Research Focus: Landscape
Development and Nature Protection

As a human habitat, the landscape is constantly subjected to development. Changing economic circumstances and various socio-cultural developments have had a strong affect on the landscape. Projects undertaken in this research area examine these changes and their causes. At the same time, they attempt to reduce the application-related negative effects of these changes and to understand the development of the landscape as a creative task at the intersection of conservation and change.

Current Projects:

• Integration of remote sensing techniques and information on ecosystem services to measure tropical forest degradation - A case study from the tropical rain forest of Ecuador
• Feasibility study on the designation of the European Greenbelt as World Heritage Site
• Possibilities and challenges for biodiversity assessment in the national REDD+ strategy of Ecuador
• Examinations of anthropogenic induced biodiversity and structural diversity on selected areas in the Southern Black Forest (Oberer Hotzenwald) and Swabian Alb (Mittlere Kuppenalb)
• Outdoor Recreation Destinations as Model Regions for Adaption to Climate Change and Protecting Biodiversity
• Public perceptions and preferences of urban cultural landscape - A case study in Suzhou, China
• Natural monuments
• Beaver recovery and adaptive management
• The potential of the Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber) for the renaturation of wetlands. - A case study in the area of the Wurzacher Ried, Baden-Württemberg.
• The Sweet Chenstnut in the Upper Rhine region - a tree species connecting people, cultures and landscapes
• Hiking hut guest books as an information source for the perception of nature and landscape - A case study on the socio-cultural value of wilderness areas in the Val Grande National Park (Italy)
• Stakeholder's participation in the spatial plan creation for the Nature Park Medvednica
• Conservation of traditional fruit varieties along the upper Rhine
• Ecosystem services of forests under different ownership structures
• The protection of forests under global biodiversity and climate policy
• Regeneration, structure and land use of decidous Quercus macrolepis forests on Lesvos (Greece)
• Cultural ecosystem services, quality of life and their role in private land use
• Floristic compositon and affinities of the Ethiopian coffee forest vegetation
• Indicators for biodiversity-oriented mangement of beech forests
• Landuse planning traditions and their integration with nature conservation instruments
• Protection of cultural landscapes using the example of mapping and research from Wölbäckern near Rastatt
• Owls and woodpeckers as indicators for close to nature forest management
• KlimLandRP - Climate and landscape change in Rhinland-Palatinate: Use, care and conservation of forests - Options for adaptions to climate change
• Game parks of the 17th an 18th centuries in Hohenlohe (Germany) - options for future management
• Forests and climate change: Future strategies for protection and sustainable use
• Classification, Evaluation and Management of Grassland in Europe (CEMGE) - Summerschool

Completed Projects:

• Historical meadow irrigation in the Freiburg valley
• Transeuropean Wildlife Networks (TEWN)
• System-based thinking in the treatment of nature as an element of education for sustainable development (SYSDENA)
• Planning the conservation and management of the Moeslepark garden monument and the Waldsee District in Freiburg
• Multifunctionality of coppice forests in Rhineland-Palatinate: Aspects of nature conservation and tourism
• Regional development and land use changes in traditional cultural landscapes – insights from the European periphery
• Genesis and alteration of historical vineyards, current perceptions and perspectives for their development
• Historical vineyards project - winegrowing, heritage preservation and nature conservation in tandem
• Origin and development of low-mountain range cultural landscapes in Germany and Japan
• Homeland - Landscape perception and landscape utilization by migrants
• Forest quality in the southwest of Mexico City: Assessment towards ecological restoration of ecosystem services
• Restoration and extensive grazing of wetlands - ecological and sociocultural evaluation of an nature conservation measure in the Syr floodplain (Luxemburg)
• Agroforest - New options for sustainable land use
• Enhancing the value of the UNESCO World Heritage Site 'Upper German-Raetian Limesthrough landscape management
• Forest expansion versus the preservation of open landscapes in Baden-Württemberg: Processes in space and time, Impacts upon landscape ecology, political control
• Forest as cultural landscape & biodiversity:
  'Revitalisation of the total dynamic of a traditional coppice with standards as a forest experience concept for recreation forests near urban centres'
• Prognosis on the expected landscape changes in Mueritz National Park (Germany) and landscape perception of both residents and tourists
• Analysis of landscape character in the region southern Oberrhein
• Protection and conservation of cultural-historical elements in the Black Forest
• Study of the hydrological, ecological and silvicultural conditions that favour common alder (Alnus glutinosa L.) disease caused by Phytophthora fungus in impoundment areas
• OFFENLAND Research Association: Management of Military Training Bases in the Pleistocene Lowland Areas of Northern Germany - Fundamentals of Nature Conservation and Practical Implementation
• Alpine Landscape Change in Val Grande National Park and in the Strona Valley. (Mutamenti dei paesaggi alpini nel Parco Nazionale della Val Grande e nella Valle Strona, versione italiana)
• Identification of the Social, Economic and Ecological Potential for Sustainable Regional Development Using the Apuseni Mountains in Romania as an Example
• Development of ecological criteria for forest management as a fundament for an incentive-based conservation strategy
• Development of Military Training Areas in Germany using Baumholder Military Training Base as an Example
• Historical Use, Ecological and Socio-Cultural Determinants of Natural Regeneration in Open Holm Oak Forests ( Dehesas) in Spain
• Geographical Landscape Systems in Seefelder Aach (LISA)
• Forests as a Cultural Landscape in the Context of a Future-Orientated Forestry Economy
• The Influence of Forest Grazing on Forest Dynamics
• Cultural Landscape Pilot Project in Hohenlohe, Germany
• Public Relations in Nature Protection: Participants, Strategies and Effects
• Integrated Landscape Development for the Former Rocket Base "Pydna"
• Landscape Ecology and Aesthetic Assessment of Energy Transferral Systems
• Environmental Studies in the Urban Areas of Cluj Klausenburg, Romania)