German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig

Hotspot in Biodiversity Science

iDiv is a DFG research centre with more than 250 employees and members located in Halle, Jena and Leipzig. Here, researchers from 30 nations establish the scientific basis for the sustainable management of our planet’s biodiversity.

Biodiversity refers to the diversity of life - not only species diversity but also genetic diversity, diversity of functions, interactions and ecosystems. We know that our actions dramatically change this diversity: species become extinct, genetic information and entire ecosystems are lost. At the same time, we know little about the extent of these changes, the underlying processes and consequences for humanity.

Director Christian Wirth puts it as follows in the iDiv film: 

“The central problem in understanding and measuring biological diversity is that we still have a lot of work to do. And while we are taking inventory, the shelves are already being cleared.”

In the face of this urgent problem, a consortium of eleven research institutes joined forces to establish iDiv in 2012. In order to better understand the complex phenomenon of biodiversity, the iDiv researchers are working on four overarching research questions.