Current Press Releases

A recent study by the Thünen Institute of Climate-Smart Agriculture assessed data on soil carbon content and stocks in arable soils under organic and conventional farming in Germany. The surprising finding: the soil carbon in organically farmed fields hardly differs from that in conventionally…

A recent study by the Thünen Institute of Baltic Sea Fisheries provides the first evidence that Atlantic herring also exhibit a so-called spawning site fidelity. This means that most herring in the western Baltic Sea return to their birthplaces, such as the Greifswald Bay, to spawn. This finding is…

A functional monitoring network for Germany's moorland areas is now in place. The 155 measuring points in open land and forests were set up over the past five years by scientists from the Thünen Institute. Today, Thursday, they are submitting their report on the development phase to the Federal…

With more than 70 options for action, the IPBES presents its most comprehensive report to date on the links between biodiversity, water, food and health to advise political decision-makers. Expertise also comes from the Thünen Institute of Biodiversity.

The Thünen Institute now has its own landscape laboratory, starting out with nine experimental fields. At the Trenthorst site (Schleswig-Holstein), models for future land use are being developed, researched, and tested on an area of 600 hectares. The researchers aim to overcome traditional forms of…

New Forest Living Labs in the Harz Mountains and in Lower Bavaria: German forest and wood research is reorganising itself for the forests of the future. The SURVEY joint research project, coordinated by the Thünen Institute and the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), brings together…

From 20 June to 3 July 2025, citizens can once again observe, identify and report bumblebees using an app - an important contribution to the protection of biodiversity. The campaign is organised by the Wild Bee Monitoring in Agricultural Landscapes at the Thünen Institute and the Bavarian branch of…

In a recent study by the EU's Horizon Europe project MarinePlan, which is coordinated by the Thünen Institute of Sea Fisheries, the scientists emphasise that systematic conservation planning (SCP) in particular can stop the loss of biodiversity.

The long-standing President of the Thünen Institute, Prof. Dr Folkhard Isermeyer, passed away on 14 January 2025 at the age of 67. With his passing, the Thünen Institute has not only lost its ‘architect’, an excellent scientist and clever strategist, but also a personality who led with trust, an…

Limestone quarries are important habitats, especially for endangered wild bee species. This was discovered by researchers from the Thünen Institute, the University of Göttingen and NABU in the Göttingen region.