ACADEMIC
UNI-HAMBURG/BIO/IHFS
The Institute for Hydrobiology and Fisheries Science at the University of Hamburg conducts interdisciplinary research in all fields of marine science with a focus of understanding the functioning of marine ecosystems under different pressures, e.g. climate variability and change as well as fisheries. Regionally the work of the institute is focused on the North and Baltic Seas with additonal studies in the North Atlantic, the Mediterranean Sea and the Benguela Upwelling System. The institute is composed of two core research groups (Biological Oceanography, Fisheries Science) which together cover all trophic levels of a marine ecosystem with overlaps in the zooplankton and fish early-life history stages (see schematic). The broad and interdisciplinary work of the institute allows a holistic understanding of marine ecosystem structure and functioning. The general scientific approach of the institute is to combine a wide range of methods including laboratory experiments and field process studies to examine key processes affecting marine ecosystem dynamics. These process studies provide the basis for different modelling approaches which are conducted within the institute or in cooperation with several partner institutions. Scientists of the institute are involved in several national and international research projects on basic marine research as well as on the incorporation of scientific results into ecosystem management (see project-pages). Locally the institute is a part of the Department of Biology within the Faculty of Mathematics, Informatics and Natural Sciences of the University of Hamburg. The institute is further attached to the Centre for Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, a cooperation between several institutes of the University of Hamburg and the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, which conduct research on the earth system and its reaction to the effects of human activity. The holistic approach of the institute and the broad national and international partnership allows significant contributions to developing concepts for an Ecosystem Approach to Management of the marine environment, and especially an Ecosystem-based Fisheries Management. Summary provided by http://www.uni-hamburg.de/ihf/ihf_descript_e.html