In late July, PhD student Julia Rieder and EAGLE student Henning Riecken (InnoLab) conducted field visits to several beech forest stands in Northern Bavaria. Their survey covered regions including the Rhön, the Steigerwald, and areas around Würzburg and Bayreuth, as part of the Beechdecline and EO4CAM projects.
The team focused on assessing crown condition and defoliation levels of European beech (Fagus sylvatica), aiming to better understand the long-term impacts of the 2018–2019 droughts. Many of the surveyed stands continue to exhibit signs of stress—ranging from defoliation and crown dieback to localized mortality. However, some moderately affected trees also showed encouraging signs of recovery.
These field impressions underscore the complex picture emerging in Central European beech forests: while vulnerability remains evident, there are also pockets of resilience worth further study.
you may also like:
From Orbit to Action – How Satellite Data Is Enhancing Environmental Work
Next week, our EORC colleagues Dr. John Friesen & Dr. Jakob Schwalb‑Willmann will be contributing to the symposium “From Orbit to Action: Satellite Remote Sensing in State Environmental Agencies”, where experts from Hesse and Baden-Württemberg will discuss the...
Field Excursion to Owabi Wildlife Sanctuary
As a highlight of the third day of our training at KNUST on the use of remote sensing for biodiversity conservation, we took our participants on a field excursion to the nearby Owabi Wildlife Sanctuary. Guided by experienced local experts, we explored the area and had...
Expedition to Central Asia in the frame of the FluBig project
Since mid of September, a team from the Earth Observation Research Cluster is on a field expedition at the Naryn River in Kyrgyzstan. The team is acquiring data on vegetation and hydro-geomorphic features for the DFG funded "FluBig" project which is dedicated to...
Our training on Remote Sensing for Biodiversity Conservation got featured by Ghana Media
Today, our training program on the use of remote sensing in biodiversity conservation—held at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi, Ghana—was featured in Ghanaian media and highlighted on the official KNUST website: link...
How the European Wildcat Conservation can help strengthen Nature’s Contributions to People
In her MSc thesis Svenja Dobelmann (now University of Applied Science and Arts Göttingen) explored how wildlife conservation can align with the provision of ecosystem services—what the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services...
EOCap4Africa training in Kumasi
Today, we launched the testrun for our MSc module on Remote Sensing for Biodviversity Conservation which forms part of the EOCap4Africa project (funded by the Federal Agency of Nature Conservation) at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in...