ZMT is the only scientific institute in Germany that exclusively investigates this ecosystems and their significance for nature and humans in an interdisciplinary approach.
ZMT houses an scientific diving centre and laboratories such as the Marine Experimental Ecology Facility (MAREE).
They are in close physical, biological and geochemical interaction as transitional areas between land and water and host high biodiversity.
Research at ZMT, therefore, spans across various disciplines and methodologies in natural and social sciences, and involves transdisciplinary stakeholders at science-to-policy and science-to-practice interfaces.
Active partnerships with academic institutions and actors from civil society, industry, and policy in the tropics form a transregional research network of immense scientific, technical, and societal expertise.
At this time the institute was dedicated to research and training exclusively for the protection and sustainable use of tropical coastal ecosystems and their resources.
[2] In 2010, Hildegard Westphal was appointed as new scientific director at ZMT and expanding the disciplinary spectrum and the size considerably.
In 2017, the ZMT was represented for the first time at side events with lectures and in discussion panels at the 23rd Conference of the Parties to the Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP23) in Bonn.
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung[4] and DUZ[4] reported, there were complaints from China in the run-up to the conference because of the mention of Taiwan on the ZMT homepage.
In order to facilitate the interdisciplinary work, ZMT activities are structured in cross-cutting programme areas, forming a matrix across the departments.
Departments and working groups: The main asset of ZMT lies in the systematic dialogue between key disciplines necessary for a holistic assessment of coastal and marine resources and their use as well as sustainable governance in the tropics.
ZMT conducts this alliance in a transparent manner and on an equal footing to cultivate debates and to provide the intellectual foundation for action from a scientific perspective.
The laboratory is equipped so that a number of environmental conditions such as temperature, nutrient and light availability as well as pH and water flow can be adopted.