Soil and landscape ecology unit
The unit of soil and landscape ecology studies how land use and fragmentation of habitats affect plants and animals as well as ecosystem processes. Many of the organisms that we study carry out important ecosystem services in agriculture or forestry. For instance, bees are important for pollination of many crops, and earthworms are important for soil structure and nutrient cycling. Spiders and predatory beetles can control pest insects, and plants produce the basic resources for above-ground and soil food webs. We examine the landscape characteristics and management practices needed for plants and animals to survive, reproduce and persist in dynamic landscapes.
In our unit we adress questions related to:
- Food webs
- Ecosystem functioning
- Diversity and distribution of species
- Spatial population dynamics and dispersal
- Metacommunities
Research projects
Our research is divided between five broad research areas:
From top left: Alejandro Ruete, Tord Snäll, Joachim Strengbom, Erik Öckinger, Jan Bengtsson, Bengt Olsson, Lisette Lenoir, Samuel Johnson, Tomas Grönqvist.
From bottom left: Tryggve Persson, Anna Malmström, Camilla Winqvist, Maria Viketoft, Heléne Lundkvist, Astrid Taylor, Lina Ahlbäck, Pei Wang, Jan Lagerlöf.