The Biodiversity Exploratories is an open, long-term, and interdisciplinary research program funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) as an infrastructure priority program (SPP 1374) and aims to investigate how biodiversity relates to land use.
Three large-scale research landscapes, so-called Exploratories, were selected for the research platform: the Schwäbische Alb, the Hainich-Dün region, and the Schorfheide-Chorin biosphere reserve.
For each new research phase (every three years), scientists apply to the DFG with new research projects to investigate their research questions within the Biodiversity Exploratories. An average of 250-300 members from around 40-50 institutions are involved per phase.
Together, they seek to answer the following key questions:
- How do different forms and intensities of land use affect biodiversity and ecosystem processes?
- How do different components of biodiversity interact?
- How do the different components of biodiversity influence the processes and services provided by ecosystems?
Further information can be found on the project website: https://www.biodiversity-exploratories.de/
Data from the project can be found via the BExIS repository: https://www.bexis.uni-jena.de/