 81(1):26-29
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Hutchings NJ, Schoof J, Mäenpää M, Pacholski AS, Webb J, Albrektsen R (2026) Higher tier estimation of ammonia emissions from synthetic nitrogen fertilizers in emission inventories : data collation, methodology and analysis. J Cleaner Prod 540:147438, DOI:10.1016/j.jclepro.2025.147438
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Nogueira P, Aust M-O (2026) OSPAR RSC environmental concentration data - Germany (2024) [Datenpublikation]. 1 XLSX file. Göttingen: OpenAgrar, DOI:10.3220/253-2025-253
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Nogueira P, Aust M-O (2026) OSPAR RSC environmental concentration data - Germany (2023-2024) [Datenpublikation]. 1 XLSX file. Göttingen: OpenAgrar, DOI:10.3220/253-2025-252
