Vegetation patterns in cultural landscapes – from uncovering relationships to action planning

In retrospect on 11 years at the Chair of Geobotany at the University of Freiburg (UFR) and on 11 years as geobotany professor at the Weihenstephan-Triesdorf University of Applied Sciences (HSWT) I compare the perspectives at either institute, focusing particularly on vegetation patterns in cultural landscapes. While research at UFR revolved around the understanding of vegetation in the landscape – “What are the drivers of the observed pattern?” – at HSWT, we focus on the application – “What is the target state and how far does the observed pattern deviate?” At both institutions, the integration of vegetation in the landscape and its dynamics, especially its dependency on land-use change, is of central interest. In addition to analyses at stand to landscape scale, at UFR, we also conducted studies at finer scales. While we considered land-use as a key factor for vegetation composition at UFR, we directly integrate agriculture as an actor into our studies at HSWT in research as well as in teaching. Several research projects focus substantially on agricultural landscapes.