Research

In the project the historical development of the cultural landscape and land use change in the Swabian Alb biosphere area will be investigated. Land use change since around 1800 is being recorded. Historical maps serve as the basis for the creation of GIS shapefiles and enable spatial visualisation and analysis. In addition to the quantitative map evaluation of different land use types, the relevant literature on the development of cultural landscapes is analysed in order to explain the land use changes. One focus is the development of former land use in today's core zones of the biosphere area and the designation of historically old forest areas based on old maps since around 1800 in today's core zones.

The European-wide important mussel population of Unio crassus in the Amstettner Mühlbach is being analysed using the e-DNA method from water samples. The orientation of the project is both fundamentally orientated and also includes approaches to solutions for applied questions. Module 1 (Optimisation of the documentation of FFH species in a larger spatial context) tests and evaluates e-DNA samples for their usability in the context of nature conservation issues such as the occurrence of protected species, e.g. in acute water interventions such as flood protection structures, etc., as well as an essential tool for field mapping of protected organisms. Module 2 - Impact of mussel populations on aquatic ecology issues such as purification performance and effects on the nutrient content of watercourses is intended to deepen basic knowledge of ecosystem services in the context of nature-based solutions and is anchored more in basic research.

80 years after the catastrophic Danube flood of 1954, the extent of the flooding at that time and how the population and the protective water management authorities dealt with it are examined from an environmental historical, hydrological and aquatic ecological perspective. Numerous structural protection measures have been implemented since 1954, which have reduced the areas flooded by similarly large floods to this day. The comparison with the 2013 flood is intended to illustrate these differences.