BANU certification in field ornithology

On June 25, students at RPTU were able to acquire the"Field Ornithology" certificate (bronze) for the first time. The nationwide standardized certification according to BANU serves to prove the qualification of species experts for professional practice. The introduction was a great success: more than two thirds of 35 students achieved the required 80% of points. The task is to correctly identify fifteen species from a pool of 75 native bird species by song and a further fifteen species by appearance, without any aids. Knowledge of systematics, ecology, habitats and conservation expertise is also tested. Prof. Martin Entling, head of the Ecosystem Analysis working group at the Department of Natural and Environmental Sciences, has reoriented his course "Indicator Organisms: Breeding Birds" in order to align the exam with the nationally valid certificate.

Ornithology is currently gaining in importance at RPTU. For the first time in 2025, the "Digital Ornithology" course offered by Prof. Thorsten Stöck's Ecology working group at the Biology department in Kaiserslautern took place across campuses, i.e. with students from Kaiserslautern and Landau. In this course, birds on the North Sea coast were recorded using photos and sound recordings and identified using AI-supported techniques. In the future, Prof. Martin Entling is also planning to give the cross-campus "Ecology of the Alps" course a stronger ornithological focus. Birds play a major role as indicators of environmental change as well as in nature conservation and education, making them a useful addition to biology and environmental science degree programs as well as to the teaching profession.