Day of Biodiversity attracted numerous nature enthusiasts to Hohenheim [27.06.23]
A close look at local biodiversity and how it could be promoted.
Prof. Lars Krogmann and Prof. Johannes Steidle open the Day of Biodiversity at the the University of Hohenheim (Photo: University of Hohenheim / Florian Gerlach).
On Saturday, June 17, 2023, at 1 pm, Prof. Johannes Steidle and Prof. Lars Krogmann - board members of the Center for Biodiversity and Integrative Taxonomy (KomBioTa) - officially opened the Day of Biodiversity on the campus of the University of Hohenheim in front of the Hohenheim Palace. This was the signal for the more than 40 participating scientists to use this day together with interested citizens to analyze the species richness, to provide insights into Hohenheim's species richness and to speak about interesting facts regarding flora and fauna, their endangerment as well as about existing concepts promoting biodiversity.
During the family tour with Prof. Georg Petschenka, even the youngest visitors gain insights into the diversity of insects (Photo: University of Hohenheim / Florian Gerlach).
Under the balcony of the Hohenheim Palace, the experts worked on microscopes and looked with interested guests at wasps, bees, spiders, beetles, cicadas and ants. Equipped with landing nets, magnifying glasses, spades, collecting bowls and exhausters, they went on mini excursions to discover creatures that they wanted to count for the ICA Biodiversity Challenge.
Guided tours starting every hour, gave everyone the opportunity to learn about plants, butterflies, dormice, and birds. The walk-through the taxonomic key of the Bunte Wiese Stuttgart as well as numerous specimens of the Landesnaturschutzverband Baden-Württemberg (LNV) and exhibition boards of the Landesforstverwaltung conveyed broad species knowledge about the richness of native plants and animals.
Prof. Christian Rabeling, Chair of Integrative Taxonomy of Insects since July 2022, shows the diversity in the realm of ants. (Photo: University of Hohenheim / Florian Gerlach).
Around 250 guests of all age groups visited the Hohenheim campus to learn about biodiversity. More than 70 species were recorded. Dr. Ann-Catrin Fender was satisfied with the day and the number of visitors. "I was enthusiastic about the interest from the public as well as the great activity of the scientists from the KomBioTa network and the volunteers. I would like to express my sincere thanks to all of the participants."
There are already discussions about whether there will be a next opportunity to organize a Day of Biodiversity in Hohenheim. But for now, another milestone is coming up: on June 30, the ICA Biodiversity Challenge will officially end, in which 17 universities from 13 European countries have been participating since May 22 in order to qualify for the title of "Europe's most species-rich campus". The University of Hohenheim1 is currently in the first place with 1545 recorded species, followed by SLU Sweden with 1579 species1.
Martin Rausch goes in search of butterflies together with interested people - with success. Here he demonstrates how to recognize the peacock butterfly, which can be observed quite often in Hohenheim (Photo: Astrid Untermann).
We are looking forward to see how the numbers will develop over the coming week.
So, it remains exciting!
Further information about the Day of Biodiversity on
1 26-6-2023, 1:30 pm
At dusk, Dr. Till Tolasch and Martin Sauter make a wide variety of insect species visible by insect glowing - a fascinating experience in a special atmosphere (Photo: Astrid Untermann).
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