Georg Heiss

Co-Leader, Climate change effects on foundation species

Georg is a Senior Research Associate and Lecturer at Freie Universität Berlin. He is a carbonate geologist, specialising in coral reef sedimentology with a strong integrative and inter-disciplinary approach. He conducted research programmes in coral reef growth, paleo-climatologic studies using corals in the recent past and the Holocene, as well as present human impacts on coral reefs. His main interests are adaptations of coral reefs to changing environmental conditions, including climate change and acidification of the oceans.
Within the project, Georg is a research fellow specializing in paleoclimatic research in coral reefs.

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Reinhold Leinfelder

Co-Leader, How climate change affects foundation species and their safe operating space
Reinhold is a Full Professor of Invertebrate Palaeontology and Geobiology, Head of Working Group on Geobiology and Anthropocene Research at Freie Universität Berlin, and Senior Lecturer in MSc-Course FutureStudies at Institut Futur, Freie Universität Berlin.
His research focus is the Anthropocene, the evolution and adaptation of reefal communities, future studies of environmental challenges, and solutions-driven science communication of complex topics. His earlier affiliations include: General Director of the Bavarian State Collections of Natural History, Munich, the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, Founding Director of the Haus der Zukunft/Futurium Project in Berlin, member of the German Science Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU), affiliate Professor at the Rachel Carson Center of Environment and Society, Munich, and Principal Investigator of the Berlin Cluster of Excellence “Image Knowledge Gestaltung – an Interdisciplinary Laboratory”.
Since 2012 he is member of the Anthropocene Working Group of the International Commission on Stratigraphy/IUGS.

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Juan Pablo D’Olivo Cordero

Senior researcher, Climate change effects on foundation species
Juan is a Research Associate at Freie Universität Berlin. His research has focused on quantifying the effects of anthropogenic stressors, like temperature rise and ocean acidification, on tropical reef forming corals using geochemical and physiological indicators encoded in the skeleton of long-lived massive corals.
Within the project, he uses the information stored in the skeleton of long-lived corals from the Caribbean to reconstruct past environmental conditions, particularly related to terrestrial run-off and thermal stress. The information obtained from the skeleton of coral will help fill gaps in instrumental records on key environmental parameters and therefore provide a baseline to put current changes in context of long-term variability (e.g. Multiple decades).
His objective is to improve our understanding of how climate change and anthropogenic activities affect coral calcification and coral reef health, and therefore assist with the management of this valuable ecosystems.

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Diego K. Kersting

Contributor, Marine coastal ecosystems biodiversity, functions and services in a changing environment
Diego is a Beatriu de Pinós Researcher at Freie Universität Berlin. His research interests include vulnerable species and global change impacts on marine ecosystems. Within the project, he provides information about the impacts of climate change on the only reef-builder coral in the Mediterranean Sea, Cladocora caespitosa.

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