Ecology and Nature Management

The Ecology and Nature Management research group conducts basic and applied research in system ecology in natural, semi-natural and managed ecosystems and interactions with drivers of change both as climate, nutrients and invasive species. Research is conducted at process and organism level to ecosystem and landscapes level and thus covers many topics: 

• System Ecology: We study the relationship and feedbacks between organisms, ecosystem structure, processes and abiotic and biotic factors under natural and anthropogenic influence.
• Habitats and biodiversity: We conduct research to identify landscape elements, ecosystem structures and processes that maintain and promote biodiversity (water, dead wood, soil nutrients, topography, grazing).
• Organisms:  We study organisms and their interactions with the environment and interactions with other organisms (indicator species, invasive species, herbivory, grazing, competition, symbiosis).
• Biological processes: We study biological processes and how these can be used in management and restoration of habitats (succession, un-managed forests, natural hydrology, grazing).
• Adaptation: We study how ecosystems, ecological processes and organisms respond to drivers of change (climate, nutrients, catastrophic events etc) and evaluate the resilience and feed-back mechanisms.
• Management and restoration: We provide research in management and restoration of habitats for flora and fauna to quantify ecosystem service (e.g. biodiversity, plant protection, water protection, C-sequestration) and dissemination of best practice to inform land managers and policy makers. Hereby we work with Natura 2000 (Habitats and Bird Directives) and the national Danish §3.

The experimental basis: We deliver basic and applied research based on long-term monitoring and large scale experiments in natural and semi-natural ecosystems in forest, landscape and urban areas.

• INNO4EST - Innovative forests for curbing climate change while integrating biodiversity, nutrient retention, and recreation. 

• Grazing4Diversity – Effects of year-round grazing on biodiversity.  

• Grim, ækel og ukendt - Fokus på tovingers biodiversitet i Danmark (contact: majj@ign.ku.dk) 

• LIFE4Forest - Life Forest Fit for future - Øget kendskab til naturnær skovdrift   

• Silva Nova - Restoring soil biology and soil functions to gain multiple benefits in new forests (Novo Nordisk, Inger Kappel Schmidt, iks@ign.ku.dk) 

• NatColFLY: Natural forest colonization in Denmark: contribution to biodiversity and carbon storage.    (15. Juni Fonden, Sebastian Kepfer Rojas, skro@ign.ku.dk)  

• Vorsø – Den naturlige skovudvikling, - reference for nye naturreservater (15. Juni Fonden, iks@ign.ku.dk) 

• Branching Out (Research-based agency support, contact: chor@ign.ku.dk / hjrp@ign.ku.dk) 

• Naturlig dynamik i hedeplejen 

• Holistic SUDS Bio-curbs - innovation and documentation of pollutant removal, hydrology, evaporation and biodiversity (Funding: MUDP, 2020-2025, contact: chor@ign.ku.dk) 

• CLIMAITE – VKR-Climate Centre of Excellence -Climate change effects on biological processes in terrestrial ecosystems. 

• Biologisk Mangfoldighed i naturskov – Biodiversity in managed vs. unmanaged forest (contact: iks@ign.ku.dk)  

• INCREASE - An Integrated Network on Climate Change REsearch Activities on Shrubland Ecosystems. We coordinate the EU-funded infrastructure project of 7 long-term and large scale climate manipulation experiment in shrublands across Europe. 

• Nørholm Heath – Long term succession from heathland to forest (contact: iks@ign.ku.dk) 

• Ædelgranbarkbillen Cryphalus (contact: majj@ign.ku.dk) 

• Floating vegetated Islands for stormwater management (Funding: VUDP, 2022, contact: chor@ign.ku.dk) 

• Science Club (Funding: The Veloux Foundations, 2019-2021, contact: chor@ign.ku.dk) 

• Noice barriers; case Ballerup (Funding: GBHF, 2018-2023, contact: chor@ign.ku.dk) 

• Cover crops – low resource requiring management of the young forest (Funding: GBHF, 2016-2019, contact: chor@ign.ku.dk) 

• Optimising ecosystem services and recreational values of low maintenance SUDS in urban environments (Funding: VUDP, 2017-18, contact: chor@ign.ku.dk) 

• Sustainable and innovative methods for supporting biodiversity on fertile and productive soils. Research in habitat restoration techniques and genetic variation in commercially available seeds and their wild relatives. (Funding:15. Juni Fonden, 2016-19, contact: chor@ign.ku.dk) 

If you are looking for MSc or BSc project opportunities, please use the list of former theses or our list of projects to generate your idea or ask  

We offer Master and Bachelor projects within a wide range of topics, see topics and ideas underneath.

Nature Management and the effects on ecosystems 

• Management options of semi-natural ecosystems and biodiversity, 

• Invasive species, introduction pathways, distribution and management 

• Management of semi-natural ecosystems and trade-off between ecosystem services 

• Effects of urbanization on Biodiversity  

• Grazing in nature management 

• Natural ecosystem dynamics in nature management  

Biodiversity in forest 

• Biodiversity in different tree species and forests of different age 

• Development of forest understory vegetation in young forests, 

• Indicators for biodiversity in forests 

• Management and trade-off between ecosystem services 

• Forest grazing, biodiversity and natural regeneration 

• The influence of forest structure on biodiversity 

• Natural hydrology in forests and impact on biodiversity 

• Drivers and effects of forest Microbiome 

• Forest structure and bird diversity 
• Community-based forest management and biodiversity 

Climate change and ecosystem processes and function 

• Climatic changes and impact on plant competition 

• Interactions between climate and other drivers of change (pest insects and nutrients) 

• Climate change effects on nutrient cycling and leaching losses of nutrients 

• Impact of extreme events versus mean changes in climate on ecosystem processes 

• Optimizing Nature-based-solutions to support biodiversity in urban and rural areas 

• Innovation of Nature-based-solutions to mitigate negative effects of climate change 

Ecological restoration and/or conservation 

• Ecological restoration for restoring degraded, damaged, or destroyed ecosystems  

• Ecological engineering to restore sustainable ecosystems 

• Conservation translocation for reintroduction or mitigation of species and habitat loss  

• Active interventions to restore habitats 

• Management/grazing/rewilding as tool to restore ecosystems   

Course coordination

• Biodiversity in Urban Nature (MSc, 7.5 ECTS) 

• Biodiversity in Managed Forests (MSc, 7.5 ECTS) 

• Field Course in Nature Management (MSc, 7.5 ECTS) 

• Nature Management and Biodiversity (BSc, 7.5 ECTS) 

• Pest and Diseases of Trees in Forests and Urban Areas (BSc, 7.5 ECTS) 
• Practical Insect Ecology (MSc, 7.5 ECTS) 

Teaching 

• Botany of Urban and Landscape Plants (BSc, 7.5 ECTS) 
• Methodology and Sampling in Environmental Management (MSc, 7.5 ECTS) 
• Naturressourcer – forvaltning og økonomi (BSc, 7.5 ECTS) 

• Practice & Aesthetics in Landscape Architecture (BSc, 15 ECTS) 

• Plants and plant growth in urban areas (Prof. BSc, 15 ECTS) 

• Plants and Technology in Landscape Architecture 1 (BSc, 15 ECTS) 
• Planting Design (BSc, 7.5 ECTS)

• Thematic course 1: Ecology and management of nature and semi-nature areas (MSc, 15 ECTS) 

The group collaborates with several national and international institutes, scientists and land managers: 

The European Heathland Network - The European Heathlands Network has been established to enable all people involved or interested in ecological research, conservation of wildlife, and in policy formulation and implementation in relation to European heathlands to meet, to stimulate discussion, to promote communication, to further the understanding of heathland ecosystems and to disseminate information as widely as possible. (Contact: Inger Kappel Schmidt iks@ign.ku.dk)

INCREASE – An Integrated Network on Climate Change REsearch Activities on Shrubland Ecosystems. INCREASE is an EU-funded network of large-scale field experiments for studies of climate effects on vulnerable shrubland ecosystems in Europe. Facilities and partners in Hungary, University of Tuscia, Italy, CREAF, University of Barcelona, Spain, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, CEH, Bangor and Bangor University, UK and University of Copenhagen and Technical University of Denmark, Denmark. In Denmark we have two large scale climate experiments with manipulations of temperature, precipitation and atmospheric CO2.

GFBI – Global Forest Biodiversity Initiative. An international multi-stakeholder team of foresters and forest scientists, supporting cutting-edge research and policy making in forest sciences and related areas. As a platform for international forest education and research dissemination, GFBI is dedicated to the service of global, regional, and local communities. 

TeaComposition – Global Litter Decomposition Study. Aims to study long-term litter carbon dynamics and its key drivers at present and predicted climate scenarios worldwide using a standard protocol. The obtained common metric will provide a strong tool for inter-site comparison within the network as well as within other global networks. Harmonized data on global litter decomposition are of great relevance for scientists, policymakers, and for education of the next generation.  

Bottoms-up (COST Action) - The Action challenge is to increase the degree of sustainability of European temperate forest management for biodiversity. The Action will gather the most comprehensive knowledge of European multi-taxonomic forest biodiversity through the collaboration of research groups that collect data locally. It will adopt a bottom-up approach, by establishing a synergy of local research efforts to collect information on multi-taxon biodiversity, structure and management, to inform sustainable forest management. 

Soil BON Foodweb - Soil BON Foodweb is a voluntary initiative established in 2021 to assess drivers and functions of soil animal biodiversity and interactions in soil food webs on a global scale. The Soil BON Foodweb Team (SBF Team) is an extension of the Soil Biodiversity Observation Network (Soil BON). We share sampling sites with Soil BON, contribute to joint data analyses, and have similar overarching goals, but focus on soil animal communities across micro-, meso-, and macrofauna (contact: Inger Kappel Schmidt, iks@ign.ku.dk)

Silva Nova – The aims of Silva Nova are to resolve barriers for successful restoration and develop landscape-scale afforestation strategies that optimize productivity and biodiversity, while generating knowledge on the trees, ground vegetation, soil fauna, and microbiome nexus and its effects. Silva Nova is a collaborative effort between the universities of Copenhagen (DK), Leiden (NL) and Tartu (EE), that in 2021 received a six-year grant from the Novo Nordisk Foundation.  

LTER-DK – Long term ecological research in Denmark. Other partners are DTU-env, AU-EcoScience (Contact: Inger Kappel Schmidt iks@ign.ku.dk)