Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry
| Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry | |
|---|---|
 MPI Biogeochemistry in Jena |
|
| Category: | research Institute |
| Carrier: | Max Planck Society |
| Legal form of the carrier: | Registered association |
| Seat of the wearer: | Munich |
| Facility location: | Jena |
| Type of research: | Basic research |
| Subjects: | Natural sciences |
| Areas of expertise: | Biogeochemistry |
| Basic funding: | Federal government (50%), states (50%) |
| Management: | Markus Reichstein (Managing Director) |
| Employee: | approx. 240 |
| Homepage: | www.bgc-jena.mpg.de |
The Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry is a research institute founded in 1997 in the field of Earth system research and is based in Jena . It is part of the Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science e. V.
The institute's program includes the planning and implementation of critical model experiments, the comparison between model and observation as well as the linking of paleodata and current findings. Accordingly, biologists, meteorologists, geoscientists, chemists, physicists and mathematicians work together on an interdisciplinary basis. Central facilities of the institute support the work of the scientific departments with the measurement of stable isotopes , 14 C analysis , chemical analysis, data processing and the organization of long-term field experiments.
Scientific objectives and organization
The institute defines the following scientific objectives:
- Quantification of the role of these interactions for the control of the earth's climate in a time of increasing anthropogenic influences
- Development of a quantitative and predictive understanding of the regulation of processes in ecosystems and their biogeochemical cycles under changing climatic conditions
- Investigation of the feedback mechanisms of the terrestrial earth's surface with its vegetation cover on the composition of the atmosphere.
The institute has three departments (as of April 2015)
- Biogeochemical Processes (Director: Susan Trumbore )
- Biogeochemical Systems (Director until March 2017: Martin Heimann, now Emeritus)
- Biogeochemical Integration (Director: Markus Reichstein)
The former head of department and founding director Ernst-Detlef Schulze conducts research as head of the emeritus group in the department of biogeochemical processes. Ernst-Detlef Schulze was awarded the German Environment Prize in 2006. Martin Heimann is the lead author of the progress reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which was awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. Susan Trumbore was elected to the National Academy of Science in 2010.
Questions
A central question that the institute deals with is how ecosystems and biogeochemical cycles react to changing conditions of the climate , land use and diversity . Different scientific disciplines are involved and a connection is established between modeling and observation as well as between theoretical and experimental research.
Changes in the concentration of trace gases caused by natural causes and occurring on very different time scales are superimposed with anthropogenic influences such as the use of fossil fuels , deforestation, agriculture and forestry, which release carbon dioxide and influence the earth's atmosphere and climate . Nitrogen and fresh water influence the "Earth system" in the same way.
Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry want to find out whether and to what extent nature can compensate for man-made disturbances, to what extent the entire earth system is moving into new quasi-stationary states and whether these will be suitable for human life. Likewise, the biogeochemical cycles with land use by humans and interventions in biodiversity , the biodiversity of the living environment and the functional structure of their ecosystems are examined.
For this purpose, targeted experiments are carried out to uncover functional relationships. In order to draw conclusions from the past about the adaptability of organisms in the future, paleoclimatological and paleoecological studies are also carried out.
Global biogeochemical cycles
Research into global biogeochemical cycles is about learning to understand an extremely complex overall system that is made up of numerous and different subsystems. These sub-systems are linked to one another via diverse interactions and thus influence one another.
Examples of such interrelationships are the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), methane (CH 4 ), laughing gas (N 2 O) and water vapor (H 2 O). Although these gases are only present in low concentrations in the air, they have a decisive influence on the earth's climate and the living conditions for all organisms living on it.
The concentration and distribution of these gases are controlled by biological, chemical and physical processes that take place in the terrestrial biosphere, in the oceans and in the atmosphere - and they are modified by both planetary and human influences. Changes in the earth's orbit around the sun and fluctuations in solar radiation led to the well-known ice ages.
International Max Planck Research School for global Biogeochemical Cycles
The International Max Planck Research School for Global Biogeochemical Cycles is a graduate school for the training of doctoral students in the field of global biogeochemical material cycles and related earth system sciences. The English-language doctoral program is run jointly by the MPI for Biogeochemistry and the Friedrich Schiller University Jena and offers a comprehensive training program, which also includes a research stay abroad lasting several months.
See also
literature
- Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry (Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry) , in: Eckart Henning , Marion Kazemi : Handbook on the history of the institute of the Kaiser Wilhelm / Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science 1911–2011 - data and sources , Berlin 2016, 2 volumes, volume 1: Institutes and research centers A – L ( online, PDF, 75 MB ), pages 225–232 (chronology of the institute).
Web links
- Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry
- Publications of the institute in the MPG eDoc server (bibliography)
- Homepage of the International Max Planck Research School for global Biogeochemical Cycles
Individual evidence
- ^ Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry: Departments
- ↑ Department of Biogeochemical Processes on bgc-jena.mpg.de
- ↑ Department Biogeochemical systems on bgc-jena.mpg.de
- ↑ Department Biogeochemical integration on bgc-jena.mpg.de
Coordinates: 50 ° 54 '36 " N , 11 ° 33' 59" E