News & Events

Exhibition "Tipping Points": Investigating ecological tipping cascades in the Arctic seas

05.03.2024

The exhibition "Tipping Points" in the Foyer of the University of Vienna Biology Building (UBB) explores the complex dynamics of the "ecosystem tipping cascade" triggered by the melting of the Arctic sea ice and the Greenland ice sheet.

"Tipping Points" invites you to explore a world of change happening beneath the waves of our Arctic seas, and how our natural environment and human societies are adapting in response. The changes the Earth is now undergoing, as a result of our (in)actions, risk tipping us into completely new and unknown ecosystems.

The exhibition serves as a lens into the vital work of the scientific community to understand and predict these tipping points. It also aims to illuminate the adaptive strategies of societies in the drastically changing Arctic region. Although discussions about tipping points can be unsettling, the intention behind this exhibition is not to shock, but to educate. Dive in!

This thought-provoking exhibition is brought to you by the Horizon Europe research project ECOTIP and hosted by the Microbial Oceanography Lab at the Faculty of Life Sciences. The Microbial Oceanography Lab is specialized in unravelling the metabolic activity of bacteria and archaea that thrive in the open ocean.

ECOTIP focuses on understanding and predicting changes in Arctic marine biodiversity and their implications for two crucial marine ecosystem services: fisheries production, a cornerstone of the economic vitality of many Arctic communities, and carbon sequestration, with significant feedback to the global climate.

ECOTIP is led by the Technical University of Denmark and brings together leading scientists from 15 institutes across Europe and Japan. Read more about the project at ecotip-arctic.eu

The posters are also available here.