Recording, understanding and positively shaping changes and their consequences in and around Berlin – biodiversity management in major cities
The NaturBerlin research cluster develops products that document and analyse changes in biodiversity in urban and peri-urban areas and predict their impacts. We ask ourselves how biodiversity is changing, how we can achieve greater biodiversity, and what social and economic consequences biodiversity change entails.
Changes in biodiversity are complex, and we examine their various dimensions using the Essential Biodiversity Variables. We are interested in changes across all dimensions of biodiversity, from genetic diversity to changes in ecosystem functions and the associated services.
Using Berlin as a case study, drawing on the collection of Berlin specimens at the Museum of Natural History, and working in close collaboration with local residents and the wider Berlin biodiversity community, we have, in the course of our work to date, been able to compile and analyse time series that document changes in biodiversity. We now know who in Berlin has been collecting which biodiversity data since when, and in what form and structure this data is available. This overview has been made publicly available in a scientific publication. The findings were subsequently utilised in two further publications, through which we now know which species have gone missing in Berlin and what data is available to enable us, for example, to make well-founded statements about changes in biodiversity using indices. As part of our work and in the context of global biodiversity targets, Berlin became the first city to be assessed using the multidimensional IUCN Urban Nature Index.
In close collaboration with NaturBerlin, the ‘Understanding Biodiversity’ project was launched in 2024; this interdisciplinary pilot project is funded by the Berlin Senate Administration. The aim was to communicate scientific findings on biodiversity to the public in an accessible way, in order to improve access to and foster a stronger connection with urban nature. In this context, we are working on identifying so-called key areas for biodiversity, which highlight which areas in Berlin are of greater ecological value than the average.
Our aim is to build on our findings to date to develop further products, to provide a platform for connecting stakeholders at all levels, and to address the issues surrounding nature conservation in urban areas, with all the opportunities and challenges that this entails. In the long term, we hope to make a lasting contribution as an Urban Biodiversity Competence Centre.