Global warming and mass extinctions: What we can learn from plants from the last ice age
Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI)
Published: 30 January 2025
AWI researchers used ancient plant DNA from lake sediments in Alaska and Siberia to uncover how warming at the end of the last ice age changed biodiversity. Their findings reveal that climate-driven plant extinctions may echo into our future.
Keywords: warming, lake sediments, ecological interactions, cushion plants, woody plants, plant migration, long-term impacts
Ancient plant DNA reveals the possible origin of the carbon in the ocean
Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI)
Published: 3 February 2025
Using ancient plant DNA from Pacific sediment cores, AWI researchers traced the origins of land-based carbon in the ocean, revealing how plant inputs shifted during climate transitions and how oceans function as dynamic carbon sinks.
Keywords: vegetation history, land-sea interaction, shotgun sequencing, riparian forests, biosphere, ocean carbon cycle
Research vessel Polarstern visits Australia for the first time
Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI)
Published: 1 February 2024
Germany’s research icebreaker Polarstern visited Hobart, Tasmania for the first time in 40+ years of polar service, strengthening German-Australian cooperation in Antarctic climate research and launching new initiatives like the “Climate Talks.”
Keywords: sea ice loss, international cooperation, Climate Talks, Germany-Australia collaboration, EASI, Antarctica InSync, marine science.
