Environment and Climate Research Hub

Biodiversity and Ecosystems

We want to understand and protect the diversity of life on Earth by studying ecosystems, species interactions, and the drivers of biodiversity loss.

Overview | News and Stories | Projects | Publications

Preserving biodiversity and ecosystems to ensure a common future

Our planet is exposed to severe anthropogenic pressures with profound impacts on the climate, global biogeochemical cycles, and ecosystems resulting in the reduction of natural habitats, loss of biodiversity, and critically altered environmental systems.

Within the focus area on biodiversity and ecosystems, our researchers develop a deeper understanding of these complex and interrelated environmental changes. To reach this goal, we are connecting expertise from all relevant areas—from natural to social scientists including specialists in environmental policy, law, and economics. This way, we are able to transcend disciplinary boundaries and develop integrated solutions to the pressing challenges posed by biodiversity loss.

Derek Mack / Unsplash

News and Stories

Biodiversity and Our Food's Future

ECHO Story
View of a big monoculture field with the sky full of clouds in the background
oticki | Adobe stock
Created by Nora Gau

Franz Essl, ECH member, ecologist and biodiversity researcher at the University of Vienna, discusses the EAT-Lancet Report with the ECH Editorial Team, focusing on how food systems contribute to biodiversity loss and climate change. He argues that protecting intact ecosystems is fundamental to long-term food security - and that only interdisciplinary research can address the complexity of global food system transformation.

When the lake turns salty: What Lake Vrana in Croatia reveals about Climate Change

Biodiversity and Ecosystems
Laka Vrana during Sunset.
Ana Tramont | adobe stock
Created by Lena Schmidlechner

Beneath the surface of Croatia’s largest natural lake, a silent transformation is underway. In a new study, researchers from the University of Vienna and the Ruđer Bošković Institute reveal that climate change is salinising Lake Vrana - threatening freshwater ecosystems and amplifying global climate risks. What looks like a holiday paradise may be a warning sign.

Projects

NEREIDES: Neutrally Buoyant Particles in the Deep Sea: Turnover, Origin and Global Impact on the Marine Carbon Cycle

Biodiversity and Ecosystems
Epifluorescence image of a bathypelagic neutrally buoyant detrital particle from 3390 m depth

Gerhard Herndl of the Department of Evolutionary Biology is leading the Project NEREIDES.

Export of organic matter produced in the sunlit surface waters into the ocean’s interior removes about one third of the anthropogenically produced carbon dioxide. The amount of organic matter sinking into the deep ocean, however, is not sufficient to support the carbon demand of the heterotrophic food web in the ocean’s interior as revealed by several studies.

MICROCLIM: A Micro-Scale Perspective on Alpine Floras Under Climate Change

Biodiversity and Ecosystems
Researchers on mountain
MICROCLIM

Stefan Dullinger from the Department of Botany and Biodiversity Research is leading the “MICROCLIM” project.

The diversity of organisms, one of the most striking features of life on Earth, is under threat, and climate change may become a major driver of the biodiversity crisis in the decades to come. However, climate effects on species will vary across ecosystems and regions.

MARCO-BOLO: MARine Coastal BiOdiversity Long-term Observations

Clean Environment
Marco-Bolo logo
MARCO-BOLO

Alice Vadrot at the Department of Political Science is leading the “MARCO-BOLO” project.

The MARCO-BOLO (MBO) project aims to structure and strengthen European coastal and marine biodiversity observation capabilities, linking them to global efforts to understand and restore ocean health, hence ensuring that outputs respond to explicit stakeholder needs from policy, planning and industry.

Publications

Reset

2026

Lu, Y., Eisenhauer, N., Patoine, G., Chen, Y., Heintz-Buschart, A., Küsel, K., Wegner, C. E., Buscot, F., Liu, X., Araujo, A. S. F., Frey, B., Maestre, F. T., Vadeboncoeur, M., van den Brink, L., Ponette, Q., Didion, M., Wohlfahrt, G., Gaxiola, A., Branquinho, C., ... Guerra, C. A. (2026). Landscape effects on global soil pathogenic fungal diversity across spatial scales. Nature Communications, 17(1), Article 1164. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-67929-5

Vallicrosa, H., Mariotte, P., Hagedorn, F., Fuchslueger, L., Martins, N., Milano, A., & Grossiord, C. (2026). Drought and warming enhance the risk of nitrogen losses in intensively managed grasslands. Plant and soil. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-026-08471-1

Baur, P. A., Steiner, G. M., & Glatzel, S. (2026). Climate-change-induced degradation of mires in Eastern Alps: A comprehensive resampling study of 200 mires after 35 years. EGU26-4006. EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria. https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-4006

Boodoo, K., Fasching, C., Chifflard, P., Feld-Golinsk, A., & Foroushani, M. (2026). Extraction method shapes soil water-soluble organic matter composition as revealed by absorbance, fluorescence, and parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC). Scientific Reports (Nature Publisher Group), 16, Article 8488. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-41455-w

Busschaert, M., Schagerl, M., Griebler, C., Vermeire, F. H., & Waldherr, S. (2026). Inferring cell division kinetics in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii from flow cytometry with Gaussian process regression. Bioresource Technology, 443, Article 133835. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2025.133835

Hansen, P. M., Zhang, Y., Guseva, K., Kaiser, C., & Francesca Cotrufo, M. (2026). Microbial community regulation of extracellular enzyme production can mediate patterns of particulate and mineral-associated organic matter accumulation in undersaturated soils. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 214, 1-12. Article 110056. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2025.110056

Lemmens, M., Teickner, H., Lamentowicz, M., Thomas, C. L., Glatzel, S., Gałka, M., Draga, M., & Knorr, K. H. (2026). Multi-proxy high-resolution geochemical analysis reveals ecological baselines and evaluates potential restoration trajectories in European ombrotrophic peatlands. Ecological Indicators, 183, Article 114648. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2026.114648

Feuerstein, M. L., Hossain, M. Z., Kyei, N. N. A., Gabrysch, S., & Warth, B. (2026). Next-generation biomonitoring in a cohort of pregnant women from rural Bangladesh. Environment International, 208, Article 110029. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2025.110029

Chen, S., Xie, Z. X., Yan, K. Q., Chen, J. W., Kong, L. F., Li, D. X., Wu, P. F., Peng, L., Lin, L., Zhao, Z., Fan, G. Y., Liu, S. Q., Herndl, G. J., & Wang, D. Z. (2026). Integrated meta-omics reveals organic matter processing by bacteria in the dark ocean. Innovation Geoscience, 4(1), Article 100184. https://doi.org/10.59717/j.xinn-geo.2026.100184

Ye, H., Šlipogor, V., Hanson, B. T., Séneca, J., Hausmann, B., Herbold, C. W., Pjevac, P., Bugnyar, T., & Loy, A. (2026). Associations between gut microbiota and personality traits: insights from a captive common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus) colony. Microbiology Spectrum, 14(1), Article e00443-25. https://doi.org/10.1128/spectrum.00443-25

1 - 10 out of 924

Stay up to date!

Our research newsletter ‘ECHO’ provides you with the latest and most exciting information from the fields of environmental and climate research.

Logo des Forschungsverbunds Umwelt und Klima
Environment and Climate Research Hub
Subscribe now
Green banner with an illustrated envelope and letter on the right
Environment and Climate Research Hub