Numerous researchers from Helmholtz Earth and Environment are among the most frequently cited in 2024

The company Clarivate Analytics has released their list "Highly Cited Researchers" for 2024. This prestigious list includes scientists whose work has been cited particularly frequently and who rank among the top 1% of their respective fields in the "Web of Science," operated by Clarivate Analytics. The selection is also based on a comprehensive qualitative analysis and review by experts. This year, 6,636 researchers have been listed.

The researchers significantly propelled scientific progress and established an essential groundwork for both current and future scientific understanding. From the Helmholtz Research Field Earth and Environment, the following researchers are amongst the most-cited of their fields:

• Prof. Dr. Wulf Amelung (FZJ) works on nutrient cycles in soils, soil degradation, and the behavior of pollutants in soils.
• Prof. Dr. Almut Arneth (KIT) focuses on plant ecophysiology, particularly on modeling the interactions between climate change, land-use change, and various terrestrial ecosystem properties on a global scale.
• Prof. Dr. Thorsten Dittmar (HIFMB) researches the stability of dissolved organic matter (DOM) over millennia, molecular-level interactions among microorganisms, the application of innovative concepts in biogeochemical systems, and develops new methods in his field.
• Dr. Gunnar Gerdts (AWI) studies molecular microbial ecology, microplastics, and marine pollution.
• Prof. Dr. Guido Große (AWI) focuses on permafrost in the Earth system, arctic landscape dynamics, remote sensing of permafrost areas, permafrost thawing, permafrost hydrology, and the carbon budget of permafrost.
• Prof. Dr. Dagmar Haase (UFZ) works on concepts of urban ecosystem services in the context of urbanization, as well as green infrastructure and nature-based solutions. She emphasizes quantitative and qualitative studies supported by remote sensing methods. Additionally, she develops apps to make knowledge accessible to a broader audience and to connect science and citizens more closely.
• Prof. Dr. Martin Herold (GFZ) focuses on the development and implementation of large-scale monitoring systems to track landscape dynamics.
• Prof. Dr. Ingolf Kühn (UFZ) studies land-use patterns, environmental parameters, and the distribution of plant species on a macroecological scale, with a focus on the biological and ecological traits of invasive plants.
• Prof. Dr. Hans-Otto Pörtner (AWI) researches the effects of climate warming, ocean acidification, and hypoxia on marine animals and ecosystems. His focus is on the connections between ecological, physiological, biochemical, and molecular mechanisms that influence biogeography and ecosystems and define their tolerance limits.
• Dr. Sebastian Primpke (AWI) focuses on the ecology of shelf sea systems, particularly analyzing microplastics using FTIR and Raman spectroscopy.
• Prof. Dr. Josef Settele (UFZ) works on insect ecology in cultural landscapes, biodiversity, land use, and socio-ecological systems.