Research Focus: Geosphere-Biosphere Interactions

Anthropogenically-induced crisis like biodiversity loss and climate change endanger the Earth System Stability. Coping with these crises requires deep understanding of how the geosphere and the biosphere are coupled and feed back into each other.

We investigate these feedbacks, which occur across a wide range of spatial scales: from microorganisms altering the biotic and abiotic environment to global biogeochemical cycles of water, carbon, and nutrients linking rock, soil, vegetation, and the climate system. We identify geo-biosphere interactions in geological records and link this with present day observations to project how geo-biosphere feedbacks may stabilize or destabilize terrestrial systems in the future.

Selected Topics of the Research Focus "Geosphere-Biosphere Interactions"

Mechanistic modeling of geo-biosphere interactions

Land-use (change) impacts on geo-biosphere interactions

Impact of tallest (trees) to smallest (microbes) organisms on soils

Feedbacks between biota and the water cycle in soils, aquifers, rivers, and coupled hydrosystems

Interrelation of geo- and biodiversity & stability

Biotic drivers of biogeochemical cycles across space and time

Manipulative experiments to simulate environmental change

Geo-biosphere feedbacks during rapid environmental change in the geological past

Workgroups Active in the Research Focus "Geosphere-Biosphere Interactions"

Geosphere-Biosphere Interactions
Prof. Dr. Michaela Dippold

Invertebrate Paleontology
Prof. Dr. James Nebelsick

Plant Biogeochemistry
Jun.-Prof. Dr. Marie Mühe

Soil Science and Geomorphology
Prof. Dr. Thomas Scholten

Environmental Mineralogy
Prof. Dr. Stefan B. Haderlein

Soil Microbial Interactions
Jun.-Prof. Dr. Kyle Mason-Jones

Quartärgeochronologie
Prof. Dr. Sumiko Tsukamoto

Hydrogeology
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Olaf A. Cirpka

Terrestrial Paleoclimatology
Prof. Dr. Madelaine Böhme

Geomicrobiology
Prof. Dr. Andreas Kappler

Geoecology
Prof. Dr. Yvonne Oelmann

Environmental Analytical Chemistry
Prof. Dr. Christian Zwiener

Geology
Prof. Dr. Kevin Norton

Bodenmikrobielle Interaktionen
Prof. Dr. Kyle Mason-Jones

Climatology and the Biosphere
Prof. Dr. Kira Rehfeld

Biogeology
Prof. Dr. Hervé Bocherens

Soil Microbial Interactions
Jun.-Prof. Dr. Kyle Mason-Jones

Environmental Systems Analysis
Prof. Dr. Christiane Zarfl

Isotope Geochemistry
Prof. Dr. Ronny Schönberg

Quaternary Geochronology
Prof. Dr. Sumiko Tsukamoto