Research Projects

Ecosystem Service Change

In a context of continuous land use change and telecoupled relationships, we investigate the effects of land management on ecosystem services and their contribution to human well-being. We use different approaches to assess potential supply, use and demand, including people’s preferences and values. In turn, we look at how management is related to aspects of equity and the distribution of ecosystem services across different social groups, as well as the governance regimes that may contribute to a more equal access to ecosystem services.


Biodiversity and Health

There is significant evidence that exposure or contact with natural environments has human health and wellbeing benefits. In this working group, we aim to understand the impact of biodiversity on human health and well-being. We also investigate how people perceive, value and act on the environment in order to inform conservation. Collaboration across disciplines is of central importance for our research and we draw from environmental psychology, ecology, and geography for public health research designs.


Citizen Science and Biodiversity Change

The Citizen Science Working Group embraces a transdisciplinary approach we link biodiversity with people through citizen science. WIthin the citizen science working group we conduct biodiversity research projects using citizen science approaches. We are also interested in the effects of citizen science and assess how learning and science communication can be enhanced through ‘learning-by-doing’ in citizen science projects. Further, we investigate the citizen science impact on pro-environmental behaviour and well-being. We also assess policy development through citizen science and developed the Greenpaper for the Citizen science strategy 2020 for Germany through the ‘BürGEr Schaffen WISSen’ GEWISS study.

Biodiversity change is one of the biggest challenges facing mankind. To understand the complex patterns of this change, ecologists are dependent on the availability of monitoring data and the development of statistical tools to analyse these data. For most organisms, the available data that can inform on past trends are a heterogeneous mix of data types of varying accessibility. In the Biodiversity Change working group, we compile community datasets from heterogeneous data sources on various organisms and develop and apply statistical methods to analyze them.