News
July 2026: To ensure the quality of the visual assessment of crown condition as part of the National Forest Condition Survey (WZE), we conduct a Europe-wide online photo comparison test every two years. The test aims at ensuring the comparability and objectivity of crown assessments and identifying potential systematic deviations at an early stage. The detailed results for Germany, as well as the summarized results of European participation, have been published in two Thünen Working Papers (German and English versions).
March 2026: For the first time, the findings of the 2025 Forest Condition Report are based on a densified sampling grid. A Thünen Working Paper describes the methodological adjustments made for this purpose and shows how this enables more accurate estimates of vitality, even for rarer tree species.
October 2025: The “EDNA-Lab” at the Thünen-Institute launches. As part of the project, forest biodiversity will be characterized using eDNA. The project will also examine whether and how these detection methods can be integrated into forest environmental monitoring.
June 2025: The International Co-operative Programme on Assessment and Monitoring of Air Pollution Effects on Forests (ICP Forests) celebrates its 40th anniversary. The commemorative brochure published for the occasion provides an overview of the most important findings.
April 2025: The concept (German language) for a National Forest Biodiversity Monitoring Program (NaBioWald) is presented. Areas covered by the forest environmental monitoring program are also to be integrated into the monitoring.
December 2024: The Project “Stoffbilanz” begins with the goal of developing site-specific nutrient balancing at the sites of the intensive forest environmental monitoring program. Learn more.
October 2024: A Thünen Project Brief (German language) on the use of acoustic methods to quantify biodiversity is published online. It highlights the potential of acoustic signal recording for forest monitoring.
September 2024: The “Faktencheck Artenvielfalt” (German language) presents a 1,256-page assessment and outlook for the conservation of biodiversity in Germany. Data from the BWI, BZE, WZE, and Level II forest surveys form the basis for the chapter on forests; in particular, deposition data from Level II plots are important for describing biodiversity. The book can be downloaded as a PDF free of charge.
September 2024: The project report (German language) on measuring wet mercury deposition under forest canopies is now available online.