Challenges in restoration ecology - plans for future research in Munich
Johannes Kollmann
dept. Agriculture and Ecology, Copenhagen University
The current erosion in biodiversity and the degradation of ecosystem services are major challenges for biological conservation. Often conservation comes virtually too late, and restoration of impacted ecosystems is the only appropriate option. This has been realized for mining landscapes, postindustrial regions and degraded ex-arable land. More recently, urban ecosystems and infrastructure projects call for innovative planning strategies where ecologists, landscape planners and architects cooperate. Thus, restoration ecology is a young discipline which has developed in response to current environmental problems; it has a problem-oriented and interdisciplinary approach drawing on classical theories and recent advances in ecology. Some people call restoration ecology the “acid test” of ecological theory.
The Technical University Munich has established one of the first chairs in restoration ecology in Europe, and it offers a great chance to contribute to this research field in the coming years. In the seminar I want to summarize the work I have been doing in the past decade or so, and to describe the research plans I have when moving to Munich. I will try to make the presentation interesting to a non-specialist audience, and I would love to see all colleagues and other members of staff that have helped me during my time in Copenhagen.
