ÖBG cooperation successes at ‘Jugend forscht’

The cooperation between the ÖBG and the State Technical and Vocational High School (FOSBOS) in Bayreuth came about through the ‘Water strategies in climate change’ project and contact with the STEM coordinator at the FOSBOS, Barbara Geißler. In close consultation and collaboration, two seminar papers on ecological topics were developed and supervised for year 13 for the 2023/24 school year. Two young researchers were able to impress the jury and the public with their topics on ecology and environmental research in the Upper Franconia ‘Jugend forscht’ regional competition, in which 85 young people from all over Upper Franconia presented their research work in the fields of mathematics, computer science, natural sciences and technology.

With ‘Talking Trees - how trees cope with climate change’, Felix Haas won the special award from the Landesbund für Vogelschutz and 2nd place in the geosciences and spatial sciences category of ‘Jugend forscht’. He also received the recognition prize at the Federal Environment Competition (BUW). Felix Haas was supervised by Julius Fischer, who is studying geoecology and is currently writing his Master's thesis at the Chair of Ecosystem Analysis and Simulation in collaboration with the ÖBG on the topic of the reactions of the thickness growth of alternative tree species to weather conditions. Using data collected in the Bayreuth climate forest and with the help of literature, Felix Haas' aim was to work out how well 14 predominantly native tree species are adapted to various climate risks such as drought and heat .

Luzia Rickauer won first place in the biology category of the regional ‘Jugend forscht’ competition with her paper ‘Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) for optimal water economy in plants’. She went on to represent the administrative district of Upper Franconia at the state ‘Jugend forscht’ competition in Vilsbiburg, where her work was rewarded with a special prize in the field of botany. Luzia Rickauer also received the Dr Hans Riegel Prize from researchers at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) for the best seminar paper in Biology 2024. In times of climate change, it is becoming increasingly important for plants to be able to survive dry periods. With their Crassulacean acid metabolism, so-called CAM plants have developed a method that enables them to optimise water economy, especially in hot and dry conditions. The aim of Luzia's work was to develop a deeper understanding of these processes and to demonstrate the links between Crassulaceae acid metabolism and improved water utilisation efficiency. She was supervised by Dr Jana Messinger and Dr Marianne Lauerer from the ÖBG.

Congratulations and we look forward to new collaborations, e.g. on the topic of protein-rich nutrition! The STEM subjects are particularly challenged when it comes to understanding the major challenges of our time and making them comprehensible to others in order to develop solutions together with other disciplines, e.g. in the area of climate protection and adaptation.