Scientific projects at the State Museum of Natural History Karlsruhe

Non-marine carbonates

The aim of this project is the development of a genetic classification of non-marine carbonate formations, which should be used as a foundation for the classification of standard carbonate types. On the basis of various worldwide...More >>

Permo-Carboniferous of the Saale Basin

The continental Permo-Carboniferous is one of the most important geological periods for the German industry, due to its sedimentological composition (sandstones, coals and salts). The development of depositional models for the...More >>

Permo-Triassic

The chronological correlation of marine and continental Permian and Lower Triassic deposits causes problems until today. The goal of the project is the definition of the Permo-Triassic Boundary of the marine deposits of the...More >>

Paläontology

The Höwenegg Antelope Miotragocerus

Following the primary focus of the project on the recovery of skeletons in previous years, we now increasingly aim at the scientific study of the collected material. This is of particular importance concerning the Höwenegg...More >>

In preparation: A dinosaur graveyard in the Late Campanian (Late Cretaceous) at Cerro de Angostura near Porvenir de Jalpa, Coahuila, northeast Mexico

In the Cañon Cerro de Angostura near the hamlet Porvenir de Jalpa, Coahuila, we discovered about ten clusters of weathered-out dinosaur bones in an area of only about 200 metres long and 30 metres wide. Sediments belong to the...More >>

Cretaceous fish assemblages in north-eastern Mexico: a case-study for actinopterygian diversification and global paleobiogeography

Recent palaeontological fieldwork unearthed a plethora of platy limestone deposits in north-eastern Mexico, which yields exceptionally preserved fossil fishes of Cretaceous age. During the project, which is supported by the...More >>

Plant-Arthropod interactions in the Late Palaeozoic

Since the first land plants in the Ordovician appeared preconditions for terrestrial animal life were given. As a consequence in the Devonian and Carboniferous the first forests in earth history evolved housing already a number...More >>

Evolution of pinniped carnivores – a case study of engineering morphology

Within this DFG-project, data on anatomy and locomotion of extant pinniped carnivores (seals and sea lions) are collected, complied and categorized to anatomy based construction types. For each construction type bracing systems...More >>

Botany

Botanical identification and reference literature

Botanists need their everyday equipment: identification keys, regional maps, reference lists of biotope and habitat types, etc. This material has to be constantly adapted based on recent research findings as well as on updated...More >>

Fallowland project (Offenhaltungsversuche) of Baden-Württemberg

The Fallowland project of Baden-Württemberg is addressing the question how species-rich agricultural land can be kept open and species-rich using minimum (financial, personal, and technical) effort, which is done by comparing...More >>

Die Großpilzflora des Ballungsraums Karlsruhe und ihre Veränderung

In dem zweijährigen Forschungsvorhaben wird weltweit erstmalig und exemplarisch für andere Ballungsräume in SW-Deutschland die Großpilzflora (Basidiomycota/Ständerpilze, Morchellaceae/Morchel-Verwandte) des Stadtkreises Karlsruhe...More >>

Indicator values and functional traits

In (Central) Europe, research on both topics is carried out since quite a long time, there are comprehensive summaries and data bases. However, many unresolved issues still remain, e.g., in the application of existing concepts...More >>

Flora und vegetation of abandoned clay pits and of urban areas

Succession research allows us to witness how species communities emerge and are replaced again. Initial »settlers« arrive where – by natural processes or human impact – open soil, wounded bark, blank rock surface (… or also...More >>

Zoology

Digitizing the zoological collections

The fast development of information technology, database systems and the use of the Internet strongly facilitate the digitization and mobilisation of biological data, e.g. on the voucher specimens of museum collections and...More >>

Taxonomie und Phylogenie der asiatischen Schlankkräuselspinnen

Die in Südostasien verbreiteten Spinnen aus der Familie der Psechridae (Schlankkräuselspinnen) waren bis 2009 taxonomisch nur mangelhaft bearbeitet und daher schwierig zu charakterisieren und zu identifizieren. Im Rahmen eines...More >>

Amazon Spiders and Butterflies

An International Museum Fellowship of the German Federal Cultural Foundation allows us to reactivate an earlier cooperation between our museum and the Brazilian National Research Institution for Amazonia (INPA) in Manaus.More >>

Barcoding of German spiders

In the GBOL Project (GBOL - German Barcode of Life) a consortium of several collection holding and biodiversity research institutes has started to characterize the species of animals, fungi and plants occurring in Germany...More >>

EDAPHOBASE - a soil organism data warehouse

In the second project phase the non-commercial database Edaphobase will be integrated in the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) network with a node for soil organisms at the Senckenberg Museum in Görlitz. Data on...More >>

Entomology

Bildschirmansicht der Landesdatenbank Schmetterlinge Baden-Württemberg