Biological Oceanography

The Biological Oceanography research unit investigates how marine plankton respond to environmental changes in the ocean and what effects this has on ecosystems and biogeochemical cycles. Our objectives include understanding the sensitivity of biological processes at the organismal level, assessing the evolutionary potential for adaptation, analysing the impact of organismal responses on feeding relationships and explaining the consequences of ecological change for biogeochemical cycles. We investigate microbial processes of dissolved and particulate organic matter using methods such as analysis of organic materials, microbial rate measurements, incubation experiments, controlled laboratory cultures and field studies in various marine environments, from polar to tropical.

Project Overview

BASS
Biogeochemische Prozesse und Ozean/Atmosphäre-Austauschprozesse in marinen Oberlächenfilmen
DFG (German Science Foundation)
Funding Period: 2022 - 2026
CREATE-1
Concepts for Reducing the Effects of Anthropogenic pressures and uses on marine Ecosystems and on Biodiversity
BMBF (German Ministry of Science and Education) via the DAM (German Marine Research Alliance) Research Mission sustainMare - Protection & Sustainable Use of Marine Areas
Funding period: 2021 - 2024
CREATE-2
Concepts for Reducing the Effects of Anthropogenic pressures and uses on marine Ecosystems and on Biodiversity
BMBF (German Ministry of Science and Education) via the DAM (German Marine Research Alliance) Research Mission sustainMare - Protection & Sustainable Use of Marine Areas
Funding period: 2024 - 2027
DIPLO
Paving the way from in situ plankton image data to a Digital Twin Ocean
Faktencheck Artenvielfalt
BMBF (German Ministry of Science and Education)F via the BMBF Research Initiative for the Conservation of Biodiversity
Funding period: 2021 - 2024
ICEBERG
Innovative Community Engagement for Building Effective Resilience and arctic ocean pollution-control Governance in the context of climate change
EU (HORIZON-CL6-2023-ZEROPOLLUTION-01-3)
Funding Period: 2024 - 2026
Imaging Marine life in an Ocean of Change (IOChange)
DFG (German Research Foundation) Heisenberg Program
INDICOM
Composition, production and turnover of organic matter in the bathypelagic Indian Ocean
BMBF (German Ministry of Science and Education)
Funding period: 2024 - 2026
INDIFUN-AI
Innovative ‘pressure-state’ indicators for biodiversity changes based on a globally unique marine plankton data set and using the latest AI-supported statistical methods
BMBF (German Ministry of Science and Education)
Funding period: 2024 - 2027
INSYST
Ein Innovatives, intelligentes System zum Küstengewässermonitoring mit Hilfe Künstlicher Intelligenz
Land Schleswig-Holstein via the KI Land initiative
Funding period: 2023 - 2026
LABPLAS
Land-Based Solutions for Plastics in the Sea
EU (program HORIZON 2020)
Funding period: 2021 - 2025
MOIN4Herbie
Maintenance Ontology and audit log Integration for Herbie
Helmholtz Metadata Collaboration (Project Cohort 2023)
Funding Period: 2024 - 2026
Ocean ALK-ALIGN
Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement
Additional Ventures
Funding period: 2023 - 2027
OceanCDR
Ocean-based carbon dioxide removal strategies
HGF (Helmholtz Association)
Funding period: 2021 - 2024
OceanICU
Impacts of Climate Stressors on the Biological Carbon Pump (WP3)
PlastTrack
Technological platform for micro- and nanoplastics tracking
interreg 6a (joint project Denmark/Germany)
Funding Period: 2023 - 2026
SEA-THROUGH
Novel in situ imaging technology to explore the “ladder of vertical migrations” to the deep sea
European Research Council Consolidator Grant
Funding period: 2024 - 2028
SuperPI
Deep-learning empowered super-resolution plankton imaging
Test-artUp
Road testing ocean artificial upwelling
BMBF (German Ministry of Science and Education)
Funding period: 2021 - 2024
TRAMAE
Impacts of Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement
EU
Funding period: 2024 - 2027
Tropical Atlantic Deoxygenation: gateway dynamics, feedback mechanisms and ecosystem impacts
Make Our Planet Great Again project at the Laboratoire d'Oceanographie de Villefranche-sur-mer, France
AQUACOSM
Aquatic mesocosms across ecosystems and climate zones
EU
Funding period: 2017 - 2020
AQUACOSM-plus
Aquatic mesocosms across ecosystems and climate zones
EU
Funding period: 2020 - 2024
AQUASHIFT
The impact of climate variability on aquatic ecosystems
DFG (German Research Foundation)
Funding period: 2006 - 2011
ASLAEL
Future change in upwelling systems
BMBF (German Ministry of Science and Education)
Funding period: 2015 - 2017
BIOACID
Biological Impacts of Ocean Acidification
BMBF (German Ministry of Science and Education)
Funding period: 2009 - 2017
CalMarO
Calcification in Marine Organisms
EU
Funding period: 2008 - 2012
Combining deep learning, in situ imaging and citizen science to resolve the distribution of giant protists in major upwelling regions
CUSCO
Coastal Upwelling System in a Changing Ocean
Particle size distribution, export fluxes and zooplankton-particle interactions (WP5)
BMBF (German Ministry of Science and Education)
Funding period: 2018 - 2022
EPOCA
European Project on Ocean Acidification
EU
Funding period: 2008 - 2012
FACTS
Transport and Fate of microplastic in Northern European Seas
BMBF (German Ministry of Science and Education)
Funding period: 2020 - 2023
FutureMARES
Future Marine Ecosystem Responses and Sensitivities
EU
Funding period: 2020 - 2024
Humboldt Tipping
Social-Ecological Tipping Points of the Northern Humboldt Current Upwelling System
BMBF (German Ministry of Science and Education)
Funding period: 2019 - 2023
I/ITAPINA
Imagine Imaging the Atlantic - A pelagic imaging network approach
MESOAQUA
Mesocosm Facilities in Aquatic Ecosystems
EU
Funding period: 2009 - 2012
MicroArc
BMBF (German Ministry of Science and Education), WTZ Great Britain
Funding Period: 2018 - 2021
MicroZooImager
An integrated optical system for microzooplankton analysis
Ocean-artUp
Ocean Artificial Upwelling
European Research Council Advanced Grant
Funding period: 2017 - 2021
OceanNETs
Ocean-based negative emission technologies
EU
Funding period: 2020 - 2024
REEBUS
Role of Eddies in the Carbon Pump of Eastern Boundary Upwelling Systems - Demonstration Case Canary Current System (WP4)
BMBF (German Ministry of Science and Education)
Funding period: 2019 - 2021
RETAKE
Carbon Dioxide Removal by Alkalinity Enhancement: Potential, Benefits and Risks
BMBF (German Ministry of Science and Education)
Funding period: 2021 - 2024
SFB754
Climate Biogeochemistry Interactions in the Tropics
DFG (German Research Foundation)
Funding period: 2008 - 2020
SOPRAN
Surface Ocean Processes in the Anthropocene
BMBF (German Ministry of Science and Education)
Funding period: 2007 - 2015
The role of zooplankton in N-, P- and C- cycling and for the oxygen budget of tropical OMZs
ZoOMin at TENATSO
Zooplankton of the Oxygen Minimum Zone at the Tropical Eastern Atlantic Time-Series Observatory
Zooplankton and Nekton: Gatekeepers of the Biological Pump
(Frontiers Research Topic)
Zooplankton and Nekton: Gatekeepers of the Biological Pump - Volume 2
(Frontiers Research Topic)