Micropaleontology

The micropaleontological collection is of particular importance for current paleontological research at the Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change and the Institute for Geology. It comprises more than 3,000 individual samples and microfossil preparations, most of which originate from core drilling in the North German Basin and essentially cover the Jura period to the present day. The focus is on the group of foraminifera. This is a species-rich group of marine unicellular organisms whose mostly calcareous shells are easy to maintain and document past environmental and climate changes. The study of fossil pollen has also increased in importance in recent years. Pollen grains are also easy to conserve and allow environmental and climate changes to be investigated in terrestrial areas. The micropaleontological collection is currently being expanded to include samples from the Quaternary and Cenozoic periods from the North and Baltic Seas, the Mediterranean and the Atlantic.