Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research

Sample size shapes metabarcoding-driven biodiversity assessments across body sizes in soil

Understanding how sample size influences biodiversity detection across taxonomic groups differing in body size is critical for designing robust and cost-efficient metabarcoding studies of soil eukaryotes. Using a soil mass gradient (0.25-32 g) combined with a universal 18S rRNA m...

OurMED D6.3 GoAigua Digital Twins Tool at the Farm, Basin and MED Scale. Version 1.2

This deliverable, D6.3 GoAigua Digital Twins Tool at the plot, basin and MED scale, presents the development and integration of the OurMED Digital Twin framework implemented within WP6 - Digital Twins and Decision Support Systems. The framework combines EO products, in situ obser...

Grassland destruction causes shifts in plant traits that persist during recovery

Old-growth grasslands assemble over millennia and support high biodiversity and many ecosystem services, but continue to undergo widespread destruction for production of crops, timber, and minerals. How biodiversity recovers after grassland destruction and the functional conseque...

Cost-effectiveness of centralized versus decentralized decision-making in agri-environment schemes for biodiversity conservation: Insights from an ecological-economic model

The cost-effectiveness of agri-environment schemes (AES) depends, among other things, on spatial dimensions. Extensive research has been conducted on how to incentivize habitat connectedness, but far less attention has been given to how the spatial level of decision-making affect...

Nanoplastic detection and quantification in high-altitude glacial snow samples from Italy, Switzerland and France

Abstract Plastic pollution is an ever-growing concern around the globe, with current research portraying the presence of contaminants even in previously pristine regions. Especially small particles, micro- and nanoplastics, can be dispersed over long stretches by atmospheric tran...

Establishment of an in vitro aerobic bacterial community as a model of the human lung microbiome

ABSTRACT The human lung microbiome is increasingly recognized as a key player in drug metabolism, yet it remains largely understudied. To replicate this complex physiological environment in a controlled setting, we developed a simplified artificial lung microbiome model composed...