Senckenberg am Meer
Wilhelmshaven, Hamburg
The research institute Senckenberg am Meer is a centre of worldwide biological and geological coastal and marine research with working areas from the North Sea coast to the deep sea and from the tropics to the polar regions. We study the impacts and risks of today’s environmental changes on marine ecosystems, their habitats and on changes in biodiversity with a broad spectrum of methods. Our expertise also includes the interpretation of biosphere crises in the geological past and has a focus on biogeographical distribution patterns of selected species using state-of-the-art molecular genetic methods.
The institute is led by Prof. Dr. Pedro Martínez Arbizu and consists of two departments, Marine Research (MEFO) and the German Centre for Marine Biodiversity Research (DZMB), which has a location in Wilhelmshaven as well as Hamburg. Core competences of the 70 staff members are relevant to society e.g. in the fields of benthic and plankton long-term studies to characterise (supra-) regional climate and biodiversity changes, neobiota screening, geo-ecological biosedimentary systems, such as oyster reefs and deep-water coral reefs on seamounts and along continental margins, sediment dynamics, as well as in the assessment of environmental impacts and risks in deep-sea mining. In addition, Senckenberg am Meer has rich expertise in the field of taxonomy, using modern molecular and proteomic methods.
Major international projects play just as important a role for the scientists as the close networking with other marine research institutions in northern Germany and other Senckenberg research areas, such as the Department of Marine Zoology and Palaeontology and Historical Geology as well as the Senckenberg Natural History Collections Dresden. The research infrastructure, such as the research vessel “SENCKENBERG”, is an elementary platform for carrying out our studies.
In addition, Senckenberg am Meer conducts teaching at universities and special training courses, advises industry and authorities on the assessment of the ecological state of our marine ecosystems and brings its own research results to the public in various formats.
