news

In cooperation with colleagues from Germany, Italy and the Netherlands, researchers at Leipzig University have investigated the structure of tumour tissue and the behaviour of tumour cells in detail, gaining important insights that could improve cancer diagnosis and therapy in the future. They found out that during tumour development the way cells move can change from coordinated and collective to individual and chaotic behaviour.

Much of our knowledge of how biodiversity benefits ecosystems comes from experimental sites. These sites contain combinations of species that are not found in the real world, which has led some ecologists to question the findings from biodiversity experiments. But the positive effects of biodiversity for the functioning of ecosystems are more than an artefact of experimental design.

Soils harbour a substantial part of the world's biodiversity, yet data on the patterns and processes taking place below ground does not represent all relevant ecosystems and taxa. For example, tropical and subtropical regions largely remain a blind spot when it comes to soil biodiversity. This is one of the results of a new study published and led by scientists from the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research, the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg and Leipzig University.

Declines in the diversity and abundance of decomposers explain reductions in plant decay rates under the influence of chemical stressors, but not added nutrients. These are the new insights of a study published in the open access journal eLife. The global meta-analysis conducted by researchers at the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), Leipzig University (UL) and the University of Namur in Belgium highlights the main anthropogenic effects on the biodiversity and functioning of ecosystems, and thus helps predicting the fate of different ecosystems around the world.

In a longitudinal study, an international research team led by Leipzig University has investigated the consequences of changes in plant biodiversity for the functioning of ecosystems. The scientists found that the relationships between plant traits and ecosystem functions change from year to year. This makes predicting the long-term consequences of biodiversity change extremely difficult, they write in "Nature Ecology & Evolution".

A research team led by zoologist Dr Amy MacLeod has been using drones to count marine lizards on the Galapagos Islands. The aim of the Leipzig University project is to determine the colony sizes of this vulnerable species and, with the help of volunteers, to precisely locate them - in order to ultimately be able to better protect the iguanas.

Leipzig Authoritarianism Study 2018: presentation of long-term study with current results on authoritarian and far-right attitudes in Germany Xenophobia has again increased in Germany. Almost one in two respondents in eastern Germany agrees with certain xenophobic statements, for example that foreigners are exploiting the German welfare state or swamping the Federal Republic.