Research Unit Ecosystem Research and Landscape Ecology
We aim to understand effects of global changes on ecological processes in mountain areas"
The section Ecosystem Research and Landscape Ecology aims to understand effects of global changes on ecological processes in mountain areas, covering spatial scales from plants to ecosystems and landscapes, and temporal scales from seconds to days, years and decades.
Headed by Prof. Ulrike Tappeiner and composed of three interacting research groups, which collaborate in joint projects and publications, the research unit studies at the ecosystem scale how global changes affect the carbon, water and nutrient cycles as well as their interactions in mountain ecosystem, with an emphasis on trace gas and energy exchange between ecosystems and the atmosphere and how it is modulated by land management and changing climates.
At the landscape scale the research unit explores historical, current and future scenarios of projected land use and their consequences for biodiversity and multiple ecosystem services, and develops monitoring systems at local and regional scales in order to support sustainable decisions in human-environmental systems.
By contributing to several EU-projects, ESF programmes and COST Actions, the research unit is well integrated into international research activities and initiatives.