Institute of Landscape Ecology

Welcome to the Institute of Landscape Ecology (ILÖK) at the University of Münster!
We at ILÖK are environmental scientists working on relationships within and between atmosphere, biosphere, pedosphere, and hydrosphere. Interactions between the ecosystem compartments of a landscape and the sustainable development of landscapes in the wake of changes in land use and global processes are within the focus of our work. We use experimental scientific methods, often in interdisciplinary approaches. more about ILÖK ...

News

Nesting in the muck

[13.05.2013] Why do black larks in the Kazakh steppe move to abandoned cereal fields and why do they build large “pavements” of horse and cattle dung around their nests? Together with colleagues from Kazakhstan, England and the Netherlands, Dr Johannes Kamp (Working Group Ecosystem Research) investigates this question. From field experiments, the scientists hope to gain insight into the evolutionary reasons of using dung in animal nests. Updates from the field are given in the blog.
further information on projects on steppe ecosystems in Kazakhstan

SASCHA at the LAMA status conference 2013

[06.05.2013] Members of several SASCHA subprojects joined the Status Conference 2013 of the BMBF-Research Programme “Sustainable Land Management“ in Berlin from 17th to 19th of April 2013. The SASCHA-"market stand" was visited not only by many colleages from other projects within the programme but also by Prof. Dr. Klaus Töpfer, Executive Director of the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) in Potsdam and former german federal minister, who just returned from a journey to Siberia. more...

Impact of long-term hydrologic change on carbon sequestration and methane release in northern peatlands

[02.05.2013] The German Science Foundation supports a research project of the Hydrology Group (Christian Blodau) for a duration of three years.  Climate models predict substantially wetter winters and drier summers in wide areas of the northern temperate and boreal zone, entailing a stronger hydrologic dynamics in peatlands. As a consequence changes in vegetation communities, water and carbon cycle are expected and may cause a positive feedback on climate change. more...

Successful Symposium for scientists and students

[30.04.2013] The symposium entitled "New developments in restoration research and applied ecology" was held from 26th to 28th of April 2013 to bring together international researches to discuss current reserach topics and to plan joint projects.  Further information...

Vacancy: Position in carbon and nutrient dynamics in South Patagonian bogs

[18.03.2013] At the Institute of Landscape Ecology the Working Groups Ecosystem Research and Hydrology are seeking for a project scientist to investigate carbon and nutrient dynamics in South Patagonian bog ecosystems. Further information can be found in the job advertisement

More butterflies in the forest - Cutting back trees in the traditional way has a positive effect on bio-diversity / Getting wood for energy sustainably

[28.02.2013] Woodland butterflies are among the most endangered butterflies in Europe. Their habitat is sparse forests of the kind that were once plentiful in Central Europe. Landscape ecologists from Münster University have now for the first time studied how a traditional form of woodland usage, whereby selected trees are heavily cut back over decades, affects communities of various species of woodland butterflies. The conclusion they have come to is that if this method were more widespread there would be significantly more butterflies in the forests of Europe. The results are being published in the March issue of the journal "Biological Conservation" more...

Regulation of carbon sequestration and methane release in peat soils

[08.01.2013] The German Science Foundation supports a research project of the Hydrology Group (Christian Blodau) for a duration of three years. Within the project, which covers both hydrological and biogeochemical aspects, it will be tested to what extent gas and water transport control the mineralisation of organic substance and the release of methane from peat soils.  The relation will be causally and mechanistically analyzed using both stable isotope and thermodynamic approaches. It is planned to use the acquired knowledge to further develop simulation models of coupled water and carbon cycling in peatlands.

Science at the end of the world

[20.12.2012] The German Research Foundation will fund a 3-year joint on south hemispheric peat bog ecosystems in Tierra del Fuego. The partners are the Working Groups Ecosystem Research (Till Kleinebecker) and Hydrology (Christian Blodau) of the Institute of Landscape Ecology and the Research Group Regional Hydrology (Lars Kutzbach) of Hamburg University. In the interdisciplinary project we will focus on carbon, water and nutrient dynamics of vascular plant- vs. Sphagnum-dominated bogs. In order to do this, we will utilize a broad range of approaches and methods which include gas flux measurements, peat core dating and measurements of the photosynthetic activity as well as field and laboratory experiments.