Problem-Oriented Environmental Research: The View of Geography and Landscape Ecology on Science and Application Umweltproblemforschung: Wissenschaft und Anwendung aus der Sicht von Geografie und Landschaftsökologie

Abstract

Environmental research is a broad field of study. On the one hand, environmental research is carried out on the basis of specialised approaches and on the other, on an integrative (i.e. holistic) approach. In this contribution about environmental research, landscape ecology is understood as a man-nature-space system, the subject of which is the functional connection of nature, technology and society, according to Ernst Neef. Landscape ecology defines it as the so-called "landscape ecosystem". This model comprises the three very complex subsystems: the geosystem, biosystem, and anthroposystem. This complex subject of environmental research can only be adequately examined if the approach is integrative. This in turn means that the various sciences must scrutinise their approaches and methods, so that they do not over-specialise, and that they cooperate on a transdisciplinary basis. The results of this transdisciplinary research work are directed to the various sciences as well as the different fields of practice.