About us
The GfÖ working group can look back on more than 10 years of successful work. The working group serves as a platform for the exchange and dissemination of important research results on the ecology of drylands.
New topics in relation to global change have recently gained scientific and social importance, are moving to the center of interest and require cooperation with new partners.
The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment published by the UN in 2005 identified a number of foundations for human well-being that are essentially dependent on the functionality and services of ecosystems (e.g. primary production, natural resources, regulatory services, cultural services). At the same time, it was worked out that maintaining the functionality and performance of ecosystems under the influence of ongoing global change is one of the key challenges of the future from an ecological and social perspective. These correlations have led to new trends in international biodiversity research:
Focus on ecosystem functioning and services with particular attention to the relationship between biodiversity, resilience and the maintenance of ecosystem functions;
Consideration of biodiversity as an integral part of the terrestrial system, i.e. consideration of the interaction of biodiversity and ecological systems with the other compartments (e.g. water, soil, atmosphere);
Analysis of the effects of global change processes (e.g. climate change, land use change, political, economic and social change); which ecosystem reactions occur when; are there critical threshold values; which factors control the buffer capacity (resilience); role of the interaction of soil, water and vegetation; role of biodiversity for resilience and security of supply;
Consideration of the interplay between nature and society, especially in the context of (a) the social valuation of biodiversity and ecosystem functions, and (b) the development of management strategies and policies to steer global change processes towards more sustainability (e.g. in land use) or to adapt to change processes (e.g. in climate change).
Topics
The following global change processes are highly relevant in drylands:
Climate change. In addition to global warming, the increase in variability and extreme events (e.g. droughts, floods) are important in arid regions. In addition, drought will also increase significantly in regions with a previously favorable climate (such as Europe), making it necessary to adapt to climate change.
Increasing conflicts of use as a result of population growth, increasing needs and global markets with limited resources. Conflicts in connection with the production of renewable raw materials (conflict between food and energy production and biodiversity/resource protection) are particularly significant. This concerns the use of land, water and biological resources.
Institutional change. Institutions include norms, rules, conventions, instruments, but also organizations and authorities In this sense, institutional change in drylands is relevant in several respects: Abandonment of forms of use; activity of international organizations as a result of globalization; review of existing and design of new institutions to promote sustainability of land use, especially under climate change (adaptation strategies).
One topic that links all aspects is the question of the sustainable use of natural resources (land, water, biological resources) in drylands under the conditions of global change. It includes the acquisition of a comprehensive mechanistic understanding of the system, the development of decision-making tools and the design of integrated adaptive management strategies and policies. The “Desert Ecology” working group is predestined to become a platform for this topic. It can build on previous ecological research from the working group. The expanded topic would also make the working group interesting for other disciplines: Hydrology, soil research, meteorology, climate impact research, ethnology, (socio)economics (in particular resource and institutional economics), political science.
Team
© L. Raatz
Prof. Dr. Anja Linstädter
University of Potsdam
Biodiversity Research /Systematic Botany
Maulbeerallee 1b, R. 2.02
14469 Potsdam
linstaedter (at) uni-potsdam.de
+49 221-470-7905
https://www.uni-potsdam.de/de/ibb-biodiversitaet/index
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