Marine Ecosystem Dynamics and Management

Dr Helena Herr is currently leading a cruise on the RV MARIA S. MERIAN to the Antarctic.
For the first time, she will be tagging fin whales with satellite transmitters to reveal their seasonal migrations from summer feeding grounds to mating and calving grounds. Follow this link for more details.

What is the best way for students to learn to explore the sea? On board a research vessel! Students from the University of Bremen and the Hamburg MARSYS program joined the expedition on the research vessel Meteor. The cruise started in Las Palmas, Spain, in January and ended in Walvis Bay, Namibia.

To familiarise the students with current marine research methods, they were involved in all aspects of an ongoing project (AtlanTIC). They learned how data and samples are collected at sea and how the results are processed, analysed and interpreted. The students worked in small groups on physical oceanography, phytoplankton production and biodiversity, micro- and mesozooplankton biodiversity, macrozooplankton and mesopelagic fish, seabird and marine mammal observations. They produced reports, gave talks and produced videos of their work. These activities were accompanied by lectures and seminars given by the lecturers. In this way, the research vessel Meteor almost became a floating university.

As part of balt_ADAPT, a study on the topic of tourism & small-scale coastal fishing will start on July 29, 2022.

For this purpose, Dr. Nicole Smialek from the IMF of the University of Hamburg and Dr. Heike Schwermer from the Center for Ocean and Society in Kiel will visit various ports in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (Greifswald & Boltenhagen) and Schleswig-Holstein (Eckernförde & Heiligenhafen).

In order to record people's perception of small-scale coastal fishing, at least 40 tourists per day will be asked to sort 27 cards with statements about small-scale coastal fishing according to their personal opinion on the "Q-board".

The results of the study are expected to be published in the fall of 2022.

Dr. Helena Herr demonstrates recovery of fin whale stocks in Antarctica for the first time !

Fin whales were nearly exterminated in the Antarctic by industrial whaling.
Now, a research team led by Dr. Helena Herr from Prof. Dr. Christian Möllmann's Marine Ecosystem Dynamics and Management Unit at the Institute of Marine Ecosystem and Fisheries Sciences (IMF) at the University of Hamburg has been able to systematically show for the first time that the stocks are recovering. The results were published in the journal Scientific Reports.

Original publication including footage:

Herr, Helena; Viquerat, Sacha; Devas, Fredi; Lees, Abigail; Wells, Lucy; Gregory, Bertie; Giffords, Ted; Beecham, Dan; Meyer, Bettina (2022): Return of large fin whale feeding aggregations to historical whaling grounds in the Southern Ocean. Scientific Reports. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-13798-7

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-01910-w

More Informations:

Interview mit Dr. Herr (in german)

High resolution images

PhD thesis in cooperation between University of Hamburg and Thünen Institute of Baltic Sea Fisheries wins prize of Baltic Sea Research Foundation 2021

On August 10, 2021, the dissertation of Dr. Steffen Funk from the Institute of Marine Ecosystem and Fishery Sciences was awarded the prize of the Baltic Sea Research Foundation. Unfortunately, a public award ceremony had to be omitted this year due to the pandemic.

In his work, which was the result of a cooperation between the University of Hamburg and the Thünen Institute of Baltic Sea Fisheries, junior scientist Dr. Steffen Funk took a closer look at the spatial distribution of cod in the western Baltic Sea, their diet and growth. To this end, a transdisciplinary approach used the ecological knowledge of local set net fishermen from Schleswig-Holstein to reveal seasonal distribution patterns of cod in the western Baltic Sea as well as their seasonal habitat preferences.  (more info)

https://www.deutsches-meeresmuseum.de/forschungsstiftung-ostsee/unsere-foerderung

https://www.thuenen.de/de/of/