Books from employees

The Comoros Archipelago is a true natural paradise full of unique
species and ecosystems with new species discovered and described
regularly. Unlike many similar tropical oceanic islands, this hotspot
of biological diversity remains virtually unknown to the global
community. A group of three biologists, we had the privilege of studying the
islands as our private 'playground' of natural history ... [ more ]

In the sandy bottom of the beach and the seas lives a fascinating community of small animals, the meiofauna. The animals, one or a few tenths of a millimeter long, move in the gap system between the grains of sand. Representatives of almost all animal phyla are present here, sometimes the animals are so adapted to their habitat that they differ greatly from their relatives living elsewhere ... [ more ]

In his analysis, which is as comprehensive as it is oppressive, the renowned evolutionary biologist Matthias Glaubrecht sees a worldwide biological tragedy approaching us with the looming mass extinction, the greatest species loss since the extinction of the dinosaurs. Humans have thus mutated into the greatest predator and the decisive evolutionary factor today, endangering the existence of all living beings - including their own ... [ more ]

This volume of the Handbook of Zoology summarizes "small" groups of animals across the animal kingdom. Dicyemida and Orthonectida are enigmatic parasites, formerly united as "Mesozoa" and their position among the multicellular animals is still not known with certainty. Placozoa are small, flat marine animals which provide important information on metazoan evolution. Comb jellies (Ctenophora) are esthetically fascinating animals which cause considerable discussion about their phylogenetic position ...
[ more ]

Mountains and rainforests, caves and tropical heat: In the region of the partially protected Matang Mountains, flora and fauna are particularly rich and diverse. The area belongs to the state of Sarawak, Malaysia. Professor Dr. Alexander Haas, head of the Department of Herpetology, has published a new compact guide to the amphibian fauna found there in a collaboration with researchers from the universities in Kuching (Malaysia) and Brunei Darussalam and the Natural History Museum in Bern ... [ more ]

La Corona lava tube is one of the most remarkable anchialine caves in the world. During the last 125 years, more than 50 scientists have investigated this cave, producing numerous technical publications about its geology, fauna, and ecology, mainly accessible for the scientific community. Intensive studies began in 1973 by scientists of the Zoological Museum Hamburg. This book is intended to merge the past 125 years of scientific research into a single synopsis, accessible and understandable to all ... [ more ]

The consequences of the Peaceful Revolution of 1989/90 had a serious impact on all national institutions in the GDR. After a certain period of a state of emergency, museums also had to reestablish their functions and normalize and stabilize as organizations. The study examines how the Deutsches Hygiene-Museum Dresden and the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin changed institutionally and conceptually after 1989/90 and what effects the political changes had on the activities of the museums. ... [ more ]

Published in early March 2016, the book highlights the exploration of the Neotropical region from a herpetological perspective. After the discovery of America, important naturalists and travelers brought back mostly unknown and exotic animals from this region, which includes Central and South America. This material was an important basis for the study of biodiversity and evolutionary research. These animals are for the most part still present in museum collections today. The South American part in the herpetological collection  ... [ more ]

The compiled research reports in the book, published in 2010, consider many of the aspects within the broad spectrum of current approaches in the field of evolutionary research. The book aims to bring together the latest findings and results of research projects and studies carried out under a priority program of the German Research Foundation (DFG) between 2002 and 2008. The book provides insight into the work, approaches and scientific ... [ more ]

This book brings together various disciplines involved in observing bird species come into existence, modify, and vanish. It is a rich resource for bird enthusiasts who want to understand various processes at the cutting edge of current research in more detail. At the same time it offers students the opportunity to see primarily unconnected, but booming big-data approaches such as genomics and biogeography meet in a topic of broad interest. Lastly, the book enables conservationists to better understand the uncertainties surrounding “species” as entities of protection. [more]

This book provides fascinating insights into the development and genetics of evolutionary processes on the basis of animals living in the dark, such as the Astyanax cave fish. Biologically functionless traits show high variability, which results from neutral deleterious mutations no longer being eliminated by natural selection, which normally acts to preserve functional capability. These negative mutations accumulate until the traits they are responsible for become rudimentary or even lost. The random genetic basis of regressive evolution is in accordance with ... [ more ]

The nervous system is one of the most fascinating organ systems because it is closely linked to movement, behavior and thinking. Andreas Schmidt-Rhaesa from the Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change (LIB) and his colleagues Steffen Harzsch from the University of Greifswald and Günter Purschke from the University of Osnabrück have now published a book of almost 750 pages that provides an up-to-date overview of the structure and evolution of the nervous system in invertebrates ("Structure and Evolution of Invertebrate Nervous Systems", published by Oxford University Press). ... [ more ]

The ruffe, gudgeon and bitterling are just a few of the fish species that are native to the waters of Hamburg's urban area. Prof. Dr. Ralf Thiel and Renate Thiel of the Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change (LIB) were commissioned by the Hamburg Department of Urban Development and the Environment (BSU) to analyze the status of their populations, what endangers them and how they can best be protected. In addition, available data from more than 100 years were included ... [ more ]

There is much to suggest that the impact of a gigantic meteorite at the end of the Cretaceous period triggered the geological catastrophe that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs, among others. If something like that happened in the geological past of the earth, then it can also occur in the future. Meteorites are also the oldest rocks on earth. They still carry "memories", so to speak, of the time when the solar system was formed. From them physical and chemical parameters of the solar nebula and the early earth can be read out ... [ more ]

Inspired and encouraged by Alexander von Humboldt, who had not traveled to Brazil himself, the ethnologist, zoologist and naturalist Prinz zu Wied-Neuwied reached Rio de Janeiro in July 1815 - in order to travel from the Brazilian capital at that time "the still completely unknown or rather not yet described east coast" to the more northerly São Salvador de Bahia within two years; The expedition made detours from the river mouths into the interior, which was still covered by closed rainforests at that time. ... [ more ]

The isopods of the intertidal zone of Great Britain were published in a first edition by Naylor in 1972. Since then this volume of the "Synopses of the British Fauna" belonged in the field trip boxes of many universities. It was also frequently consulted in shallow water surveys of neighboring coastal regions and is among the most widely used isopod identification books in wet labs. After more than 40 years, a new edition of this work has been produced and scientifically updated. For some species the state of knowledge has not changed significantly, for others the systematics has been rearranged, some species have been added and/or have been found in the region ... [ more ]

Nature and Environmental Protection in the Hamburg Metropolitan Region: Expectations, Demands and Reality. This is the title of the new book published by the Hamburg Natural Science Association. It bundles expert knowledge and provides a fact check: Does the "European Green Capital" live up to its title? What is the real state of environmental awareness in the metropolitan region? In the fall of 2012, the Hamburg Society for Natural Sciences organized a series of lectures on nature conservation and environmental protection in the Hamburg metropolitan region that attracted a great deal of attention. ... [ more ]