Institute of Ecology
Organisational unit: Institute
Organisation profile
The Institute of Ecology is the biological and natural science department of Leuphana University of Lüneburg. Research focuses on the effects of global changes such as climate change and land use change on organisms and communities biodiversity loss as well as on biological and chemical processes. In cooperation with the human sciences, socio-economic factors of ecosystem research are considered.
Main research areas
Research foci at the Institute of Ecology are the effects of global change such as climate change and land use change on organisms and their communities and on biological functional and chemical processes. The focus is on the causes and effects of declining animal and plant populations as well as current biodiversity loss and the associated changes in abiotic and biotic ecosystem functions. In collaboration with human science research groups at Leuphana University, socio-economic factors of ecosystem research are also jointly considered.
Experimental research takes place both in laboratories, in greenhouses and in open spaces at Leuphana University. Further, many investigations take place in cultivated landscapes and in urban areas. The field studies are carried out in various countries of the temperate and Mediterranean latitudes and the tropics and sub-tropics, but also regionally, e.g. in Lüneburg and the Lüneburg Heath. Research cooperations exist with many different national and international universities and non-university institutions such as local nature conservation organizations and schools. Particularly noteworthy are the cooperations with the Alfred Töpfer Academy for Nature Conservation and the biosphere reserve administration Niedersächsische Elbtalaue.
The courses range from basic and advanced courses in various sub-fields of ecology and biology, including the performance of experiments in laboratory practicals and in the field, to interdisciplinary courses in the Bachelor's and Master's programs.
In interdisciplinary courses, contents from the fields of landscape ecology, botany, soil ecology, zoology, genetics and nature conservation are linked together, as well as courses that combine different disciplines of the natural sciences with those of the human sciences.
FOR 5501: A social-ecological systems approach to inform ecosystem restoration in rural Africa. Subprojekt SP3: Designing and implementing restoration governance for entvironmental justice
Loos, J. (Project manager, academic)
01.05.23 → 30.04.27
Project: Research
FOR5501: A social-ecological systems approach to inform ecosystem restoration in rural Africa. Subprojekt SP7: A living lab for social-ecological restoration in western Rwanda
Temperton, V. (Project manager, academic)
01.05.23 → 30.04.27
Project: Research
Förderung der Regelprofessur im Fach Ökosystemfunktionen im Rahmen des Professorinnenprogramms an der Leuphana Universität Lüneburg
van Riesen, K. (Coordination) & Klein, A.-M. (Project manager, academic)
Federal Ministry of Education and Research
01.04.10 → 31.05.13
Project: Individual grant
GCEF: Global Change Experimental Facility
Haider, S. (Project staff) & Auge, H. (Project manager, academic)
01.01.13 → …
Project: Research
GrassSyn - Biodiversity of Brazilian grasslands and savannas: patterns and drivers, ecosystem services, and strategies for conservation and restoration
Overbeck, G. E. (Project manager, academic), Temperton, V. (Partner), Anand, M. (Partner), Santiago, B. (Partner), Carlucci, M. (Partner), Dechoum, M. (Partner), Durigan, G. (Partner), Fidelis, A. (Partner), Guido, A. (Partner), Menezes, L. (Partner), Müller, S. (Partner), Rosenfield, M. F. (Partner), Sampaio, A. (Partner), Sosinski, E. (Partner), Staude, I. (Partner), Tornquist, C. G. (Partner), Turchetto, C. (Partner), Veldman, J. W. (Partner), Vélez-Martin, E. (Partner) & Wiesmeier, M. (Partner)
01.01.20 → 31.12.22
Project: Research
GrünlandVielfalt: Ökologische und gesellschaftliche Grünland-Transformation in der Ise-Niederung"
Petersen-Schlapkohl, U. (Project manager, academic), Temperton, V. (Partner) & Ernst, L. M. (Project staff)
01.10.22 → …
Project: Research
Halboffene Weidelandschaft Höltigbaum
Härdtle, W. (Project manager, academic)
10.03.00 → 26.03.09
Project: Research
SESyP: Identifying social-ecological System Properties benefiting Biodiversity and Food Security
Fischer, J. (Project manager, academic), Hanspach, J. (Coordination), Schultner, J. (Coordination), Dorresteijn, I. (Coordination), Collier, N. (Coordination), Dugo, G. S. (Project staff), Rodrigues, P. (Project staff), Jiren, T. S. (Project staff) & Manlosa, A. O. (Project staff)
01.06.14 → 31.05.19
Project: Research
PopGeneLand: Impact of contemporary and historical landscape structure an neutral and adaptive genetic markers in ground beetle populations
Aßmann, T. (Project manager, academic) & Drees, C. (Project staff)
01.03.11 → 30.04.18
Project: Research
Impacts of plant invasions on the taxonomic, phylogenetic and functional homogeni-zation of mountain ecosystems across a broad latitudinal gradient
Haider, S. (Project staff), Pauchard, A. (Project manager, academic), Cavieres, L. (Project manager, academic), Bustamante, R. (Project manager, academic), García, R. A. (Project manager, academic) & Marticorena, A. (Project manager, academic)
01.01.18 → 31.12.22
Project: Research
Importance of Resource Diversity to stingless bees in Australia
Leonhardt, S. (Coordination)
15.12.10 → 31.01.14
Project: Research
INPLAMINT: Increasing agricultural nutrient-use efficiency by optimizing plant-soil-microorganism interactions
Temperton, V. (Project manager, academic), von Wehrden, H. (Project manager, academic), Brüggemann, N. (Project manager, academic), Rillig, M. C. (Project manager, academic), Schloter, M. (Project manager, academic), Müller-Lindenlauf, M. (Project manager, academic), Bonkowski, M. (Project manager, academic), Koller, R. (Project manager, academic), Kage, H. (Project manager, academic) & Armbruster, M. (Project manager, academic)
Federal Ministry of Education and Research
01.04.15 → 31.03.18
Project: Research
INPLAMINT II: Increasing agricultural nutrient-use efficiency by optimizing plant–soil-microorganism interactions
Temperton, V. (Project manager, academic)
Federal Ministry of Education and Research
01.04.18 → 31.05.21
Project: Research
Individual plant growth and branch demography as a function of species richness and composition (FOR 891 - Teilprojekt 02)
Härdtle, W. (Project manager, academic)
01.02.11 → 26.08.15
Project: Research
DFG FOR 891-TP02 Individual plant growth: Individual plant growth and plant demography as a function of species richness and composition (FOR 891 - Teilprojekt 02)
Härdtle, W. (Project manager, academic)
01.01.08 → 10.11.11
Project: Research
Influence of degradation-resistent antibiotics and their transformation products from veterinary medicine on herbivorous and nectarivorous insects
Bolek, R. (Project manager, academic), Kümmerer, K. (Project manager, academic), Klein, A.-M. (Project manager, academic), Leonhardt, S. (Project manager, academic) & Pufal, G. (Project manager, academic)
01.03.13 → 28.02.14
Project: Research
Innovation Plus 2021/2022 Nr. 64
von Wehrden, H. (Project manager, academic)
Ministry of Science and Culture of the State of Lower Saxony
01.01.21 → 31.12.22
Project: Teaching
INPLAMINT 3: INPLAMINT - Erhöhung der landwirtschaftlichen Nährstoffnutzungseffizienz durch Optimierung von Pflanze-Boden-Mikroorganismen-Wechselwirkungen (Teilprojekt F)
Temperton, V. (Project manager, academic)
Federal Ministry of Education and Research
01.06.21 → 31.12.24
Project: Research
RAMWASS: Integrated decision support system for risk assessment and management of the water-sediment-soil system at river basin scale in fluvial ecosystems
Urban, B. (Project manager, academic)
European Commission DG Research - 6. Research Framework Program
01.09.06 → 15.01.11
Project: Research
Internationale wissenschaftliche Veranstaltung "On the Generalization of Newtons Experimentum Crucis", Berlin, 19.-22.09.2010
Grebe-Ellis, J. (Project manager, academic)
17.06.10 → 27.01.11
Project: Scientific event