After facing each other in last year’s quarter-finals, this year’s team consisted not only of GCE alumni and spectators, but also members of the Bayreuth-based elite study programme ‘Scientific Computing’. Thanks to Vroni, they were able to organise and design a beautiful set of jerseys. All in all, there were around 20 of us.

Building on last year’s positive performance, we practised a few times beforehand with the clear aim of forming a team, devising a tactical game plan and, of course, practising penalties. As with last year, we finalised our tactical adjustments on the train to Munich. On 14 June, we were blessed with a sunny day, hinting at a warm summer to come.

Our tournament began with two consecutive games, which constituted our entire group phase. Each game lasted 15 minutes and was played with six players and a goalkeeper. We had a rough start to the first game, as we didn’t have a proper warm-up and were up against a very physical team consisting mainly of grown men. We ended up losing 2–0, which was disappointing.

With little time to adjust our game plan, we faced our next opponents. Once again, we really struggled to find our rhythm, but we managed to win 1–0 thanks to a penalty scored by Mateo and won by JC. Although we had reached our target of advancing to the quarter-finals, we were disappointed with our performance. After this short but intense playing session, we had a longer break which included lunch.

After the lunch break, we played our quarter-final. Within the first three minutes, we managed to take the lead thanks to another penalty, which was both drawn and scored by Mateo. After that, it was a hard-fought match, but this time we were able to fight back, with our defence mainly occupied with defending against the opponent’s top striker. At the same time, we kept pushing and, with a beautiful long shot, we scored our second goal. In the final minutes, we focused on not conceding any goals. Ultimately, we limited our opponents to one shot on goal, and we were pleased with both the result and our mentality on the pitch. This was the first time we felt like we were in the tournament.

We reached the stage where we lost last year: the semi-finals. During the semi-final, our opponents put us under a lot of pressure and we were unable to make any offensive moves. Nevertheless, we tried to hold on to the 0–0 draw, bearing in mind that we had practised penalties beforehand. However, with a beautiful move and literally in the last second, our opponents scored, sending us to the lower bracket.

This was a blow for all of us, and we only faced our next opponent after a short break. We ended up losing 3:1. Our goal was scored beautifully following a long throw-in by Vroni. By this point, we had already exceeded the expected tournament time, and we were exhausted from spending hours in the bright sun. This is why we were all kind of happy to be out of the tournament, knowing that we had a long train ride ahead of us. On the other hand, there was also a sense of having missed an opportunity. In the end, we all had a nice day in Munich, and we arrived in Bayreuth at around 9 pm, which was fine too.

We hope to continue joining forces with the Scientific Computing Programme next year. With some minor adjustments and some of our missing players joining, we are confident that we can still dream of winning the ENB Cup.

The post ENB-Cup in München 2025 appeared first on Global Change Ecology.

This year’s team consist out of around 15 alumni, spectators and current GCEs, equipped with a brand-new set of jerseys provided by the sports faculty. To prevent a repetition of the of the mediocre performances of the last years, we committed ourselves to hold a few practices beforehand. Nevertheless, the last tactical directions were given during the train ride. We arrived at the University of Regensburg without much trouble and were blessed by a beautiful sunny day.

This was accompanied by a pitch in splendid condition, which is no comparison for the Wilde-Liga pitches we were practicing on. Moreover, there was a sufficient supply of drinks, food and snacks. Everything was set to show our skills and surprise the competition which travelled from all over Bavaria to Regensburg. The tournament started with a group phase, followed by knockout rounds. Each game lasted 15 Minutes and was played 6 vs. 6 (+goalie).

After starting nervous, we were able to take control of the first game. The only thig which we weren’t able to do was scoring a goal, so we ended up being a draw. Because our second opponent didn’t show up, we already advanced to the quarter finals, without having scored a single goal. This shouldn’t be changed in our next game, which was mainly played between the boxes. Unfortunately, we conceded a goal just before the end of the match.

After the lunch break, we actually faced another team of the University of Bayreuth the scientific computing program. As in previous games our defence was solid, but just couldn’t make use of our chance in offence. This was changed roughly 3 minutes before the end, with Mateo scoring an artistic goal (see picture). The goal seemed to wake up our opponents, who now attacked us with the mute of despair, but the GCE defence once again was standing strong, and we manged take home the win and advance to the semi-finals.

Even though our mood was great, we also started to feel exhausted from the previous games. Moreover, since there weren’t many teams left, we had little to no break before having to play our semi-final. Right around mid-game our opponents went up front. But if anyone thought that would be it, it wasn’t. Quickly after being behind Mateo scored a beautiful equalizer. From that point onwards the match was much more spectacular, since both of the teams weren’t able to prevent passing mistakes, leading to good chances at both sides, with an optical advantage on the GCE side. After the extra time of 5 minutes not only the game ended with a draw, but we also ran out of energy. Since there was a winner to be determined, there was a penalty shoot-out, which we unfortunately lost.

It was just as all of us were pleased with the performance and would gladly make our way home, as we realized we also had to play the next match for the third place. Hereby we couldn’t offer much of a fight and lost the game 2:0 and were finally able to get home. We proudly reached Bayreuth at 8pm and with this much later then expected. We hope that we can built up on that performance in the next year.

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Since surprisingly many of us were on time we started at 8 am to drive southwest out of Bayreuth. Equipped with maps, information sheets and nice land use and biodiversity maps, we looked forward to our first stop, the fossil excavation site in Mistelgau.

Fossils in Mistelgau

A place that is worldwide famous for a huge amount of fossil findings, up to complete skeletons of dinosaurs. Famous worldwide… except in Bayreuth and the surrounding area, as Prof. Köllner explained to us. After some detailed explanations from a local guide and “fossil-searcher” (in the original Franconian language) we got to roam around by ourselves and discover some beautiful bits and pieces from 200 million years ago. Unimaginable that Upper Franconia was a shallow, warm, and tropical sea with dinosaurs roaming around! Since we couldn’t stay the whole day (even though some of us would have loved to) we continued our bus ride.

A scenic view

The next spot was less muddy and more scenic. On top of the Görauer Anger, we could see Kulmbach with the Plassenburg, the Fichtel Mountains and the Franconian Switzerland on one side and lovely pastures, forests, and small villages on the other. A perfect place to explain different types of land uses, Ecosystem Services and how Climate Change might affect the agricultural areas and natural biotopes in our regions. With fantastic pictures of future Upper Franconia as a Mongolian-like savannah in our minds, we enjoyed our lunch break in the sun before we continued our journey.

Bamberg: Natural History Museum and Cathedral

As for every good trip, we were behind schedule, and after our bus drivers overcame a roadblock and kilometres of winding serpentines, we got closer to Bamberg, our destination. We all wished ourselves back into nature when we saw the traffic in the city. After at least another 40 minutes, we arrived at the Natural History Museum in Bamberg. The museum had a dusty, but nonetheless retro-romantic atmosphere with glimmering crystals, fossils that looked like they swam around yesterday and the highlight: the rebuilt bird chamber of some nobleman from the 19^th century who collected hundreds of birds around the world. Even though most of us had mixed feelings, facing all these stuffed animals, not few of them threatened with extinction or already extinct and acquired in suspicious trades, it was fascinating to see the diversity and colourfulness of our planet’s (bird) species. In the museum, we could continue to groom our team spirit, since everything was in German and the German students had to translate for the internationals.

After the museum visit, we strolled around the beautiful inner city of Bamberg. It is a UNESCO world heritage site and Professor Köllner provided us with interesting facts and comments about the city’s history and its significance since the Middle Ages. We also visited the Bamberg Cathedral, which houses the mysterious horseman of Bamberg, whose identity remains shrouded in history.

After a full and fun day, we walked back to our bus (after buying smoked beer and ice cream on the way) and travelled back to good old Bayreuth, where we arrived at 6 pm.

It was a great and informative day, and we all want to say thank you to Sylvia Sprödhuber and Prof. Köllner for organizing it and giving us the opportunity to explore the region where we will spend the next years and to get to know each other in a fun way!

The post GCE Excursion to Bamberg 2023 appeared first on Global Change Ecology.

We look forward to receiving your applications!

Application deadline: 15th June 2023!
Learn more clicking here.

Starting date: October 2023
Location: Bayreuth, Germany

The post OPEN FOR APPLICATIONS: M.Sc. Global Change Ecology appeared first on Global Change Ecology.

We look forward to receiving your applications!

Application deadline: 15 June, 2022!
Learn more clicking here.

Starting date: October 2022
Location: Bayreuth, Germany

The post CALL FOR APPLICATIONS for the M.Sc. Global Change Ecology appeared first on Global Change Ecology.

Why are expectations so high?  

Since Paris, Glasgow is the first conference at which countries must present their updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), which should include more ambitious emission reductions. So far, only 122 countries have submitted new NDCs. And even with those fresh commitments, the emission gap to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 stays worryingly large. This means that current commitments are not enough to limit global warming to 1.5°C, as agreed upon in Paris six years ago. To date, 46 countries have not submitted any NDCs at all.  

Many deem COP26 as the very last chance to finally get on track for the big goal of reaching net-zero by 2050. An utterly important milestone to reach this goal is the achievement of a 50% emission reduction until 2030. As the year draws to a close, 2030 is only 9 years away! This is not much time for the vast and systemic changes that must happen.  

Time is running out – this is the main reason COP26 must deliver.  

The Presidency of this year’s COP has identified four main goals which have to be achieved:  

1. This goal sets the scene: As already explained, securing net-zero by 2050 is existential to keeping global warming to 1.5°C and thus of utmost importance. 

2. Mobilising finance: The second most important and probably hottest discussed topic at this year’s conference will be finance. In Copenhagen 2009, wealthy countries committed to providing $100 bn annually from 2020 to 2025 in order to help developing countries finance mitigation and adaptation measures. Countries have fallen short of achieving this goal in 2020. Analyses show that global climate finance flows even need to increase substantially in the coming years.  

3. Adaptation and loss and damage are high on the agenda at this year’s conference. As mitigating climate change will not prevent extreme weather events and long-lasting changes in the earth system from happening, countries and communities need to adapt to the new normal, which will likely be an at least 1.5°C warmer world. Additionally, delegates want to find ways to better support communities, which are so severely affected that adaptation is not enough anymore. This falls under the umbrella of loss and damage, where finally meaningful improvements need to be seen. 

4. All stakeholders, including governments, businesses and the civil society must collaborate and work on solutions together in order to let action follow the promises and tackle the challenge lying ahead. Cooperation is key and indispensable. 

Thanks to our study programme’s support, a group of Global Change Ecology students was selected to participate in this year’s COP. We want to thank our coordination, especially Stephanie Thomas, and our head of course, Carl Beierkuhnlein, for providing this incredible opportunity.  

We will try to share as much of our experiences as possible with you, by posting on our Twitter and Instagram accounts and by publishing more extensive insights here on the GCE blog.  

Feel free to reach out to us in case of any enquiries or questions.  

Week 1 attendees: Kelly Heroux, Christoffer Johansson, Theresa Landwehr, Theresia Romann, Katja Scharrer, Selina Scheer, Sandra Schira, Steffen Schwardmann, Marco Thalhofer, Yun-Yun Tsai, Hannah Weishäupl, Carolin Wicke 

Week 2 attendees: Pia Bradler, Alexis Case, Hannah Pepe, Diana Miriam Pineda Fernández, Veronika Schlosser, Éverton Souza da Silva, Eva Späte, Gabriela Vielma, Ana Letitia Vital, Elena Wiese, Manuela Zindler 

The post Global Change Ecology at COP26 appeared first on Global Change Ecology.

When the excursion started at 8am on Friday morning, we drove off into the fog. By the time we reached our first stop – a volcano named “Rauher Kulm” in Neustadt am Kulm – the fog still hadn’t cleared. Nevertheless, we walked up the volcano and climbed the look-out tower. Apparently, the view from up there is usually great, but we had to use our imagination to see the surrounding Fichtelgebirge behind the wall of white fog. In spite of that, it was an interesting stop, as we learned about the geology of the basalt mountain, which has never erupted, and the surrounding vegetation.

The next stop was an information center at a former extra-deep drilling borehole. Here the continental deep drilling program of Germany (KTB) was conducted. The aim of this research program was to analyze the continental earth crust at this location. The researchers wanted to drill down to a depth of 10 km, but in the end they were only able to reach a depth of 9.1 km. The main drilling was conducted from 1990 to 1994. Nowadays the location serves as an information center about the drilling, general geology, and earth system processes. We watched a short movie and visited the exhibition on the earth system at the information center.

Following in the footsteps of Goethe and Alexander von Humboldt, we visited the “Felsenlabyrinth Luisenburg” in the Fichtelgebirge. The boulder field of granite stones has developed over long time spans through weathering and erosion processes. In German the particular form of weathering, through which the well-rounded giant boulders developed, is called Wollsackverwitterung (English: spherical weathering/onion skin weathering).

We climbed up steep steps and hiked through narrow gaps in the rocks. By now the fog had cleared and the sun was shining, so we had a great view from the top. On our hike through the rock labyrinth, we found a fascinating species: the luminescent moss (Schistostega pennata), which grows in cracks and between rocks.

Before heading back to Bayreuth, we had the opportunity to visit an old farmhouse (currently a museum), where we could see how people used to life in this region. Although it was unfortunate that the museum was already closed by the time we arrived, we could still have a look at the traditional herbs and the vegetable garden present there.

The excursion gave a nice teaser of what Bayreuth’s surroundings have to offer and provided a good chance to catch up with friends and meet new students. All in all, it was a great start to the new semester!

The post GCE students explore the Fichtelgebirge appeared first on Global Change Ecology.

We traveled through time as we made our way from Bayreuth through the Black Jurassic, Brown Jurassic and White Jurassic to Bamberg. Our first stop was a quarry in Mistelgau, where we searched for fossils. We mainly found Belemnites, which are abundant in this quarry as it is also called “Belemnitenschlachtfeld”. From the quarry, which represented the Black Jurassic, we drove through the Brown Jurassic and made our next stop in the White Jurassic. Here we visited a cave – the Ludwigshöhle – where Prof. Beierkuhnlein told us more about the geology of the area.

The drive through the Fränkische Schweiz was accompanied by remarks of Prof. Beierkuhnlein explaining to us village names and showing us the best place for a pre-New year’s celebration. The last stop before Bamberg was the stone garden of Sanspareil. After a stroll through the rock formations, we got asked to perform something on the stage of the ruin-theater, which turned into a short Samba dance lesson for this year’s Summer Fête. It was a great time together, where everyone could enjoy themselves. The entire excursion and especially those funny group activities showed that, despite the pandemic and all the restrictions, our cohort managed to become a tide-knitted group already.

In Bamberg we had a little free time, which most of us used to get an ice cream and enjoy the sun while strolling through the beautiful city. The sightseeing went on with a walk through the rose garden and a visit of the dome. Last, but not least, we went to the Natural History Museum of Bamberg. Just like for most the other places of our tour we only had limited time, making it more of a teaser to motivate us to come back by ourselves and explore more of the museum another time. Personally, I was most impressed by the fossils. After having searched for some of them ourselves in the morning, it was astonishing to see what great (both in size and detail) fossils have been found by scientists in the surroundings.

There is nothing like a good German beer to end a great day.  So we stopped by a famous pub to try the typical Bamberger Rauchbier. While opinions on this beer varied, everyone enjoyed the excursion, spending a day with friends, and away from our computers!

The post GCE Excursion to Bamberg appeared first on Global Change Ecology.

The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) is an independent intergovernmental organization that was established in 2012. Its purpose is to “strengthen the science-policy interface for biodiversity and ecosystem services for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, long-term human well-being and sustainable development” [1]. The work of IPBES comprises giving policy support, building capacity and knowledge, developing and writing assessments and outreach. Governments as well as expert scientists are involved in this work.

The IPBES-8 Plenary, which was held online from the 14^th to the 24^th of June 2021, began with opening remarks from the IPBES chair, secretary, and regional groups, followed by an inspiring video on the achievements of IPBES since the last plenary in 2019. The opening video, which is embedded below, emphasized the great impact of the Global Assessment report, which launched at IPBES-7 in 2019. Organizers also highlighted the IPBES Workshop Report on Biodiversity and Pandemics, as well as the newly released IPBES – IPCC Workshop Report on Biodiversity and Climate Change. These two workshop reports show the importance of the work of IPBES in the most relevant context: Now, while we face the ongoing pandemic, but also as we grapple with continuing anthropogenic climate change.  

The main aim of IPBES-8 was to finalize and adopt two scoping reports. One on a “thematic assessment of the interlinkages among biodiversity, water, food and health” [2] and the other on a “thematic assessment of the underlaying causes of biodiversity loss and the determinants of transformative change and options for achieving the 2050 Vision for Biodiversity” [2].  Over the course of the conference, the collaboration of IPBES with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) for work on the interlinkages between biodiversity and climate change was also discussed. GCE students had the opportunity to observe not only the plenary, but also working group sessions, where the scoping report drafts were discussed in detail. It was particularly interesting for students to see such a process happening, after learning about how these negotiations work theoretically in previous seminars offered by the GCE study program.

An important point on the agenda included the determination of venues for future plenary sessions. As worthwhile as it was to listen in to these negotiations online, hopefully GCE students can travel to the next IPBES plenary in person again! 

References:

[1] About IPBES, available under https://ipbes.net/about  

[2] IPBES/8/1* Provisional agenda, available under https://www.ipbes.net/event/ipbes-8-plenary

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In 2017, MSc GCE students felt an absence of a centralized hub through which the GCE family could stay connected. This inspired students to propose beginning an alumni association. Through the support of GCE coordination, students, and many others, Friends of GCE, or FroG, was established. The primary motivation of FroG is to serve as a centralized networking platform through which the GCE family can stay connected, especially considering the international nature of current students, alumni, associates of the study program and the program itself!

According to two current FroG representatives, formally certifying FroG was an unexpectedly long process involving paperwork and legal guidance. The statues of the organization had to be outlined in advance as well as a clear statement of the requirements and roles of FroG. In 2018, the effort paid off and FroG was officially certified as an organization. Immediately outreach initiatives were planned as was drafting membership options for the GCE family’s involvement.

Board Elections

In November 2020, FroG hosted its annual members meeting during which new board members were elected. All positions were open for re-election including chair, vice-chair, secretary, and treasurer. In 2021, this new leadership team, among other things, aims to host online “fireside” networking events to connect alumni and students, work with the coordination to further advance email and LinkedIn pages for GCE alumni, continue to support the Klimawald Bayreuth initiative, and, depending on the situation with Corona, host an excellent conference at the Summer Fete.

Other long term  goals of FroG include serving as a liaison between the GCE Student Board and alumni in order to connect current and past students. This would support another of FroG’s long-term goals, which is to include mentorship programs within the GCE family, host a FroG conference for members to present their work and exchange ideas, and to build financial support for hosting additional programs.

If you are interested in learning more or getting involved with FroG, please check out their website here (http://www.bayceer.uni-bayreuth.de/friends-of-gce/) or contact them at friends-of-gce@uni-bayreuth.de.

Thank you to FroG representative Kiely Doherty for their support in writing this article!

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