Prof. Dr. Brigitte Urban
Vita
Academic Qualifications
1978 Doctorate at University of Stuttgart-Hohenheim, Department of Botany, Faculty of Natural Sciences; Thesis: "Environmental history of the Lower Rhine Basin during the Early Pleistocene"
1975 Diploma (MSc) degree in Biology (Botany, Biochemistry, Environmental Geology, Soil Science and Prehistory) at Albertus- Magnus-University Cologne
Professional Career
Since 2013 Chair of PhD Commission for Natural Science (Dr. rer. nat.) and Speaker of ´Promotionskolleg` of Faculty of Sustainability, Leuphana University LÜneburg
Since 2009 University Professor for Ecology, Head of working group Landscape Change, Leuphana University Lüneburg
2005-2006 Vice President of University of Lüneburg, International Affairs
2005-2009 Professor of Soil Science and Biology at University of Lüneburg
Since 2005 Honorary Professor of University of Tübingen, Faculty of Geosciences
2003-2004 Dean of Faculty of Civil Engineering (Water Management & Engineering, Applied Computing)
2001-2002 Vice President of University of Applied Sciences, NE Lower Saxony. Research, Science & Technology Transfer, International Affairs, 2nd period
1996-1998 Vice President of University of Applied Sciences, NE Lower Saxony. Research, Science & Technology Transfer, International Affairs, 1st period
1985-2005 Professor of Soil Science and Biology at University of Applied Sciences, NE Lower Saxony, since 2005 amalgamated with University Lüneburg
Since 1983 Assistant Professor/lecturer at the Faculty of Geosciences, University of Tübingen
1979-1983 Scientific assistant and postdoctoral research fellow at the Institute of Soil Science, Faculty of Agronomy, University of Bonn. Research project: "Vegetation and Soil Development on loess in Central Europe" (DFG). Set up of the Laboratory for Soil Biology and Palynology of the Institute of soil Science
1975-1978 Research fellow at the Geological Institute, University of Cologne, Quaternary and Environmental Geology, Holocene and Pleistocene environmental history
Honors and Functions
Awards:
Award of Knowledge Transfer Prize 2014 of Leuphana University Lüneburg for outstanding and innovative accomplishments in the category ´Transfer of Scientific Research beyond the University and Application oriented Research with a Practical Relevance`.
Functions:
Member of the Board of Trustees of Leibniz Institute for Applied Geophysics, LIAG, Hannover (Since 2008)
Chairperson of the Scientific Advisory Board of Leibniz Institute for Applied Geosciences, (LIAG, former GGA) Hannover (2005- 2008)
Member of the Scientific Board of Acta Palaeobotanica, W. Szafer Institute of Botany, Polish Academy of Sciences, Krakow, Poland
Projects
-
Climate Change & Early Humans in the North
Brigitte Urban (Project manager, academic)
→Project: Research
-
Climate and Environmental Variability during the late Middle Pleistocene at the Paleolithic Sites of Schöningen, Northern Germany
Brigitte Urban (Project manager, academic)
→Project: Research
-
DAS: Klimaanpassung managen! Weiterbildung für Bildungsakteure, Naturschutzexpert_Innen, Umwelt-, Nachhaltigkeits- und Klimaschutzbeauftragte in Kommunen sowie Multiplikator_innen zu regionalen Klimaanpassungsmanager_Innen
Brigitte Urban (Project manager, academic) , Karin Fischer (Project staff) , (Coordination)
→Project: Transfer (professional training)
-
Paläoumwelt und das Alter der Schöninger Speere und der quartären Abfolge im Tagebau Schöningen. Chronometrische und relative Datierung mittels Lumineszenz und Palynologie
Brigitte Urban (Project manager, academic)
→Project: Research
-
Aktivierte Pflanzenkohle aus Elbauen - neue Wertschöpfungen durch die Entwicklung einer neuen Stoffstromstrategie für das Auengrünland der Elbe
Brigitte Urban (Project manager, academic) , Frank Krüger (Project staff)
→Project: Transfer (R&D project)
Publications
Journal contributions
- Paleoenvironmental and behavioral insights into firewood selection by early Middle Pleistocene hominins
Ethel Allué (Author) , Naama Goren-Inbar (Author) , Yoel Melamed (Author) , Brigitte Urban (Author) , Nira Alperson-Afil (Author) , 15.06.2026 , in: Quaternary Science Reviews, 382 , 8 p.Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
- Summer temperatures from the Middle Pleistocene site Schöningen 13 II, northern Germany, determined from subfossil chironomid assemblages
Sonja Rigterink (Author) , Kim J. Krahn (Author) , Bartosz Kotrys (Author) , Brigitte Urban (Author) , Oliver Heiri (Author) , Falko Turner (Author) , Andre Pannes (Author) , Antje Schwalb (Author) , 01.10.2024 , in: Boreas, 53, 4 , p. 525-542 , 18 p.Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
- Temperature and palaeolake evolution during a Middle Pleistocene interglacial–glacial transition at the Palaeolithic locality of Schöningen, Germany
Kim J. Krahn (Author) , Brigitte Urban (Author) , Sylvia Pinkerneil (Author) , David J. Horne (Author) , Mario Tucci (Author) , Andreas Koutsodendris (Author) , Antje Schwalb (Author) , 01.10.2024 , in: Boreas, 53, 4 , p. 504-524 , 21 p.Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
- Dating the Neanderthal environment: Detailed luminescence chronology of a palaeochannel sediment core at the Palaeolithic site of Lichtenberg in the Lower Saxony, northern Germany
Neda Rahimzadeh (Author) , Michael Hein (Author) , Brigitte Urban (Author) , Marcel Weiss (Author) , David Colin Tanner (Author) , Azra Khosravichenar (Author) , Sumiko Tsukamoto (Author) , Tobias Lauer (Author) , 01.08.2024 , in: Quaternary Geochronology, 83 , 10 p.Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
- First automatic size measurements for the separation of dwarf birch and tree birch pollen in MIS 6 to MIS 1 records from Northern Germany
Martin Theuerkauf (Author) , Elias Nehring (Author) , Alexander Gillert (Author) , Philipp Morten Bodien (Author) , Michael Hein (Author) , Brigitte Urban (Author) , 01.06.2024 , in: Ecology and Evolution, 14, 6 , 17 p.Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
Contributions to collected editions/anthologies
- Pollen und Sporen – Schlüssel zur Vegetation des Eiszeitalters
Brigitte Urban (Author) , 01.01.2018 Darmstadt , p. 48-52 , 5 p.Research output: Contributions to collected editions/anthologies › Contributions to collected editions/anthologies › Research › peer-review
- Hydrologische Auswirkungen des Klimawandels: Fallbeispiel Wasserbauliche Maßnahmen zur Sicherung des ökologisch notwendigen Mindestabflusses kleiner Fließgewässer.
Herbert Reusch (Author) , Helmut Heuer-Jungemann (Author) , Brigitte Urban (Author) , 01.01.2015 München , p. 355-376 , 22 p.Research output: Contributions to collected editions/anthologies › Contributions to collected editions/anthologies › Research › peer-review
- Contaminated sediment in Ramsar wetlands; A challenge towards sustainable management of sensitive ecosystems
S.F. Materu (Author) , Brigitte Urban (Author) , S. Heise (Author) , 01.01.2015 , p. 37 , 1 p.Research output: Contributions to collected editions/anthologies › Published abstract in conference proceedings › Research › peer-review
- Erdsystem, Klima und globale Stoffkreisläufe
Wolf-Ulrich Palm (Author) , Brigitte Urban (Author) , 01.03.2014 Berlin , p. 213-257 , 45 p.Research output: Contributions to collected editions/anthologies › Contributions to collected editions/anthologies › Education
- LAND: Klimaangepasste Kulturlandschaft - Leistungsfähiger Naturhaushalt und umweltschonende Landbewirtschaftung.
Brigitte Urban (Author) , Diana Rechid (Author) , Imke Mersch (Author) , 01.01.2014 Hamburg , p. 52-55 , 4 p.Research output: Contributions to collected editions/anthologies › Contributions to scientific reports › Research
Activities
-
The Implementation of Urban Nature-Based Solutions for Water Retention in the Delta Cities Hamburg and Rotterdam
Teresa Spantzel (Speaker) , Hendrike Clouting (Speaker) , Brigitte Urban (Coauthor)
Activity: Conference Presentations › Research
-
Sedimentological and high-resolution pollen and aquatic microfossil analysis of Middle Pleistocene lakeshore deposits of paleolithic site Schöningen 13 II-4, Germany
Mario Tucci (Speaker) , Kim J. Krahn (Coauthor) , Brigitte Urban (Speaker) , Antje Schwalb (Coauthor)
Activity: Presentations (poster etc.) › Research
-
A radical reassessment of the stratigraphy, palaeoenvironmental processes and dating of the Middle Pleistocene deposits at Schöningen, northern Germany
Charles Turner (Coauthor) , Brigitte Urban (Speaker) , Thijs van Kolfschoten (Coauthor)
→Activity: Presentations (poster etc.) › Research
-
Middle Pleistocene interglacial environmental changes inferred from aquatic microfossils at the paleolithic site of Schöningen, Germany
Kim Jasmin Krahn (Coauthor) , Julien Pilgrim (Coauthor) , Brigitte Urban (Speaker) , Mario Tucci (Speaker) , Antje Schwalb (Coauthor)
→Activity: Presentations (poster etc.) › Research
-
Differentiating forest types using Terrasar-X spotlight images based on factor analysis
Dalia Farghaly (Speaker) , Emad Elba (Coauthor) , Brigitte Urban (Coauthor)
Activity: Presentations (poster etc.) › Research
Press / Media
-
Wechselwarm – das Wendland vor 80 000 Jahren
1 Media contributionPress/Media: Press/Media
-
Erprobung eines Verfahrens zur praxisnahen Bestimmung wasserbaulicher Maßnahmen zur Sicherung des ökologisch notwendigen Mindestabflusses kleiner Fließgewässer (TP 3.5 AP3).
1 Media contributionPress/Media: Press/Media
-
Moorforschung und Klimawandel
1 Media contributionPress/Media: Press/Media
Courses
⌄
This module deals with the basic principles of soil science. Topics include: soil-forming parent material; the factors and processes of soil formation; basic soil chemistry, physics and biology; and the formation and properties of different soil types, soil use and soil protection. Concurrently, the exercise aims at gaining experience in the classification and analysis of soil types and their environmental properties.
⌄
Im Kontext aktueller Projekte (Archäologie und Siedlungsgeschichte, Natur- und Bodenschutz) Erlernen von Untersuchungsmethoden zur Rekonstruktion der quartären Landschaftsgenese, Klima- und Umweltentwicklung anhand von Archiven (Moore, Sedimente und minerogene Böden). Probenahmetechniken, Torfarten- und Sedimentansprache, Aufbereitung der Proben im Labor. Einführung in die Palynologie (Pollen- und Sporenanalyse einschließlich anderer Mikropartikel), Mikroskopieren, Interpretieren und Rekonstruieren.
⌄
This part of the lecture focuses on the processes in the atmosphere and in the oceans that have special effects on environmental issues. The general circulation, wind systems as well as turbulent flows in the atmosphere will be discussed and the wind-driven surface currents as well as the thermohaline circulation in the oceans will be presented. The vertical mixing of near-surface water masses and the formation of deep water will be explained with regard to the continuance of anthropogenic inputs.
PROCESSES IN ATMOSPHERIC DISPERSION AND THE EXCHANGE BETWEEN OCEAN AND ATMOSPHERE
This part of the lecture gives a general introduction to the physical and chemical processes of gaseous and particulate trace substances in the lower atmosphere (troposphere) which pose a potential risk to humans and the environment.
In particular, the atmospheric cycles of anthropogenically emitted trace substances, vertical transport by uplift and turbulence and its significance for long-range transport as well as trace substances and processes of formation and transport of airborne substances which contribute to the acidification and eutrophication of ecosystems or which are responsible for the formation of low-lying ozone will be explained.
TRANSPORTS IN THE SOIL AND TRANSPORT OF SEDIMENT IN RIVERS AND ESTUARIES:
This part of the lecture deals with the essential soil physical, soil chemical and soil biological properties in connection with mobility and transport of substances. Practical research projects are used as examples for sediment transport, deposition processes and the behavior of sedimentary substances in soils.