Working Group Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services
Table of contents
Background of the Working Group (WG) Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services
With the Environment Commission’s signature of approval, the Chair of Business Administration esp. Environmental Management at IHI Zittau, the Green Office, Division 4, and the TU student environmental initiative have established a WG for promoting "Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services at the TUD". The WG Biodiversity of the Environmental Commission is a group at TU Dresden that focuses on the preservation and promotion of biodiversity and various ecosystems on the TUD campus and beyond. The aim is to raise awareness of the topic among students, employees, and other interested parties. Research and practical projects are carried out in which interested students and employees can participate as volunteers.
Projects and Awards Achieved by the WG Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services
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eku idea - Future Prize for Energy, Climate, Environment in Saxony
It is with great pleasure that the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Working Group (AG Biodiversität) at TU Dresden announces that its project proposal ‘Experiencing and shaping biodiversity: Promoting the SDGs (BioSDGs)’ has been awarded the eku - Future Prize for Energy, Climate, Environment in Saxony in the eku idea category. The prize, awarded by the Saxon State Ministry for Energy, Climate Protection, Environment and Agriculture (SMEKUL), recognises outstanding ideas that provide new impetus for climate, environmental and nature conservation in Saxony. The eku Future Prize is awarded annually to projects that promote climate protection, resource conservation and ecologically sustainable development. With the BioSDGs award, the jury honours a project that is breaking new ground in biodiversity conservation through interdisciplinary cooperation.
For more information, see our upcoming projects below.
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Insect hotel on the TUD campus in the summer semester 2024
The working group has built an insect nesting aid on the TUD campus in the summer semester 2024. The aim is to continue to draw attention to the topic of biodiversity and ecosystem services on the TU Dresden campus and to actively promote local biodiversity and ecosystem services. The insect hotel was put together from materials that were collected through a TU-wide call for donations. Many thanks to all the people who provided us with building and filling materials for this project! Thanks also go to all the hard-working hands who helped us realise the construction project on the butterfly meadow behind the biology building in April. We look forward to seeing in 2025 whether the insect nesting aid has been accepted by the insects.
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Biodiversity in the Bag
In the winter semester of 2022/23, first-year students received packets of seeds in their welcome bags, which they could then sow on campus or on their balconies to make their environment a little more colorful and diverse. This campaign seeks to boost awareness of biodiversity on campus and offer a low-threshold opportunity to take part in biodiversity conservation. The project was conducted on a volunteer basis by Leyla Azizi, Alexandra Seifert, Yu-Shan Lin Feuer, Stella-Maria Yerokhin, Kristin Fiedler, Luise Heiland, and Stephanie Kopp in cooperation with TU Dresden’s Green Office and the Sächsische Aufbaubank.
Thanks to the renewed support of the Sächsische Aufbaubank, the first-year students can once again look forward to some biodiversity in their bags in the winter semester 25/26 - and we as a working group are delighted for them.
- Wildflower Meadows on the TUD Campus
This project is concentrated on two wildflower meadows on the TUD campus which was implemented in the summer semester 2023 on the grounds of the Center for Integrated Natural Materials Technology (ZIN). This project seeks to increase wildflowers and species diversity on campus. It was carried out thanks to Ulrike Seiler, Lisa Junge, Leyla Azizi, Remmer Sassen, Katharina Schmitt, Nicole Rüsing, Amir Raoufi, Kristin Fiedler, basic lecture on ecological sustainability, and the IG Wildplanzen.
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Book Chapter: How do Higher Education Institutions Manage Biodiversity? Exploring the Current State at Universities from the Global North and South
Together with the student assistant of the Chair, Stella-Maria Yerokhin, and the intern from the WG, Ting-Yu Lin, a book chapter exploring the current state of biodiversity management at universities from the Global North and South has been published with Yu-Shan Lin Feuer, Leyla Azizi, and Remmer Sassen under the book "Higher Education for Sustainable Development Goals: Bridging the Global North and South" of Emerald Group Publishing. -
Gorbitz Dialogue
Through the TU Dresden's school contact point, contact was made with the high school in Gorbitz, where last year a group of 9th-grade students planted a flowering meadow in the local kindergarten as part of the "Learning through Engagement" profile lesson. The Gorbitz Dialogue was about sharing experiences on the topic of flowering meadows. Lisa Junge was on site in Gorbitz to talk to the pupils and share her academic perspective. The main focus was on how citizens can become part of the research process by participating in citizen science projects. Lisa Junge also introduced the concept of ecosystem services to the students to emphasize that the protection of biodiversity is not only for aesthetic reasons but is of economic and social importance. In addition, our student assistant, Tina Werchan, created child-friendly information materials on biodiversity and ecosystem services (in German) for the Gorbitz Dialogue, which were made available at the school. -
Conference Contribution: "Biodiversity for the TU Dresden Campus"
On 11 April 2024, the WG Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services will present a poster at the conference "Real-world laboratories - experimental spaces for the path to a sustainable society" organized by the Leibniz Institute of Ecological Urban and Regional Development (IOER) Dresden. The poster contribution presents the various projects of the WG and links them to the methodology of the real-world laboratory. In the context of the WG, the TUD campus is used as a real-world laboratory to investigate how the topic of biodiversity and associated ecosystem services can be protected and promoted through participatory experimentation. The WG team hopes that participation in the open topic strand will provide helpful feedback to sharpen further projects of the WG as well as networking with like-minded people in the Saxon scientific landscape.
Upcoming Projects of the WG Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services
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Project - Experience and shape biodiversity: Promotion of the SDGs (BioSDGs)
By recognising the BioSDGs project proposal with the eku Idee Preis 2024 awarded by SMEKUL and the associated prize money of €2,500, the Biodiversity Working Group will be able to focus on a project close to its heart in 2025 and 2026. The aim of the project is to use the university as a ‘real laboratory’ for the protection of biodiversity and to actively involve students, teaching staff and society.
With a creative and interdisciplinary approach, the project aims to show how education, research and collective action can support the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Specifically, BioSDGs focuses on the development of measures that promote biodiversity on the TU Dresden campus while creating transferable solutions for other educational institutions and regions. Our measures promote sustainable development in line with the global Sustainable Development Goals SDG 4 (Education), SDG 15 (Life on Land) and SDG 17 (Partnerships).
The prize money will be used specifically for three central project components:
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Educational programmes for pupils: the development of a flexible educational programme sensitises even the youngest children to the protection of biodiversity
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Teaching formats for students: As part of the praxiSDG series, students develop concrete biodiversity measures, such as a comprehensive monitoring strategy for the campus.
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A guide for biodiversity projects: At the end of the project, a guide will be produced to show other universities how interdisciplinary approaches can successfully contribute to the promotion of biodiversity.
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Call for Action: We need your support - Together for biodiversity!
If you are interested in joining the WG or would like to learn more about the work of the WG, please send an e-mail to . We are always happy to have more helping hands in the WG as well as ideas for future projects!