Agricultural Ecosystems
Agricultural ecosystems comprise 30 % of the Earth’s surface. They provide ecosystem services including food and non-food biomass production, carbon sequestration, nutrient cycling, and climate regulation. Agricultural ecosystems serve as important habitats for many wild plant and animal species. Management practices used in agricultural ecosystems determine the state of the global environment.
The aim of the research area Agricultural Ecosystems is to advance our understanding of biomass formation, nutrient cycling, carbon sequestration, and other key processes. This fundamental research helps to develop strategies for sustainable management of agricultural systems in a changing environment including innovative farming techniques in organic agriculture, sustainable intensification, and digital farming technologies.
Project highlights
Get an insight into the research of Agricultural Ecosystems based on selected projects.
Biodiversity Exploratories
BonaRes
SIGMA
- digisens – Reduction of nitrate emissions through digital nitrogen management and sensor-based fertilization in the Burghausen/Burgkirchen model region (Prof. Hülsbergen)
- EFFECT – Environmental public goods from farming through effective contract targeting (Prof. Sauer)
- FOR 3000 – Ecology and Evolution of Intraspecific Chemodiversity of Plants (Prof. Weisser)
- Fawn rescue – Reduction of mowing deaths in wildlife using fawns as an example (Prof. Menzel)
- GRASSWORKS – What works and why in grassland restoration in Germany (Prof. Kollmann)
- Green-Topping – Plant and evaluate the establishment of regionally adapted seed mixtures to increase the multifunctionality of medium-intensity grassland (Prof. Kollmann)
- NutriB2 – Nutrition as critical link between Biodiversity and Bee health (Prof. Leonhardt)
- FOR 5000 – The Jena Grassland Biodiversity Experiment (Prof. Weisser)
- Taxon-OMICS New approaches for discovering and naming biodiversity: Jungle Genomics (Prof. Schäfer)
- WebMan – Web-based nutrient management in organic farming (Prof. Hülsbergen)
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ProBio
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BonaRes
Soil as Sustainable Resource for the Bioeconomy (Prof. Kögel-Knabner)
The Jena Experiment
One of the longest-running biodiversity experiments in the world (Prof. Weisser)