What a Mass! - Extinction past, present and future!
Master Conference 2018

Day 1:
Dinosaurs! Trilobites! Meteorite impacts! Mass extinction events have undoubtedly shaped Earth’s history. We aim to present an overview of mass extinctions that have occurred in Earth’s history through movies, expert interviews, talks, and presentations. Join us as we explore the causes, impacts and the significance of the mass extinction events right from the Precambrian through the “Big Five”, and recognize how these devastating events had an impact on the evolution of life as we know it!
Day 2:
Mankind has a negative impact on the planet while they are trying to exploit the surrounding natural resources for survival. Since the industrial age, the atmospheric CO2 concentration has increased at a rate that has never recorded in the earth history. In addition, the global biodiversity is at risk and the extinction record of species is at high rates. The question is, are we heading to the sixth mass extinction?
Interviews and Guest Speaker
12.02.2018 - Ocean: Rise and Fall of Life - Precambrian to Mesozoic
9:45 Discussion: The linkage of eukaryotic algae to Snowball Earth Application of Gas Hydrates for Energy
Dr. Christian Hallmann, MPI-Forschungsgruppe Organische Paläobiogeochemie, Universität Bremen
11:45 Interview: Experts’ view on the Causes, effects and evidences in the geologic record of the Triassic – Jurassic Extinction event
Dr. Sylvain Richoz, Department of Geology, Lund University, Schweden
Dr. Jens Lehmann, Fachbereich 5 Geowissenschaften, Universität Bremen
12.02.2018 - How to kill nearly all life - Mesozoic to Anthropocene
14:45 Eingeladener Vortrag: Post Impact Induced Hydrothermal Activity & Astrobiological Implications
Evangelos Christou, Masterstudent
Fachbereich 5 Geowissenschaften, Universität Bremen
13.02.2018 - Are we already there yet - Anthropocene
9:30 Interview: Ocean Acidification
Prof. Dr. Heiko Pälike,
Fachbereich 5 Geowissenschaften & MARUM,
Universität Bremen
13.02.2018 - Entering the sixth mass extinction - Anthropocene
13:25 Keynote: Insects and the sixth mass extinction: A wake-up call from the perspective of Earth´s history
Dr. Jens Lehmann, Fachbereich 5 Geowissenschaften, Universität Bremen
Further information: