Our expertise lies in unravelling how humans interact with their terrestrial environment and how global change is influencing these interactions. We use both quantitative and qualitative methods to explore current, past and future environmental changes. The institute is home to about 45 academic, research and technical »staff and teaches some 600 students in various »undergraduate and graduate programs.

Six research groups (listed alphabetically) examine how human actors, landscape structure, soils, water, vegetation and climate interact:

• Functional Plant Biogeography Research Group - Prof. Dr. Steven Higgins
• Geoecology and Physical Geography Research Group - Prof. Dr. Jürgen Runge
• Hydrology Research Group - Prof. Dr. Petra Döll
• Physical Environment Research Group - Prof. Dr. Jürgen Wunderlich
• Remote Sensing & GIS Research Group - Dr. Irene Marzolff
• Soil Science Research Group - Prof. Dr. Heinrich Thiemeyer