Lecture with Žiga Zwitter, Univ. of Ljubljana, Faculty of Arts, Dep. of History, hosted by AAU, Institute of Social Ecology

The lecture discusses three main components of the material environmental history of Eastern Alpine semi-natural meadows and pastures in the changing 16th and 17th century environment as reported in archival sources: (1) site conditions and their changes, recorded either explicitly or implicitly, (2) species composition or at least plant characteristics which were important for agriculture or medicine, and (3) human interventions in grassland ecosystems, e.g. in hydrological conditions and in plant species composition. In order to broaden the understanding of 17th century environmental history, a GIS map will be presented, which combines (1) georeferenced areas of meadows as recorded in the first detailed land use maps from the early 19th century and (2) results of a lidar survey of a part of the Julian Alps, belonging to the Southern Limestone Alps. Weiterlesen →

The concept of ecosystem services is increasingly used in research, land use management and policy making. For the concept to be both a successful application within research and a practical implication in decision making, several challenges must be addressed carefully. The IFF-Lecture and Research Seminar will present some results and suggestions developed within an ongoing EU-FP7 research project OpenNESS by two international recognized experts, ROY HAINES-YOUNG and KURT JAX.

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