When Mongolian gazelles gather on green pastureland,
100,000 animals can soon come together. Then they scatter to the four winds.
Why that is and how these animals can be protected in light of Mongolia's
booming economy explains animal ecologist Thomas Müller in the current edition
of “Forschung Frankfurt", which has now been published in English translation.
Under the title “In motion", Goethe University Science Magazine presents a
multifaceted spectrum of research projects, viewpoints and analyses by Goethe
University researchers.
FRANKFURT. About
a million gazelles still inhabit one of the last intact grasslands in the
temperate zone: the Eastern Mongolian steppe. When the lush green grass begins
to sprout, huge groups of animals gather to graze – and then disappear again into
the landscape's vast expanses. Professor Thomas Müller, Senckenberg
Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre and Goethe University, and his team
have studied the animals' seemingly chaotic migratory behaviour, which is
unique worldwide, for many years. Time is pressing, as economic development in
Mongolia is on collision course with these wild animals: roads, railway lines
and oil production facilities are forcing their way deeper and deeper into the
steppe. New nature conservation concepts need to be developed here, as even the
large protection zones created by Mongolia in the past years do not meet the
animals' need for space: Müller estimates that a gazelle can explore an area
the size of Hungary during its lifetime.
In other articles in the current issue of
“Forschung Frankfurt", scientists from Goethe University report on their
research projects related to various aspects of motion, for example how they
teach computers to recognise different movements such as “cutting" or “waving",
how ADHD can affect adults too or how two movements in quantum physics are
superimposed, each of which only occurs with a certain probability. Other
articles explore, for example, how smartphones, which are almost ubiquitous,
are changing film as a medium or how sports clubs can foster the integration of
immigrants.
Journalists can order the current English-language issue of Forschung Frankfurt (2/2021) free of charge from: ott@pvw.uni-frankfurt.de
All articles are available online at www.forschung-frankfurt.de (then go to EN) or https://tinygu.de/ENForschungFrankfurt
