The Institute of Landscape Ecology (ILÖK)

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.

Changing environmental conditions and processes pose a challenge to science and to university graduates – ILÖK meets that challenge and works on the pressing duties.

Key aspects of research are biogeochemical fluxes, vegetation ecology, community ecology as well as ecological planning. These aspects are also the strengths of the institute on the national and international scale.

By nature, the study of Landscape Ecology is internationally oriented. The global ecological changes, borders of ecosystems, regional processes in nutrient cycling, and migration of organisms do not follow political borders. We maintain close cooperation with many universities and with public and private organizations within and outside Europe.

The institute is part of the Faculty of Geosciences at the University of Münster (WWU).