Biodiversity is the variety of all life forms: the different plants, animals and micro-organisms, their genes and the ecosystems of which they are a part. Human beings depend on biodiversity for their survival and quality of life. The decline of biodiversity is a fundamental global concern. In marine ecosystems, for example, it has been claimed that about 30% of the biota has disappeared over the last 30 years, yet many humans depend on marine resources resources to sustain their life, especially in so-called "developing" countries. The number of species threatened globally with extinction, however, far outstrips the current resources available for their conservation.

However, the most significant impediment to the conservation and management of biodiversity is our lack of knowledge about it and the effects of human population and activities on it.

Current research and activities:

Key publications:

Ferrario, F., Calcinai, B., Erpenbeck, D., Galli, P., Wörheide, G., 2010. Two Pione species (Hadromerida, Clionaidae) from the Red Sea: a taxonomical challenge. Organisms Diversity & Evolution 10, 275–285.

Pöppe, J., Sutcliffe, P., Hooper, J.N.A., Wörheide, G., Erpenbeck, D., 2010. CO I barcoding reveals new clades and radiation patterns of Indo-Pacific sponges of the family Irciniidae (Demospongiae: Dictyoceratida). PLoS ONE 5 (4), e9950.

Vogler, C., Benzie, J., Lessios, H., Barber, P., Wörheide, G., 2008. A threat to coral reefs multiplied? Four species of crown-of-thorns starfish. Biology Letters 4, 696–699.

Wörheide, G., Epp, L., Macis, L., 2008. Deep genetic divergences among Indo-Pacific populations of the coral reef sponge Leucetta chagosensis (Leucettidae): founder effects, vicariance, or both? BMC Evolutionary Biology 8, 24.