The Distinguished Lecture Series brings internationally renowned scholars and other intellectual and civic leaders to Senckenberg. In addition to the featured lecture, each visit typically includes discussions or a public event designed to engage a wide range of Senckenberg scientists.
We are thrilled to announce the first lecture in the new “Senckenberg Distinguished Lecture Series.” Throughout the year, outstanding scientists from the international community who agreed to participate in the Lecture Series will present talks on the overarching theme of “Emerging Frontiers in Nature Research.”
With this lecture series we aim to create a new, primarily internationally oriented platform for networking and exchange, for creating synergies and inspired discussions – in short: a further component to add to our lively scientific and curiosity-driven in-house culture.
| Date | Speaker |
|---|---|
| November 5, 2024 | Prof. Katja Matthes |
| October 1, 2024 | David Obura |
| September 24, 2024 | Prof. Lisa Levin |
| March 5, 2024 | Prof. Dr. Matthias Rillig |
| November 7, 2023 | Prof. Dr. Johan Rockström |
| October 10, 2023 | Prof. Dr. Christian Wirth |
| June 6, 2023 | Prof. Dr. Alex Rogers |
| April 4, 2023 | Prof. Dr. Antje Boetius |
The Ocean – Solution for the Climate Crisis
The ocean offers a portfolio of measures for carbon dioxide removal and solutions for unavoidable residual emissions. The impact of these measures on the ocean and the protection of this vital ecosystem must be carefully and thoroughly assessed. To overcome these complex challenges (legal framework, scientific basis, technological issues, socio-economic aspects, etc.) we need reliable research results, and it is our mission to responsibly evaluate ocean-based approaches that remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Safe marine carbon storage options, alkalinization and restoration, e. g., of seagrass meadows, are investigated across all marine research disciplines. Ultimately, we must succeed in making the transition to a climate-neutral society while the most appropriate solution is to reduce our emissions.
About the lecturer
Prof. Dr. Katja Matthes is a climate researcher and Director of the GEOMAR Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research, Kiel. Understanding the ocean system, particularly under the aspects of climate change, is the motivation for her research and knowledge transfer. She is co-author of the current 6th Assessment Report of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) and board member of the German Marine Research Alliance.
Balancing nature, economy, and society – for a safe and just future
Global biodiversity loss and climate change are part of an intensifying polycrisis that results from a single source – humanity’s excessive conversion of nature, culminating in financial gain. Global science-policy platforms are increasingly clear and consistent, but their key messages do not resonate enough to drive the differentiated responsibilities and actions required of different countries and sectors of global society. Balancing the relationships between nature, economy, and society will be necessary to “bendthe curves” of the multiple crises. One key pathway to success is to focus on maintaining a healthy and sufficientnature at a square-kilometer scale, providing biodiversity and human benefits. This addresses equity among people, drivers of decline, and provides tangible opportunities to restore financial capital to natural capital.
About the lecturer
David Obura chairs the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), is a member of the Earth Commission, and a Director of CORDIO East Africa. After 30 years of research on the vulnerability of coral reefs to climate change and their importance to society, his focus is now on linking local with global challenges to help society pivot towards a safe and just future.
Deep-sea biodiversity under climate change: a frank or fabricated future?
The planet faces both climate change and biodiversity loss. These crises are intertwined and must be addressed together. In doing so, the deep ocean must be considered. The adaptations and life histories of deep-sea species make them vulnerable to changing environments and disruption. We have already discovered just how dependent we are on the deep ocean for a stable climate. Ocean-based geoenginee-ring measures and deep-seabed mining pose looming but invisible
threats to the deep ocean. A growing imperative to conserve both deep-sea biodiversity and the carbon services requires input into the many international negotiations, frameworks, and treaties currently deciding the fate of the deep sea.
About the lecturer
Lisa A. Levin is a Distinguished Professor Emerita at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego. She currently researches biodiversity, climate change, and human impacts on the deep ocean. She works to bring deep-sea science to policy makers via science networks, global assessments, and UN negotiations.
Effects of multiple global change drivers on soils and terrestrial ecosystems
The vast majority of experimental work exploring the effects of drivers of global change on terrestrial ecosystems applies only one or two factors (actually about 98 % of the published literature). This means we are almost completely blind to the concurrent effects of many jointly acting factors, even though this is arguably the reality. Experimenting with such a large number of factors comes with many challenges. I report on our work using a design that emphasizes the number of factors: this alone can explain many effects, highlighting the fact that reducing the dimensionality of the global change problem could be one pathway towards greater ecosystem health.
About the lecturer
Matthias Rillig is a professor of ecology at the Freie Universität Berlin and director of the Berlin-Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research. His group works on global change effects on soils (including microplastics), with an organismal focus on fungi.
A Safe and Just Future for Humanity and Earth
After 11,000 years of remarkably stable climate that created conditions conducive to the evolution of civilizations, humanity is confronted with multiple global crises. This talk gives a scientific update of the risks of destabilizing the planet, providing evidence that six of nine Planetary Boundaries are already transgressed today, and in turn offering a new definition of sustainability. The increasing frequency and amplitude of extreme events is just one consequence of overshooting the 1.5°C global warming limit – a real biophysical limit, not just a political target – beyond which multiple tipping points in the Earth system are not only likely to be triggered, but run the risk of setting off tipping cascades.
About the lecturer
Johan Rockström is Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and Professor of Earth System Science at the University of Potsdam.
From Climate Change to Biodiversity and back
While the climate crisis is perceptible for everyone and ubiquitous in public discourse, the biodiversity crisis on our planet is occurring quietly and often goes unnoticed. How is biodiversity changing globally and at home? How does this affect the integrity and functioning of our ecosystems and eventually us humans? Drawing from experiments and observations worldwide and in Germany, Christian Wirth explains how the two crises are linked. He argues that biodiversity is not only a victim of climate change but also a remedy for it; conserving and creating biodiverse landscapes is key to effective climate protection.
About the lecturer
Christian Wirth is a German plant ecologist who is interested in the many ways plants and their diversity shape the functioning of ecosystems. Based at Leipzig University, he is speaker of the DFGfunded German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle Jena Leipzig and director of the Botanical Garden. Besides being a Max Planck Fellow for ten years, he cofounded the global TRY database of plant traits, runs the Leipzig Canopy Crane, and currently leads the German Biodiversity Assessment of the BMBF FEdA initiative.
How can taxonomy meet the challenge of the ocean bio diversity crisis?
The ocean faces a biodiversity crisis driven by direct and indirect human impacts; however, our knowledge of global marine biodiversity is insufficient for ocean management. Even now, large areas of the ocean remain unexplored and data from a single scientific expedition can significantly change our understanding of the distribution of marine life. With species in decline and extinction a real possibility, species discovery and description has to accelerate and address the policies needed to conserve marine life. Alex Rogers, Science Director of the Nippon Foundation, will present the new Ocean Census programme on how to accelerate species discovery in the oceans.
About the lecturer
Alex Rogers is a marine biologist working on the biodiversity of deep-sea ecosystems and mesophotic reef environments. His past work has included cold-water coral reef ecosystems, seamounts and the first high temperature hydrothermal vents from the Southern Ocean. He is Science Director of the Nippon Foundation / Nekton Ocean Census project and is based at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. He has received the ZSL/Marsh Award for Marine and Freshwater Conservation and published a popular book called Das Große Tiefe Blau.
The changing Arctic. How life reacts in the ice and the deep sea.
The region around the North Pole is warming nearly four times faster than the global average for the planet, and the sharp decline in sea ice in particular is causing significant ecological changes. But how can we find out if something is changing when there is hardly any data available? Antje Boetius reports on the diversity of habitats in the ice-covered Arctic Ocean, and on the processes that create a direct link between the fate of sea ice and the benthic communities. She then presents future strategies for studies in the polar regions.
About the lecturer
Prof. Dr. Antje Boetius is a Frankfurt-born marine researcher and microbiologist, and the director of the Alfred Wegener Institute. She investigates unexplored habitats of the Arctic Ocean, with a focus on the effect of climate change on polar regions. She has been awarded the Communicator Prize of the DFG and the German Environmental Award.
