Biodiversity

The unique biodiversity of peatlands and its conservation is a major focus of the Greifswald Mire Centre. We can look back on many years of vegetation research in undisturbed, disturbed and rewetted bogs and fens, on palaeoecological research on peatland development using pollen and macrofossil analysis, and on studies into the ecology and systematics of peat mosses (Sphagnum), as well as research into the conservation of typical bird species such as the globally threatened aquatic warbler. Findings are distributed within the International Mire Conservation Group (IMCG), which has its secretariat in Greifswald, and within other networks. In this way, Greifswald experts influence policy making, e.g. through the "Ramsar guidelines for global action on peatlands".

Some of our contributions:

• For many years secretariat of the International Mire Conservation Group IMCG (a global network of mire conservationists)
• Peatland research and implementation projects on all continents (except Antarctica)
• Development of the Ramsar guidelines for global action on peatlands
• Development of Guidelines for inventories of tropical peatlands to facilitate their designation as Ramsar Sites
• IMCG Global Peatland Restoration Manual
• internationally oriented study module Ecosystem/Mire Restoration
• Long-term research e.g. on peatmosses (Michaelis 2011)
• Aquatic Warbler Conservation Handbook (Tanneberger & Kubacka 2018)
• Co-authoring of LIFE Environment Focus publication on LIFE and climate change mitigation