How do you actually measure biodiversity in the age of AI and climate change? TUM has published a fascinating article on this exact topic: “Measuring Diversity” (“Die Vermessung der Vielfalt”).
Right in the middle of it: researchers from our bayklif2 network! Whether it’s eDNA analysis of Bavarian lakes (ecoBay) or smart AI models for predicting ecosystem trends (BaySenseAI) – the piece highlights how we combine cutting-edge technology with ecology.
Rupert Seidl strikes out along a path that runs first through a mountain pasture, then climbs through spruce forests. He is guiding forest science students through a unique outdoor laboratory: Berchtesgaden National Park in Bavaria, Germany. The group stops at a patch of dead spruce trees. The trees have been killed by bark beetles. New vegetation is springing up between their bare trunks. The next stop is a few hundred meters farther. Over thirty years ago, severe windstorm Wiebke cleared a swath down this forest slope. Now young spruce, sycamore, and occasional birch trees have crowded into the opening created by the storm, some reaching up to three meters high.
In the core zone of the national park, nature is left to its own devices without human intervention in biological processes. The entire park thus becomes a place of learning. As Rupert Seidl explains: “We can trace the impact of pests, drought, and storms down to the level of individual trees. And we can track the development of the forest when human activity is removed from the equation over ten, twenty, or thirty years.” …