Soil and landuse

The sustainable use of natural resources relies on an informed understanding of community and ecosystem processes. The Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystems (ITES) of D-UWIS is dedicated to providing the scientific basis for addressing societal challenges related to the effects of global, regional and local environmental and land-use changes on terrestrial ecosystem functioning, life-supporting ecosystem services and natural resource availability.

ITES develops and disseminates new knowledge, methods, and tools to foster the sustainable use and adaptive management of terrestrial ecosystems, particularly of forests and forested landscapes. For this purpose the research groups (1) elucidate relevant ecological processes and their interactions across scales in time and space, and (2) develop new ecosystem management strategies.

Current focus areas include ecosystem services and conservation in temperate and tropical regions, the effects of climate and land-use changes on soil and water resources and on natural hazards in mountain regions. ITES strives to link systems knowledge with target and transformation knowledge to secure the sustainable provision of ecosystem goods and services.

Research groups

• Prof. Harald Bugmann: Chair of Forest Ecology »»
• Prof. Jaboury Ghazoul: Chair of Ecosystem Management »»
• Prof. Hans Rudolf Heinimann: Chair of Forest Engineering »»
• Prof. Felix Kienast : Group Landscape Modelling »»
• Prof. Lian Pin Koh: Professur für Angewandte Ökologie und Naturschutz »»
• Prof. James W. Kirchner: Chair of Physics of Environmental Systems, Director WSL
• Prof. Dani Or: Chair of Soil and Terestrial Physics »»
• Dr. Peter Rotach: Group Forest Management »»
• Prof. Rainer Schulin: Chair of Soil Protection »»
• Dr. Jean-Pierre Sorg: Groupe de foresterie pour le développement »»