Biodiversity
Preserving habitats – promoting diversity
Biodiversity is under threat worldwide: around a quarter of all animal and plant species are now considered to be at risk of extinction. More than 85% of natural ecosystems such as wetlands have already disappeared. The main drivers of this crisis are intensive land use, pollution, invasive species, and climate change.1 In Austria, too, the loss of species-rich meadows, overfertilization, and the abandonment of traditional land uses are among the greatest threats to biodiversity. Protecting biodiversity starts small—in gardens, on balconies, or even on the green spaces of the University of Vienna.
Biodiversity meadow at the UBB
The University of Vienna is aware of the importance of protecting and promoting biodiversity; however, there is currently no uniform concept for promoting biodiversity at the individual locations. On the initiative of voluntarily organized associations, committed employees, and students, measures to promote biodiversity are in place at several locations.
Botanical Garden of the University of Vienna
The Botanical Garden of the Faculty of Life Sciences at the University of Vienna makes a key contribution to research, documentation, and conservation of biological diversity. With around 12,000 plant species from all over the world, the garden is not only an important scientific archive, but also a living learning laboratory for students, researchers, and visitors, demonstrating how biodiversity can be preserved and communicated.
Öko Campus Vienna
Since 2021, the Öko Campus Wien association has been committed to promoting biodiversity on the University of Vienna campus and beyond. The team's goal is to create new biodiverse living and learning spaces in the middle of the city, to maintain and protect existing green spaces in a biodiversity-friendly manner, and to share knowledge about the importance of biological diversity. Öko Campus Wien is also concerned with shaping public space and participation. The association offers regular workshops and guided tours on biodiversity and creates collaborative educational spaces.
Members of the Öko Campus Wien association
Activities of the Öko Campus Wien association include
- Creating and protecting habitats
- Replacement habitats for birds and bats
- Mosaic-like scything on campus: Scything in sections is a method of mowing meadows in such a way that insects and small animals are spared.
- Biodiversity monitoring and citizen science
- Education, communication, and political work
- Art and ecology
- Collaboration in (inter)national networks: AG Biodiversity University of Vienna, Alliance of Sustainable Universities, and founding member of the Network of University Initiatives for Biodiversity (HB)
Citizen science means that interested individuals can contribute to research themselves, for example by collecting data, reporting observations, or assisting with experiments.
The iNaturalist platform combines nature observation with scientific research. Users photograph plants, animals, or fungi, upload the images, and receive identification suggestions. These observations are reviewed by a community and experts, thus becoming reliable data sets. Researchers use them, for example, to document the distribution of species, visualize changes caused by climate change, or record biodiversity in urban areas.
Nature observation on campus
In 2021, Öko Campus Wien created a project in which around 1,000 species have already been documented on the campus site.
Link to the project: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/oeko-campus-wien
Measures to promote biodiversity at the UBB
The CampSus network supports the sustainable development of the Faculty of Life Sciences. Together with students and staff, an area adjacent to the biology building (UBB) was replanted with insect-friendly, drought-resistant, and native plants. Nesting aids for wild bees were also built. The area is maintained by Öko Campus Wien.
Biodiversify UBB
Under the motto Biodiversify UBB, Öko Campus Wien 2024 has redesigned and renaturalized another area at the UBB in cooperation with Gartenpolylog as part of the EU project Co-creating Biodiversity in Urban Areas. In cooperation with STV Biology, wild bee habitats were created, hedges with native species were planted, and raised beds were set up in the courtyards. One focus was on diversity and edible plants. The measures were financed with funds from the European Union, the raised beds were made possible with funding from the ÖH Uni Wien and co-financed by the Co-Bio project.
The Botanical Garden of the University of Vienna supported both projects with plants.
Biodiversity meadow next to the biology building at the University of Vienna
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Review: Biodiversity Day 2024
On May 22, 2024, the campus was all about biological diversity on the initiative of the Biodiversity Working Group.
Luise Scheiber -
How do we protect biodiversity?
In a Rudolphina focus, researchers at the University of Vienna are highlighting ways in which we can counteract the loss of biodiversity.
Ian Ehm
Further information
Environmental and Climate Research Hub (ECH)
Faculties, Centers & Research Groups
- Department of Botany and Biodiversity Research (Faculty of Life Sciences)
- Department of Functional and Evolutionary Ecology (Faculty of Life Sciences)
- Centre for Microbiology and Environmental Systems Science (Faculty of Life Sciences)
- Institute of Geography and Regional Research (Faculty of Geosciences, Geography, and Astronomy)
Research focus
Research projects (selection)
- AMooRe: Austrian Moor Restoration
- AmazonFACE – Impacts of Elevated CO2 on the Amazon Rainforest
- DEPOCA: Shedding Light on Dark Ocean’s Detrital Particles: Origin, Composition and Age
- ECOTIP: Ecological Tipping Cascades in the Arctic Seas
- GloNAF: Global Naturalized Alien Flora
- GreeNet: Grassland conservation across European landscapes protecting biodiversity and ecosystem services with ecological networks
- MARCO-BOLO: MARine Coastal BiOdiversity Long-term Observations
- MARIPOLDATA: The Politics of Marine Biodiversity Data
- MICROCLIM: A Micro-Scale Perspective on Alpine Floras Under Climate Change
- MOTIVATE: Transdisciplinary Approaches to Monitoring Biodiversity and Landscape Change in Europe
- NEREIDES: Neutrally Buoyant Particles in the Deep Sea: Turnover, Origin and Global Impact on the Marine Carbon Cycle
1 IPBES, 2019. Global assessment report on biodiversity and ecosystem services of the Intergovernmental Science- Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. E. S. Brondizio, J. Settele, S. Díaz, and H. T. Ngo (editors). IPBES Secretariat. (Report summary)