Biodiversity

The last ice age, about 20,000 years ago, was significantly colder than previously thought. This is shown for the first time by systematically analysed samples of groundwater collected around the globe and the inert gases dissolved in it. Swiss groundwater from Uster (ZH) also contributed to the results.

In the Alps, it is getting warmer and warmer and spring is starting earlier and earlier. Many species living there can adapt their behaviour as well as their choice of habitat accordingly. But as it is shown in an overview study led by the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) and the CNRS in France, which also includes numerous results from citizen science projects, these adaptations usually do not take place quickly enough.

Biodiversity on Earth is declining dramatically. Eawag has always had a great tradition of supporting research on biodiversity. With modern research approaches and a highly interdisciplinary environment, which is almost the only one of its kind worldwide, it also wants to contribute to ensuring that politics, economy and society have the necessary foundations to understand and preserve biodiversity.

GenoRobotics is an interdisciplinary EPFL project to develop a portable, automated device for extracting and sequencing DNA in any type of environment. The project team hopes their invention will make it easier and faster to map our planet’s biodiversity.

In the Blue-Green Biodiversity research initiative of WSL and Eawag scientists from around the world are working together to find solutions to the pressing challenges of biodiversity loss. The scientists explain in a video what they are working on – and why.

There are more bats flying around Zurich at night than Paris or Antwerp. This is revealed by a new study led by the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), examining the diversity of nocturnal animals such as insects and bats in cities. The study shows that connecting green spaces and reducing light pollution are key to promoting such diversity.