GERMAN PALEONTOLOGY IN THE EARLY 21ST CENTURY

German paleontology has a long tradition and is still very active and innovative in many fields. Fields with the highest impacts are Neogene to Recent micropaleontology with paleoceanographic and climate focus as well as geobiology and paleoecology. Systematic paleontology is well represented in Germany and leading taxonomic expertise is present for many groups although the impact of this research is necessarily low. Conservation of this expertise is important but visibility should be enhanced by cooperation with researchers from other disciplines. Analytical paleobiology is too weak in Germany with a few exceptions, as is the deep-time perspective of evo-devo research and efforts should be made not to fall further behind here. The greatest risk for German paleontology is the continued closure of university departments and the replacement of retired paleontologists by non-paleontologists. This threatens the future of our students in science and the paleontological research community may fall below a critical mass which is needed for innovative research. Some of these problems fall in the responsibility of the paleontologists themselves (e. g., lack of innovative approaches, apparent absence of practical/economic applicability, tactical mistakes) but others are the result of administrative actions to save or shift resources independent of the quality of research and teaching.