Biodiversity

Scientists from 48 countries initiated the “European Reference Genome Atlas” at the start of 2021. Within this project, around 600 researchers aim to decode the genetic repertoire of all species of the continent by generating reference genomes for the roughly 200,000 eukaryotic species. The hope is to strengthen the foundations for conservation of biodiversity.

Most trees live in symbiosis with fungi. ETH Zurich researchers show just how important this partnership is for tree growth through the first-ever comprehensive data analysis compiled for European forests on a massive scale.

It makes sense to study land and water habitats together, according to the initial findings of the Blue-Green Biodiversity initiative.

Researchers from 90 scientific institutions worldwide have stated that freshwater biodiversity research and conservation lag far behind the efforts carried out in terrestrial and marine environments. In a new publication in Ecology Letters, they propose a research agenda with 15 priorities aimed at improving research on biodiversity in lakes, rivers, ponds and wetlands. This is urgently needed, as biodiversity loss is taking place much faster in inland waters than on land or in the oceans.

Eawag intends to further develop artificial intelligence methods to enable their increasing use in water research. One current application is the monitoring of plankton communities in lakes. With the help of machine learning methods, it has been possible to implement an automatic classification of the microorganisms.   

Researchers Christoph Vorburger and Florian Altermatt talk about the importance and state of aquatic biodiversity in Switzerland and Eawag’s commitment to conserving natural biodiversity.