Germany

Research information from infosysplus.org: Organisations and projects in Germany

Research projects - Germany (150)

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• Fortbildung von Fach- und Führungskräften aus Entwicklungsländern - Umweltgerechter Pflanzenbau

  6 month advanced training for agricultural scientists of the DPRK with special emphasis on virus detection methods.

• Aufforstung von tropischen Savannen in Nordbrasilien

  he project supports a Brazilian private company in Roraima (www.ouro-verde.com) in the large-scale afforestation of the tropical savannas with Acacia mangium Willd. The programme started in 1999. In particular, the following aspects are investigated: 1. Provenance selection. A total of 15 provenances are tested in terms of (i) survival rate, (ii) growth and yield, (iii) stem quality, (iv) timber quality, (v) natural resistance, and (vi) response to silvicultural treatment. 2. Growth and yield. Permanent monitoring plots are established to assess the overall performance of the species. 3. Silviculture. Production of high quality timber can only be assured through sound silvicultural practices. 4. Forest certification. Forest management shall consider adequately social, environmental, and economic aspects.

• Agent-Based Simulation of Sustainable Resource Use in Agriculture and Forestry

  Agent-Based Simulation of Sustainable Resource Use in Agriculture and Forestry

• Alternative Agriculture for a Sustainable Rehabilitation of Deteriorated Volcanic Soils in Mexico and Chile

  In Mexico and Chile the REVOLSO project tries to identify suitable cultivation practices by means of on-farm research on deteriorated volcanic soils with sustainable agriculture with principles of organic farming and agro-forestry to prevent high erosion rates in these soils. Aim of REVOLSO is the development of cultivation techniques used by small holders and follows up the changes of their living conditions, as well as investigates the acceptance of the new measures by the local population. Therefore, ten Partners (five institutions from different European countries and four institutions from Mexico and one from Chile) have formed several working teams in order to carry out five different work packages (WPs). These WPs are Cultivation Practices (WP1), Agro-Forestry (WP2), Soil Fertility and Ecology (WP3), Soil Erosivity and Erodibility (WP4) and Social and Economical Aspects (WP5) related to gender problematics in rural regions. Thanks to the nearly punctual financial support the members of the Consortium received by the EU in February 2002, REVOLSO was able to start its investigation activities without any delay and directly with the vegetation period.

• Analyse der forstlichen Entwicklungshilfepolitik und Ableitung von Handlungsfeldern

  The aim of the research project is to evaluate the experiences made with forest-related development cooperation policies (aid) during the last ten years, in order to formulate improved new development policies in forestry.

• Anthropogenic risk factors and management of biodiversity for rural livelihood around East African rain forests

  The research will focus on the Kakamega district of Kenya. The object of the study is a land use gradient centering on the Kakamega Forest from peri-urban land use systems with settlements and intensive plantation crops close to the city of Kakamega to the extensively used Kakamega forest margin (subsistence agriculture and agro-forestry). The subproject will (1) study the role of biodiversity on performance indicators of agricultural production and other economic activities, (2) determine the causative factors and social and economic implications of biodiversity and (3) propose options for the sustainable management of biodiversity.

• Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal diversity in an Ethiopian montane forest with special emphasis on nurse-tree effect

  Preliminary results from the ongoing work of a multidisciplinary study that aims at a scientific basis for a sustainable management of the Munessa-Shashemene forest as a model for other semi-decidouous forests of Ethiopia, reported the so-called nurse-tree effect. They documented higher density of regenerating native species under canopies of introduced Eucalyptus saligna, and E. globulus as compared to regeneration density in a natural forest. In such forest ecosystems, where seeds are dispersed without their mycorrhizal symbiont, tree species acquire a symbiont at the time of germination and the effectiveness of the existing AMF community is one important component of seedling establishment and growth. To get a better knowledge of the functioning of this particular ecosystem the work shall be complimented by investigation of the mycorrhizal status and the diversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal (AMF) communities colonizing the nurse trees and the regeneratin indigenous tree seedlings.

• Thematisches Netzwerk Bambus

  The use of bamboo increases within Europe due to its exceptional elastomechanical properties and due to its decorative nature. Fast growing bamboos are an interesting renewable resource and are available in Asia in big quantities. There is no tradition in Europe to plant an use bamboo and therefore the knowledge about the mechanical properties of bamboo and about its processing is not really widespread even under scientists, woodworkers and carpenters. The network brings experts from different countries in the world together and may help to overcome this lack of knowledge in Europe while the partners of the Asian countries may collect knowledge on typical European requirements with regard to raw-materials as wells as products made from bamboo.

• Benares as Imagined Waterscapes:Exploring the Social Spatiality of Everyday Water Use

  This project is concerned with the relationships between spatial practice and cognitive representations of environment in an urban setting. The focus of investigation is on the waterscape of contemporary Banaras from the perspective of the new cultural geography. Waterscape is understood as the totality of natural and built water resources such as rivers, ponds, tanks, (step)wells, and municipal water supply, which is imbued with different meanings by different urban-based actors being multifariously related to it.

• Conservação da Biodiversidade em Paisagens Fragmentadas no Planalto Atlântico de São Paulo

  The main objectives of the project are: * To relate habitat quality, fragment size, and connectivity to the diversity of selected taxonomic groups (small mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, soil organisms) and to the population biology of selected species; * To model the effects of fragmentation on biological processes; * To develop a strategy for an efficient network of conservation priority sites;

• BIOECON- BIOdiversity and Economics for CONservation

  Analyze and develop an institutional approach to maintain plant genetic resources for food and agriculture on farm-level. Case studies, Workshops, Conferences

• Biologische Folgenabschätzung und Bewertung von Züchtungsmaßnahmen beim Tier im Hinblick auf Produktqualität und Tiergesundheit

  This project is to generate reliable criteries for assessment of breeding measures. Emphasis is on the reproductive system, immune system and the brain in the large domestic species, but also poultry.

• Biologische Bekämpfung des Feuerbrandes auf der Basis des Antagonismus

  Development of antagonistic preparates for the Biocontrol of Fireblight as alternative to Streptomycin.

• Untersuchungen zur Bioregulation von Wachstum zur Bewertung der Leistungsfähigkeit und Tiergesundheit

  To investigate moleculare and physiological mechanisms of growth processes in farm animals.

• BIOTA East Africa (BIOdiversity Monitoring Transect Analysis in Africa)

  This project links a set of thematically and geographically strictly coordinated analyses of biodiversity conversion in the East African highland and montane rain forests. Analyses of biodiversity and its change are carried out mainly in the Kakamega forest, Kenya. The efforts are centred on the comparison of primary and secondary highland rain forests with small isolated fragments. Comparative studies will be carried out at Mount Kenya and other montane forest regions in Kenya and Uganda. Principal goal is the establishment of biodiversity observatories for long term monitoring, with main focus on the effects of man-made changes in biodiversity. Southern Arabia and Soqotra Project Group Five representative palaeo-african refugial areas have been selected to investigate plant diversity and structure of xero-tropical montane communities in southern Yemen and on Socotra. One main objective is to obtain information about the history of habitat fragmentation and its present effect on genetic diversity in selected groups of plants, insects and vertebrates.

• BIOTA Southern Africa (Biodiversity Monitoring Transect Analysis in Africa)

  Cooperative research of African and German scientists for the generation of policy relevant knowledge on maintenance and sustainable use of biodiversity The goal of BIOTA Southern Africa is to gain knowledge for decision makers for a feasible and sustainable management of biodiversity, by taking natural as well as socio-economic conditions into account. This interdisciplinary and applied research project concentrates on studies in Namibia and the western parts of South Africa. Since start of the pilot phase (2000), the investigation focuses on the change of biodiversity caused by different land use systems and intensities. Therefore, systematic comparative studies on land use alternatives at different thematic levels and spatial scales have been established.

• BIOTA West Africa (Biodiversity Monitoring Transect Analysis in Africa)

  BIOTA West Africa consists of ten subprojects that are part of the joint project BIOTA AFRICA. Each of the three main BIOTA projects aims in its subprojects --in exemplary, each other mutually complementing investigations-- at assessing * dimensions, * spatial and temporal patterns and * functional roles of biodiversity in some of the most important African ecosystems.

• Buffer Zones as an Instrument of Lasting Use of the Biodiversity of Rain Forests Based on the Example of Three Countries on the Eastern Slope of the Andes

  In order to develop and to take suitable action for the protection and preservation of tropical rain forests it has to be kept in mind how the diversity of the forests changes under different influences. Especially the implementation of lasting forms of use and their control makes it necessary to determine the anthropogenic influences. As all countries which have signed the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development's Agenda 21 in 1992 have committed themselves to monitor their biological resources, the development of monitoring systems is one of the most important tasks of the conservation of nature.

• Analyse der chinesischen Agrarmärkte nach dem WTO-Beitritt und Implikationen für den Weltagrarhandel und die EU

  Impacts of trade liberalisation after China's WTO accession on agricultural markets in China and the World

• CoCE- Conservation and use of the wild populations of Coffea arabica in the montane rainforests of Ethiopia

  The aim of the research project is to assess the diversity and the economic value of the Ethiopian coffee gene pool and to develop concepts of model character for conservation and use of the genetic resources of Coffea arabica in its center of diversity in Ethiopia. The concepts are to be based on the conservation of the montane rain forests as the natural habitat of the wild coffee populations, and the forest coffee systems as the traditional use of the wild coffee populations.

• Kakao-Atlas

  The German Cocoa and Chocolate Industry Foundation permanently aims to improve the knowledge and expertise on cocoa. In this context the foundation has initiated and financed the project under the name Cocoa Atlas Edition 2003, which was completed at the end of 2003. The atlas was compiled on the basis of a research project undertaken at the Institute of Applied Botanic of the University of Hamburg in scientifical cooperation with the Food Chemistry Institute of the BDSI and the Institute for Quality Promotion in the German Confectionery Industry. The idea for this atlas goes back to a publication by Böhle Biehl under the title “Handbuch Kakaobohnenprüfung” from 1961/1962.

• Community-oriented natural resource management and conflict transformation in the Eastern Province, Sri Lanka: The case of lagoon fisheries

  This research project aims at identifying and analysing opportunities and constraints to equitable, community-oriented natural resource management in times of conflict transformation and livelihood insecurity from an institutional, actor-oriented perspective. Empirical field work is being conducted in different lagoon fishing communities in Batticaloa district (Eastern Province), linking every-day problems of local resource use to different levels of institutional interaction, both within space and time. It is anticipated to identify suitable mechanisms of natural resource management which positively support conflict transformation while being environmentally sound and sustainable.

• Comparative Assessment of Different Processes for Pest Control

  The aim of this study consisted of, the examination and assessment of various applicable processes for the elimination of pests from cocoa beans and hazel nuts, as well as the demonstration of alternatives to pest riddance by methyl bromide. Firstly to the understanding of the subject matter the aim of the pest control, the most important stock pests as well as legal basis’ and restrictions for dealing with pest control substances are dealt with. There follows a description of essentials for the use of future pest control methods in practice. Under this falls chemical, physical and biological respectively bio-technical pest exclusion processes.

• Contribution of fog deposition to water and nutrient cycling in a subtropical mountain cloud forest

  This is part of a partner proposal to the DFG and the Taiwan National Science Council (NSC). An experimental ecosystem research study close to the Yuan Yang Lake (YYL) site, in the subtropical mountain cloud forest of northern Taiwan at 1650 m a.s.l. is proposed. The applicants aim to study the contribution of fog deposition to the hydrological and nitrogen cycle within a stand of Chamaecyparis obtusa var. formosana, which is an extraordinarily important cypress species of Taiwan, and which is being regenerated trough forestry activities lately. However, the water and nutrient cycles, and the specific physiology are not nearly understood. The fog frequency at the YYL esosystem research site is high, and fog deposition probably plays a key role in the biogeochemical cycles of the ecosystem.

• Ernteversicherung in Kasachstan: Optionen zum Aufbau einer nachhaltigen Institution in der Landwirtschaft

  A goal of the project is it to determine the effects of a high risk load on the productivity of the agrarian sector and to analyze possibilities for the introduction of an economically load-carrying and yield loss insurance corresponding to real market conditions on transformation conditions.

• Demographic change and its impacts on land use - SFB552/A1

  The intended work continues the regional analysis of the cultural landscape and its processes of change in the forest margin of the Lore Lindu National Park in Central Sulawesi (see first phase of the SFB 552). Whereas in the first phase the development of the population and settlement structure was analysed in relation to the historical and political background, the focus of the following investigation concentrates on the current demographic change and the associ-ated effects on the land use. The planned study aims at an actor-orientated ap-proach and focuses on the village level. The explanation of the cultural differ-entiation of the research area makes detailed studies necessary in order to reach a fair and realistic judgement of their complexity.

• Waldlücken-und Wuchsdynamik der Baumarten tropischer Bergregenwälder in Süd-Ecuador und Costa Rica

  no english description available, for german description please click the project link

• DesertNet: German Network for Research to Combat Desertification

  The German Competence Network for Research to Combat Desertification was founded to form a binding link between different scientists who aim to investigate the complex causes and effects of desertification in interdisciplinary research approaches. It also wants to involve policy makers and public institutions, as well as to link national expertise with international research. Desert*Net, as a network of scientist and experts, provides rational data outputs, gives advice on scientific methods and projects, and promotes the co-operation between and to institutions in Germany that work on various fields of desertification research.

• Determinants and Effects of Alternative Institutions for Natural Resource Management in Developing Countries

  With this research project we want to contribute to an understanding of the comparative outcomes of alternative property rights institutions for the management of natural resources in developing countries. The key factors and policies affecting the efficiency, environmental sustainability, and equity outcomes and the long-run dynamics of property rights regimes shall be explored. For this purpose an innovative methodology shall be developed which allows to address these issues empirically and to predict the impacts of particular policy measures and changes in external conditions.

• Entwicklung von biochemischen und molekularen Markern zur Qualitätssicherung bei der Primärverarbeitung von Kakao in Westafrika

  The main objective of the project is to put the practices for quality assessment of cocoa on a scientific base. Both the fermentation and the post-harvest processes will be analysed and evaluated microbiologically. Critical points have to be identified with the aim to minimise potential risks of spoilage by undesired microorganisms and ochratoxin A producing moulds. Thus the project will contribute to the safe production and distribution of foods in Europe. The project will provide new information on the role of the various groups of bacteria involved in the cocoa fermentation.

• Entwicklung bakterieller Pflanzenschutzmittel zur Bekämpfung von Krankheitsstress

  Bacterial communities of sugarcane, infected and not-infected with a plant pathogenic bacterium, were characterized in a collaboration with a research Institute in Cuba. The objective of this work is to find non-pathogenic colonizers that may be useful for plant disease control.

• Development of ecological apiculture and training of beekeepers in Yucatan und four other Mexican states

  no description available, please contact coordinating organisation for further information

• Entwicklung von nachhaltigen, integrierten Bekämpfungsstrategien gegen wichtige Thrips-Arten an Steinobst

  Collection of the population dynamics of important harming and arthrophobics. Laboratory and open land investigations to biology, ecology and effectiveness of harming and/or arthrophobics. Prognosis of the occurrence of parasits and arthrophobics. Development of biological procedures for the fight against agrarian parasits abroad the in and - release and promotion - mass breed and mechanization- side effects of plant protection agents on arthrophobics- aspects of the dangers for humans and the ecosystem, connected with plant protection agents * Study of the behavior from insects to the controlling of their reactions in the agrarian ecological system.

• Entwicklung von Keimplasma mit Phytophthora-Resistenz (Kraut- und Braunfäule) auf breiter genetischer Basis (Solanum-Arten) und züchterischer Anpassung an Langtagbedingungen

  Potato belongs to the crops with the highest chemical plant-protection demands, with their main part directed to Phytophthora infestans, the causative agent of late blight on foliage and tubers. Costs for plant protection and damage caused by late blight amount to 470 ¤ per hectare and year. For this reason, a long-term programme was started to select new sources of blight resistance among wild species and to introduce the genes for durable resistance into the cultural potato genome by six to seven cross steps.

• Development of standards for sustainable shrimp fishing

  no description available, please contact coordinatimg organisation for further information.

• Entwicklung von Strategien zur Bekämpfung des Andischen Kartoffelkäfers

  Development and testing of environmetally friendly biopesticides (Beauveria spp.) for control of the Andean potato weevil.

• Störung, Fragmentierung und Regeneration des atlantischen Regenwaldes in der Region Pernambuco im nordosten Brasiliens

  Rests(Leftovers) of the Atlantic rain forest are found in Pernambuco particularly on surfaces which can be used not agriculturally. Forest fragments are sprinkled in the northern part(section) of the federal state in the midst of sugarcane monocultures and are often limited to precipitous Talungen. Therefore, the woods(forests) are defeated disturbances which have an effect from the edges on the vegetation. To estimate(appraise) the long-term consequences of these disturbances on the regeneration capacity of the supplies, the flower biology and reproductive biology of important types of tree(tree species) is examined(investigated). Besides, is grasped the Blühphänologie is examined(investigated) is observed which conception success and which seminal beginning as well as the seminal germination and –etablierung as well as the age structure. The structural change of the vegetation from the edge to the central areas of the fragments is grasped by the elevation of plant-sociological parametres (Individuendichte, family diameter, family height etc.) in Transekten.

• Ecological shrimps production and processing of shrimp shells

  no description available, please contact coordinating organisation for further information

• Ökonomische und Ökologische Restrukturierung der Land- und Wassernutzung in der Region Khorezm (Usbekistan)

  The basic idea of the project is to designate part of the area currently used for agriculture for ecological purposes. Possible losses in agricultural production are to be compensated for through more efficient but sustainable land and water use based on the introduction of modern and profitable agricultural production systems. Project objectives: 1. Concepts for landscape restructuring in Khorezm, an intensively used agricultural region in the Aral See basin. The concepts are to contribute to a more effective and at the same ecologically sustainable land and water use. 2. Based on the concepts for sustainable management of natural resources, proposals for both legal-administrative and ecological restructuring measures are to be developed. 3. At the same time, scientific collaboration based on a close partnership between Germany and Uzbekistan in the field of development research is to be established. Here, special attention is to be given to the training of young scientists.

• Economic and ethical evaluation of biological diversity in the Cape Horn region

  •To jointly evaluate scenarios of nature conservation and socio-economic development on Navarino Island (Tierra del Fuego). •To include local aspects of environmental ethics into the evaluation process. •To support decisions on regional development strategies. •To assess the economic value of various biodiversity components on the island

• Economic impact assessment as a decision-making tool for resource allocation in horticultural research in East Africa

  Major Research Domain: economic impact assessment, vegetable production, horticulture, integrated pest management Goal: Contribute to sustainable vegetable production in Africa

• Economic valuation of indigenous breeds and how the loss of Animal Genetic Resources effects the welfare

  The research is going to value on farm animal genetic resources and thus measuring the potential of indigenous livestock breeds. The research will comprise an empirical study aiming to value on farm animal genetic resources and thus measuring the potential of indigenous livestock breeds. The approach can be divided into 2 mayor parts, namely an ex-post observation of the world-wide genetic spreading of indigenous breeds and an ex-ante approach based on data of identified disease resistances of indigenous breeds.

• Auswirkung der Flächennutzung auf biochemischen Zyklen des Wassers, des C und des N im Grasland von China

  Our goal is to further the understanding of the ecological and physiological mechanisms underlying grassland production and its other services and functions. We conduct studies at many scales—from the region to the cell.We also develop new methodologies for grassland research and other biological and environmental sciences.

• Physiologische, proteomische und genomische Charakterisierung von Mangan-Toxizität und Mangan-Gewebetoleranz bei Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata)

  Excess manganese (Mn) supply causes formation of visible brown depositions in the cell wall of leaves of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata), which consist of oxidized Mn and oxidized phenols. Since oxidation of Mn and phenolic compounds in the leaf apoplast was proposed to be catalysed by apoplastic peroxidases, induction of these enzymes by Mn excess was investigated. Indeed, peroxidase activity increased upon prolonged Mn treatment in the leaf tissue. Simultaneously, a significant increase in the concentration of soluble apoplastic proteins in “apoplastic washing fluid” (AWF) was observed.

• Freisetzung von Nährstoffen und organischer Substanz während des Abbaus von Chamaecyparis obtusa var. formosana Streu in einem taiwanesischen Bergwald

  High precipitation rates in Taiwan may result in a high risk of nutrient and dissolved organic matter losses from forest ecosystems with soil solution transport. In addition, frequently occurring typhoons have a strong effect on the annual amounts of litterfall in this region. Here we test the hypothesis that nutrient losses with soil solution significantly increase after exceptionally high litterfall inputs due to the quick decomposition of litter and the associated nutrient release. Furthermore we will quantify the role of dissolved organic matter for the overall mass loss during decomposition. To test the hypothesis we will experimentally manipulate the amount of litterfall in a warm temperate montane forest (Chamaecyparis obtuse var. formosana and Chamaecyparis formosensis). Soil solution chemistry will be investigated continuously in different depths. Element fluxes with soil solution will be calculated for control and manipulated plots. Decomposition studies with litterbags will be conducted to study decomposition dynamics and nutrient release from the litter.

• Paketantrag 'Boden und Umweltforschung' TP1: Auswirkungen landnutzungsabhängiger Bodengefügedynamik auf die präferenzielle Verlagerung von Wasser und gelösten Stoffen in `Paddy`-Reisfeldern in Abhängigkeit der Raumskala

  Based on similarities in soil mapping units, past training history, and level of degradation, two plots (1 acre) will be selected as demonstration/validation sites to illustrate the use of cellulose pulp as a soil amendment for improving revegetation success.

• Erarbeitung eines Wirtschaftsplanes für eine nachhaltige Teakholzplantage in Ghana

  Private forest industries in Ghana realised that succes in the sustainable management of forest plantation heavily relies on cooperation with the local population. The trial-plantation area is located 30 miles north of the city of Kumasi in the Ashanti-Region at the interface of the tropical moist semi-deciduous forest and the tropical savannah zones. The vegetation around the area is composed of grassland and some remnants of degraded natural forests. This region in Ghana is also called „transition zone“, because the grassland is gradually replacing natural forests.

• Erarbeitung von Managementplänen für eine nachhaltige Ressourcenbewirtschaftung einschl. ausgewählter forstlicher Nicht-Holzprodukte

  In cooperation with the GTZ-project 'Nature conservation at Mt. Cameroon' and the NGO-working group 'Rainforest' research is carried out for the sustainable utilization of moist tropical forests which are under heavy pressure from local communities. Tis resarch directly contributes to the elaboration of forest management plans. The focus is put on a gradual improvement of the stand structure and composition. Thus, the forest stands gain higher econmomic value which is also recognised by the local population which is interested in the survival of their natural resources.

• Einfluss von Feuer und Beweidung auf das Wald-Grasland-Mosaik in süd Brasilien

  * Study of processes explaining the development and the present interactions of the forest-grassland-mosaic and enabling modelling of further development/succession of the vegetation under different scenarios (e.g.. different forms of land managment). * Analysis and description of vegetation ecological criteria for the identification of conservation values in the forest-grassland-mosaic (e.g. endemic species/communities). * Development of methods for the evaluation of conservation values of the vegetation complexes of the hills (morros) aroung Porto Alegre, with a special focus on conservation and restoration value of rare species and natural or almost natural ecosystems. * Development of a system of protected area and of a land use concept for the Porto Alegre area, with the principal aim to steer urban development towards a sustainable direction. Integration of social, economic and political problems will be of importance for future planning processes.

• Umweltschonende, wertschöpfende Nutzung von Pflanzenproteinen und Nebenprodukten aus Getreide und Kartoffeln

  The direct use of plant protein is environment-friendly and healthy. Appropriate procedures to isolate the proteins and modifications of the proteins are required to promote the use of plant proteins as (novel) foods.

• Erarbeitung epigenetischer, molekularer und endokriner Regelmechanismen der Reproduktion bei landwirtschaftlichen Nutztieren

  The complex physiological mechanisms involved in the regulation of animal reproduction are investigated by in-vitro and in-vivo studies.

• Estimation of genetic parameters and design of a breeding programme for a llama population in the High Andes of Bolivia

  Livestock breeding predominates in the agriculture on the High Andes in Bolivia, because of the extreme environment that limits the cultivation of crop plants. Genetic improvement of the various performances can lead to small but cumulative increases in the efficiency of production. The genetic basis of performance (meat and fibre production, fertility and longevity) is not yet sufficiently characerised. Estimates for heritabilities and genetic or phenotypic correlations between traits are not available. The scope of the project is to provide this type of information and to investigate possible pathways for practical selection. Calculations about the comparative efficiency of different selection schemes will be carried out and suggestions about possible practical breeding plans will be presented.

• European Information System on Agricultural Research for Development

  EARD-InfoSys+ aims at improving the access to European web resources in the areas of agriculture, environment, forestry, fisheries, socio-economics, rural-transformation and many others, devoted towards development. It also aims at creating an information and communication platform, as service for a multitude of institutions and parties all over Europe involved in scientific development cooperation.

• Evaluation of biological diversity of land-use systems in a mega-diverse region of Ecuador - BIO SYS

  The objectives of this research project are the determination and evaluation of biological diversity of land-use systems in the bio-geographical region “Chocó-Manabí” in north-western Ecuador. The aim is to evaluate species richness, ecosystem functioning and environmental goods and services in order to provide a scientific and operational basis for the implementation of payments for ecosystem services.

• Evaluierung Schlachthausprojekt Jakarta, Indonesien

  Evaluation of the demonstration plant for waste water treatment (with biogas plant and genset) and composting (with windrow turnimng machine) at a cattle slaughterhouse in Cakung/Jakarta, after a running time of about 2 years.

• Versuche zur Düngung mit seltenen Erden

  Effects of fertilisation of soils with rare earth elements are reported from China. In a pot experiment the effects of preparates of fertilisers and direct additions of rare earth compounds upon plant growth will be tested.

• Food Security and Conflict Management in the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka

  The project focuses on four basic objectives. First, food security research in selected rural areas will be carried out, with a regional focus on food-insecure villages and populations in the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka who are affected by the civil war. In this context, food systems analyses will be undertaken by integrating aspects of food production, food distribution and food consumption. Secondly, the project seeks to systematically link perspectives of food security research and conflict analysis. Thirdly, the project will contribute to the current political discussion on crisis prevention and conflict management. Fourthly, the research capacity and the scientific efficiency of the Eastern University of Sri Lanka will be strengthened, by organising visits of scientific staff from Colombo University to the Eastern Province and by systematically integrating and promoting young scientists of the Eastern University in the field of empirical social research, in general, and food security and conflict analysis, in particular.

• FOR 402 Funktionalität in einem tropischen Bergregenwald Südecuadors: Diversität, dynamische Prozesse und Nutzungspotenziale unter ökosystemaren Gesichtspunkten

  Diversity, Dyanamic Processes and Unitilization Potentials under Ecosystem Perspectives. The German research unit joins biologists, geoscientists, researchers in forestry and social anthropology in a multidisciplinary and comprehensive ecosystem study of a mountain rainforest in South Ecuador that extends from about 1200 to 3000 m a.s.l.. In this area the pristine forest can be compared with several stages forms of its degradation originating from large- and small-scale human impact. In that respect the study objects are secondary forests, agricultural land and wide areas of former agricultural use which have been abandoned because of an ultimate takeover by extremely aggressive weeds. In addition to the analysis of the various ecosystems, a major aim of the research is to develop and implement methods of reforestation of the abandoned areas with indigenous trees. The findings will also allow conclusions for a sustainable use of the indigenous forest. The research unit consists of noumerous individual projects. Information can be found on the homepage of the research unit.

• FOR 431 Protected cultivation - an approach to sustainable vegetable production in the humid tropics

  The principles of our basic research concept, described in detail in the proposal for phase I of the project, are still valid for phase II: · Sustainable production of tomatoes as a vegetable model crop under the climatic and socio-economic conditions of the humid tropics in a peri-urban production area. · Protected cultivation (net-houses) and biological plant protection. · Interdisciplinary, system orientated approach with ‘satellite experiments’ to produce basic data and single problem solutions and an continuously running ‘central experiment’ (CE), integrating and optimising the findings from the satellite experiments.

• FOR 536 Matter fluxes in grasslands of Inner Mongolia as influenced by stocking rate (MAGIM)

  Increasing stocking rate provoked extensive degradation of grasslands in Inner Mongolia accompanied by increased soil erosion and desertification. By now China is one of the countries facing the most serious desertification problems in the world. The total area affected by desertification is approximately 2.6 million km 2 , covering 27.3 % of total territory of China. Since grasslands represent one of the largest stocks for organic carbon, its degradation has a significant feedback on the biosphere-atmosphere exchange for carbon and nitrogen. Hence grassland degradation leads to volatilization and dislocation by erosion of huge amounts of C and N previously stored in this ecosystems.

• Forest conversion: Ecological and socio-economic assessment of biodiversity

  •To study the impact of different forest management strategies on forest biodiversity. •To assess the individual willingness to pay for increased levels of forest biodiversity. •To provide advice to decision makers

• Forest fire management in India: integrating ecological and cultural contexts and consequences

  Goal: To inform improved forest fire policy allowing for more effective conservation and management of Indian forest, and to sensitize different constituencies to the ecoloical and socio-economic and cultural roles fo fire Purpose: To develop a proposal for a national-level study on wild fires in India, with the aim of developing an in-depth information base on fires in Indian forests.

• Weiterentwicklung von nationalen Kriterien und Indikatoren zur nachhaltigen Waldbewirtschaftung (Proj. d. Univ. Hamburg)

  The achievement of sustainable forest management (SFM) is a process and forest management certification is an effective tool to assess progress towards implementation of SFM. The Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (FHH) is currently implementing a policy to restrict the public use of tropical timber to material that has been certified under internationally accepted certification schemes.

• GLOWA

  GLOWA focuses on the problem of water availability. The medium and long-term availability of water is not only called into question by the continuous growth of the world population and in some areas by the excessive use of water resources, but is also increasingly influenced by global environmental changes. The aim of GLOWA is to develop simulation-tools and instruments which will allow to develop and to realize strategies for sustainable and future-oriented water management at regional level (river basins of approx. 100.000 km/2), while taking into account global environmental changes and the socioeconomic framework conditions. Within GLOWA five large cluster projects have been started. Two of them are located in Germany (Danube, Elbe), the other are investigating river catchment areas in North and West Africa (Draa, Queme, Volta) as well as in the Near East (Jordan). Each of these projects is tackling the following scientific core themes in an interdisciplinary and integrative research approach:

• GLOWA-Volta: Sustainable Water Use under Changing Land Use, Rainfall Reliability, and Water Demands in the Volta Basin

  The central objective of the proposed GLOWA project is the analysis of the physical and socio-economic determinants of the hydrological cycle, and based on this the development of a scientifically sound decision support system for the assessment, sustainable use and development of water resources in the Volta Basin. Integration of climatic, ecological and socio-economic factors and correlations with respect to the hydrologic cycle is the main scientific challenge. The GLOWA Volta project applies a multi-disciplinary methodology. Early on in the project, new tools for interdisicplinary observations, data gathering, and modeling were developed in small teams consisting of scientists with different disciplinary backgrounds such as meteorology, hydrology, soil science, economy and law.

• GRK 1070 Modellierung von Stoffflüssen und Produktionssystemen für eine nachhaltige Ressourcennutzung in intensiven Acker- und Gemüsebausystemen der Nordchinesischen Tiefebene

  The International Research Training Group Sustainable Resource Use in North China was established by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) and the Chinese Ministry of Education at the University of Hohenheim (Stuttgart) and the Chinese Agricultural University (Beijing) in June 2004.

• Heavy Metal Pollution of Irrigated Soils by Mining Waste in a Catchment Area in the South of Tbilisi/Georgia

  South of Tbilisi the river Mashavera is polluted with suspended matters containing heavy metal which is rinsed off the slag heap of a precious metal mine. Those matters enter the soil in an agricultural area of 300 sq. km in size via the irrigation water. In the irrigation area crops, vegetables and fruit are grown. Due to the climatic aridness, the areas of irrigation in the river valleys make up only a small part of the total area. Therefore they are an important resource and have been used extensively throughout the last centuries. As a result of a decades-long incursion of water, which has been contaminated with potentially toxic heavy metals, a high pollution of the top soils is to be expected. As the dissemination, the extent and the ecological significance of this soil pollution has not been examined so far, the appropriate measures to make the irrigation area safe and to redevelop it have not been taken yet. It is the project's aim to examine the extent and the dissemination of the heavy metal pollution of irrigated and non-irrigated soils and of food plants and to subsequently arrive at an assessment of the eco-toxicological meaning for the food chain.

• Identifizierung von geeigneten Flächen zur Rehabilitierung und Aufforstung in der Mata Atlantica/Brasilien und Entwicklung von Strategien zu deren nachhaltiger Nutzung

  he program supports the comprehensive approach towards achieving the Overall Objective (sustainable development of Mata Atlantica) outlined below. The project includes immediate Objectives reflecting concrete projects where the Institute for World Forestry (IWF) of the Federal Research Centre for Forestry and Forest Products (BFH) and its principal co-operation partners in Germany (UFZ in Lepizig, University of Hamburg) cooperates with Brazilian scientists. The IWF has an operational working relationship with the Environmental Systems Research Centre (Leipzig, modelling) and the Institute for Ethnology (University Hamburg, social sciences). The required know-how in all relevant disciplines is directly available under the roof of IWF and its cooperation partners.

• Untersuchungen zu immunoendokrinen Interaktionen und deren Auswirkungen auf die Reproduktion

  To study the secretery activity of lymphocytes in various reprocuctive states in farm animals.

• IMPETUS - Integratives Management-Projekt für einen Effizienten und Tragfähigen Umgang mit Süßwasser in Westafrika

  Thorough investigations of all essential aspects of the hydrological cycle within two river catchments in Benin and Morocco form the basis to develop long-term prospective scenarios as well as to deal with the complex issues by means of an interdisciplinary approach. It allows to design strategies and to support the decision making process in regard to an efficient use of water resources.

• Einbindung biologischer Komponenten als Faktoren des integrierten Pflanzenschutzes gegenüber abiotischen und biotischen Stressoren im chinesischen Unterglasanbau

  Cooperation with Chinese partners introduces a new biotechnology for an integrated plant protection strategy to Chinese horticulture, expands the basic knowledge about the population dynamics of pests and pathogens on vegetables under greenhouse conditions, promotes the development of new soil improvers/biofertilizer products, and demonstrates sustainable, consumer oriented methods of horticulture to Chinese plant producers. Furthermore, the cooperation of the BBA with Chinese partners increases the expertise of German scientists in the field of biological plant protection factors under biotic stresses in greenhouses. This enhances specific knowledge about Chinese horticultural and agricultural plant production systems.

• Improving the quality and nutritional status of Gari through the use of starter cultures and firtification with soybean, palm oil and coconut milk

  This EU-funded project aims at improving the quality and nutritional value of ‚Gari‘, an African fermented food, by utilisation of defined starter cultures for Gari production and fortification of Gari with soybeans, palm oil and cococnut milk. Six research centres are involved in the project as equal partners of which three are based in Africa (Benin, Kenya and South Africa). The main task for the BFEL and South African partners are to unravel the biodiversity of microorganisms (lactic acid bacteria and yeasts) which are involved in the fermentation and to select appropriate starter cultures which possess fermentation-related technologically important traits (e.g., degradation of toxic cyanogenic glucosides, acid production). These starter cultures will eventually find application in Africa on a small industrial scale.

• INCO 2:Development of Methods for the Remediation of Pesticides

  Project Reference: ICA2-CT-2000-10002 he project aims at addressing the problem of pesticide pollution and contamination in the former countries of the Soviet Union (NIS states). It aims at developing novel chemical and physical methods for the remediation of pesticides and hence the decontamination of polluted soil, water and food.

• INCO 2:ECART/ASARECA/CTA Workshop on Impact Assessment of Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa Entebbe, Uganda 15-19 November 1999

  Project Reference:ICA4-CT-1999-50012

• INCO 2:Molecular and immunological characterization of merozoite antigens and their encoding genes of a Theileria species highly pathogenic for small ruminants in China: application for the development of diagnostics and vaccine.

  Project Reference: ICA4-CT-2000-30028 Recently it has been demonstrated that a Theileria species in China causes a fat al disease in small ruminants. The economic loss due to this previously unknown parasite (for convenience referred to as Theikeria china) is estimated to be about $ 24 Mill.

• INCO 2:Wastewater recycling of olive mills in Mediterranean countries - demonstration and sustainable reuse of residuals

  Project Reference: ICA3-CT-1999-00011 he partners will investigate cheap, cost-effective WWT technologies for the processing of olive oil wastewater (OMW) in the Mediterranean. At an experimental test plant biological aerobic treatment technologies (reed beds and Epuvalisation) will be compared with classical in-plant processes. Anaerobic treatment will be used to produce biogas (valorisation of waste). The effluent quality will be adapted to different reuse possibilities. (Milestone: Definition of water quality).

• INDICATORS AND TOOLS FOR SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT OF FORESTS IN THE EAST AFRICAN REGION (I-TOO)

  This project links East African and European researchers in a strategic effort to contribute to improving management of the resource in the region. It develops scientific basis and directly applicable tools for forest ecosystem restoration and sustainable management based on forest ecosystems in Uganda, Tanzania and Ethiopia.

• Einfluss von Klima und Topografie auf Zusammensetzung und Struktur eines tropischen Wolkenwaldes

  Non-sustainable use of tropical forests and forest conversion severely endanger the development of tropical countries. Land-use change is also one of the driving forces of global change. Thus, the main objective of our institute is to study and develop sustainable management systems for different forest and tree based land-use systems. Based on modern concepts of tree and forest ecology, management of land-use systems have to be in accordance with the variety of economic and other goals.

• Einfluß der Rohstoffe und der Verarbeitung auf das Aroma von Milchschokolade

  Goal of the available research request was to close the knowledge gaps. In addition first the key flavour materials in the three main raw materials should for the production of milk chocolate (cocoa mass, cocoa butter, milk powder) as well as the milk chocolate made of it to be structurally assigned and afterwards over Stabilisotopenassays be quantitatively determined. Quantitative measurements of the most important flavour materials in raw materials and from it manufactured chocolate should be correlated with the prescription and thus made visible, to which extent the raw materials as source of flavour materials and/or flavour material preliminary stages to function. Investigations at further raw materials, e.g. the roasted beans themselves, should light up the flavour potential compared with the products cocoa mass and cocoa butter made of it more near.

• Influence of water level fluctuation on littoral macrophyte vegetation and animal habitats of the Kuybyshev water reservoir

  no detailed description available

• Installation of a pilot plant for processing waste wood

  no description available. please contact coordinating organisation for further information

• Internal dynamics of rain forests: specificity of animal-plant interactions

  This project aims at the documentation and functional analysis of the animal-plant interactions taking bromeliads and their fauna as a model system. The composition of the faunal microcosms living on the different resources offered by the plants changes in space and time and thus allows studying the dynamic processes responsible for the biodiversity of tropical rain forests.

• nternationale Wettbewerbsfähigkeit der Milchproduktion in Entwicklungsländern

  Analysis of milk production und growth potential in developing countries. Focus on India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Thailand

• Irrigation technology for ecologically friendly cultivation of cotton

  english description not available: Im aegyptischen Baumwollanbau sollen erstmals Bewaesserungstechniken in Verbindung mit Sensor- und Regelungstechniken eingesetzt werden. Diese effizientere Bewaesserungsmethode hat einen geringeren Pestizidbedarf zur Folge.

• Wissenstransfer zur Aus- und Weiterbildung in der Holzwirtschaft, einschl. internationaler Zusammenarbeit

  The knowledge transfer is formalized with different intensities. It is most obviously visible in the academic study ‘wood science and forest products’ where scientists of the institute are involved. They contribute their specific knowledge and experience on a contractual basis as docents and supervisors (of diploma theses). Less formalized are seminars, performed after request, for various wood working professions and the interested public. Within the framework of international co-operations (COST, DAAD, GTZ and others), knowledge is dissiminated also to foreign partners, students (including PhD students) and scholarship holders.

• land and water use management in Khorazm - uzbakistan

  land and water use management in uzbakistan

• Schließen von landwirtschaftlichen Nährstoffkreisläufen über hygienisch unbedenkliche Substrate aus dezentralen Wasserwirtschaftssystemen auf nationaler und internationaler Ebene

  Researches on agricultural nutrient cycles over hygenically harmless substrates from decentralized water management systems on national and international level

• Management of plant organic matter and its effects on litter decomposition and soil macrofauna in central Amazonian agroecosystems

  Development of recommendations for the management of plant residues in polycultures.

• Managing seasonal soil N-dynamics in rice-wheat cropping systems of Nepal

  The rice-wheat annual double cropping system (R-W) is the most important food crop production system of Nepal and occupies some 0.5 million ha in the Himalayan foothills of the country. A main production constraint is N deficiency. Mineral N fertilizer use in the predominant small-holder agriculture is low and crops rely largely on native soil N for their nutrition. Continuous removal of crop residues results in low soil organic matter contents and hence low soil N supplying capacity. Alternating soil drying and wetting cycles stimulate N losses. This is likely to be most severe during the 3-month dry-to-wet season transition period (DWT) after the harvest of wheat and before the transplanting of rice. Managing native soil N, particularly during DWT, is thus essential to sustain R-W productivity. We hypothesize that an improved understanding of native soil N mineralization and loss dynamics will allow the development of soil and crop management systems that increase N use efficiency and productivity of low-input small-holder R-W systems of Nepal.

• Bedeutung biologischer Quellen für die polyzyklischen aromatischen Kohlenwasserstoff(PAK)-Gehalte in tropischen Böden (Sb

  * Soil erosion and soil preservation * Soil fertility and soils in the Tropics and Subtropics * Palaeopedology * Soil geo-morphology

• Untersuchung der Feuchtesorptionsänderungen von Schokoladenmassenkomponenten unterschiedlicher Feuchte beim Anmischen und Feinvermahlen

  The goal of the research project was to examine the humidity sorption of sugar during common grinding with cocoa mass and milk powder under the aspect of the agglomerate formation of the solid particles. Another goal was thereby the determination of the critical outputdamp before the common grinding with sugar, above those for the formation of firm agglomerates comes and the rheologic characteristics worsens clearly. Furthermore the mechanism of the adsorption of boundary surface-active materials (e.g. Lecithin) for stabilization the sugar particle should be examined in relation to dye as well as for the resulting flow characteristics during the process of the subsequent treatment (Conchieren) of the chocolate mass, in order to achieve the optimum flow characteristics with the best cocoa butter quantity.

• Mechanismen der Stabilisierung organischer Substanz in Böden der humiden Tropen nach Landnutzungsänderungen

  Land use and soil management may affect both labile and humified soil organic matter (SOM) fractions, but the magnitude of these changes is poorly known in subtropical environments.

• Mindestanforderungen an die Herstellung sicherer Konserven unter thermalen Aspekten

  Depending on ensuring a defined microbiological stability canning under trade conditions is only processed in a suboptimal way commonly. This is caused by lack of capable and cost-saving methods for the detection of the antimicrobiological effect of the used heating regimes. That applies to an efficient use of modern canning - techniques. By this project new, capable, high accurate and cost saving methods for the detection of the antimicrobiological effect of heating regimes shall be developed and implemented in the canning process. Akin topics of available heating techniques resp. methods of data aquisition shall be covered if required.

• Modellierung des Wachstums von tropischen Feuchtwäldern unter Einwirkung von großflächigen Störungen

  The assessment of growth and yield of tropical moist forest is very complex. Long-term obeservations of managed forests are generally very sparsely distributed. Monitoring plots established in the 50ies are normally managed as research plots, i.e. they are particularly treated under specific, common silvicultural systems. However, the vast majority of tropical moist forests are exploited and standards of silvicultural systems are neglected. Thus, alternative methods are needed to predict growth behaviour. Ecophysiological process models precisely describe forest dynamics, once a comprehensive set of ecological parameters are available. FORMIX, a growth simulation model for lowland dipterocarp forest in Malaysia has been developed and applied for several timber harvesting scenarios. For selected scenarios, where standards of the present silvicultural system are used and for various theoretical strategies the annual allowable cut has been calculated. The model is currently under further development to assess the effectiveness of silvicultural treatments and economic implications.

• Modelling Vegetation Dynamics and Biomass in Semiarid Ecosystems (East Africa) Using Multisensor Approaches

  The natural seasonal fluctuation of vegetation as well as changes caused by anthropogenic influence will be monitored by means of satellite images. Due to a very heterogeneous ecosystem, stamped by a high variability of rainfall and a high population pressure, the understanding of vegetation dynamics is fundamental in the Mount Kenya region. Analysing these influencing factors and their consequences by considering additional socio-economic data, a developed GIS-supported model will forecast the 'hot spot' areas regarding changes in vegetation. For this, satellite data of conventional sensors (NOAA-AVHRR, LANDSAT TM/ETM) will be combined with new data of the European satellite ENVISAT (sensors MERIS / ASAR).

• Erschließung und Anwendung von molekularen und funktionellen Erkenntnissen als Voraussetzung für Verfahren zur Beurteilung der Wirkung unerwünschter Stoffe, der Produktqualität und der Leistungsbereitschaft von landwirtschaftlichen Nutztieren

  In-vitro and in-vivo studies are peformed in order to assess effects of unwanted ingredients in animal products and to improve production performance of farm animals.

• Molekulare Charakterisierung der Uncinula necator-Resistenz in der Weinrebe

  dentification of the genetic regions from resistant varieties encoding factors influencing Uncinula necator resistance, development of linked markers and test for their transferability to various resistance sources, physical isolation or the resistance genes and investigation of relevant resistance mechanisms.

• NITROF: Impact of elevated NItrogen input

  Nitrogen deposition in tropical areas is projected to increase rapidly in the next decades due to increase in N fertilizer use, fossil fuel consumption and biomass burning. As tropical forest ecosystems cover about 17% of the land surface and are responsible for about 40% of net primary production, even small changes in N (and consequently C) cycling can have global consequences. Until now studies on consequences of enhanced N input in tropical forest ecosystems have been very limited and even very rarely addressed its deleterious effects to the environment. There is undoubtedly a huge discrepancy between the expected increase in N deposition in the tropics and the present knowledge on how tropical forest ecosystems will react to this extra input of reactive N.

• Nutrient management of extensive grassland ecosystems

  Nutrient management of extensive grassland ecosystems

• Paleosoils and Quarternay Environments in Central Mexico

  In the Central Highlands of Mexico Late Pleistocene palaeosoils of volcanic ash are known, which are separated from each other by Verhaertungslagen. These are determined by applying soil-chemical, mineralogical and micro-morphological methods. Palaeomagnetic characteristics of fossilised soils and analyses developed to determine their age make up the data basis for a regional model, whose aim it is to contribute to the understanding of the drastic climatic changes through environmental conditions in the late Pleistocene.

• Pedogeochemische Untersuchungen zur Rekonstruktion der quartären Landschaftsgeschichte und vergangener Umweltveränderungen in Zentral- und West-Bhutan

  The emphasis of our work is on the analysis as well as the production of concepts and models of the spatial and temporal processes, the vegetation is subjected to which, as well as their spreading on local to global level.

• Pharmaceutical Values of Onions and Related Species (Allium L.)

  The project attempts a survey of valuable Allium species in the repub- lics of Georgia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. Their distribution in certain areas and traditional uses as vegetable and medicine by the local population will be inventorized during field work. Allium species that are characteristic of certain areas will be cultivated, and their active ingredients will be determined by modern analytical methods (e.g. biosensors). The chemical analysis will focus on sulphur containing compounds, saponins and further natural substan- ces assumed to have an antibiotic activity (e.g. a red coloured sub- stance characteristic of the subgenus Melanocrommyium). Additionally, biological effects of plant extracts will be investigated. Project re- sults may be beneficial for the people in terms of a healthful diet.

• ntersuchung systemphysiologischer Mechanismen zur Bewertung der Leistungs- und Anpassungsfähigkeit landwirtschaftlicher Nutztiere (Tier-Umwelt-Interaktionen und Tiergesundheit)

  To investigate physiological mechanisms in the central nervous system of farm animals involved in the regulation of adaptation.

• Phytopathologische und molekulare Charakterisierung von Virulenzunterschieden beim Erreger des Echten Mehltaus am Apfel (Teilaufgabe aus SMADIA)

  In a tight collaboration with European and Asian partner institutes, the Institute for Fruit Breeding is developing highly efficient molecular markers (microsatellite markers) for the analysis of the genetic variability of apple powdery mildew populations in Europe and Asia.

• Plant Species Diversity and Utilization of Rattan Gardens - a Contribution to Participatory Biodiversity Conservation within Benuaq and Tunjung Tribes in East Kalimantan, Indonesia

  The topics of the research are to analyze the vegetation and structure of rattan gardens; to obtain an biodiversity and economic evaluation; to gain knowledge of traditional plant utilization; to analyse livelihood and economy of the people; and to discuss rural development models. Rattan gardens must be regarded as the Key System for Participatory Biodiversity Conservation within the Benuaq and Tunjung Tribes in East Kalimantan. They represent a traditional and specific agroforestry system of the Benuaq and Tunjung tribes. Rattan gardens support their economic needs and contribute to conserve local biodiversity. Their livelihood depends to a high degree on rattan gardens. Within these, many host tree species occur, supporting the rattan palms. In the understorey, many shrubs, herbs and ferns exist. Several of them also are utilized by the local people.

• Policy Analysis for Sustainable Agricultural Development in Central Eastern Europe and Southern Africa - PASAD

  The PASAD project aims at contributing to a deeper understanding of sustainable rural development. Its major objective is to draw a more comprehensive picture of the rural economy through integrating various determinants of rural development and several methodologies, which allows the evaluation of linkages and interaction effects. Decreasing soil fertility implies decreasing yields over time and hence lowers the real incomes of already poor farmers even further. Sustainability in agricultural production depends on various interdependent aspects that require integrated analytical approaches to address the complexity involved. Smallholder production of food crops in poor countries is particularly vulnerable to hazards that are related to (i) production technologies as well as (ii) factor and commodity markets. The former aspect includes appropriate input use and land management, while the latter particularly considers rural labor markets, intermediate input markets, and commercial output markets.

• Potassium management for irrigated rice on degraded soils in the red river delta of Vietnam

  Vietnam has 33 million ha of land, of which 7 million ha are agricultural land and rice occupies 4.2 million ha. Rice is the staple food of the Vietnamese people providing 80 percent of the carbohydrate and 40 percent of the protein intake in the diet. It is the predominant crop in most of the ecological regions of the country . The sown area was 7.5 million ha in 1998 producing 30 million tonnes of paddy . The national average yield is 4 t/h. During the last 10 years the rate increases per year of rice production, sown area and average yield in Vietnam were 5.3, 3.0 and 3.5 percent, respectively. Thanks to the continuous increase in rice production, Vietnam could supply rice to the world from 1989 and has now become the world’s second largest rice exporter. The quantity of rice exported reached 3.8 million tonnes in 1998

• Potential Socioeconomic Impacts of Bt eggplant in India

  Impact of Bt eggplant: ex ante

• Process-oriented development of a model for a fair benefit-sharing for the use of biological resources in the Amazon lowland of Ecuador

  •To work out an agreement for a fair sharing of benefits arising from the use of biological resources in the Amazon lowland of Ecuador. •To develop this agreement with local communities, relevant NGOs, the Ecuadorian authorities and a German pharmaceutical company. •To improve methods for locating plants of pharmaceutical value. •To eventually produce a plant extract with documented pharmacological properties.

• promotion of neglected indigenous vegtable crops for nutritional health

  Nutritional quality of traditional African leafy vegetables

• Ermittlung der Eigenschaften überseeischer Sekundär- und Plantagenhölzer sowie von Baumarten aus Anbauversuchen

  est material for determination of porperties of foreign secoandary and platation timber as well as from cultivation tests has its origin in very different region of the planel. Investigated was the wood of Paulownia tomentosa, Taxodium distichum und Melia azedarach, Carya illinoensis, Cordia trichotoma, Enterolobium contortisiliquum, Grevillea robusta, Hovenia dulcis, Peltaphorum vogelianum, Xylopia brasiliensis(allesamt aus Argentinien), Tectona grandis (from Africa and Indonesien), Kokosholz, Nipa-Plame, and others. in Addition the wood of genetically modified poplar clones which had been cultivated under strict surveillance was investigated.

• Quantifizierung des Stickstoffkreislaufs im Boden zur Evaluierung des Stickstoffstatus von tropischen Wäldern

  Several projects have examined the effect of riparian (streamside) and hyporheic (stream bed) processes on the quantity of nitrogen and dissolved organic carbon in tropical forests. Our overall goal is to quantify the impact of riparian transformations on tropical soils exports of nitrate, total dissolved nitrogen, and dissolved organic carbon.

• Regeneration in an Ethiopian montane forest with special emphasis on tree biology and nurse-tree functions

  In the Munessa-Sheshamene region (Ethiopia) several plots of moderately disturbed natural forest and of exotic tree plantations have been investigated with respect to water relations and photosynthetic capacity of selected indigenous and exotic trees. This ongoing work is part of an ecosystem study conducted by soil scientists, geobotanists and plant ecophysiologists that aims at a scientific basis for a sustainable management of the Munessa forest as a model for other semi-deciduous forests of Ethiopia. The work shall be continued in two working packages, one of which will investigate the so-called nurse-tree effect. Juveniles of indigenous trees developing from seeds that accidentally arrived in a plantation of Eucalyptus saligna, E. globulus or Pinus patula grow significantly faster under the shelter of these “nurse-trees” than in a natural forest. This unexpected nurse-tree effect will be studied in plantations with a successful regeneration of indigenous trees.

• Regionalisierung von N- und C-Spurengasemissionen aus Tropenwäldern

  Goal of the working group is the development and validation of process orientated numeric models for simulation coupled ecological system arene C and n-conversions, C and n-storage as well as the exchange of C and N between terrestrial ecological systems and the atmosphere and hydrosphaere on the basis of the results from process and open land studies (see also to department Terrrestri biosphere in the global change)

• Regulation der Holz- und Zellwandbildung an klimatischen Grenzstandorten sowie bei tropischen und transgenen Forstpflanzen

  Tree-line ecotones in Scandinavia and in Alpine regions are vulnerable ecosystems where trees respond highly sensitive to climate variations. By means of weekly or bi-weekly wounding of the cambium (“pinning” technique) during the vegetation period, histologically visible tissue modifications are induced enabling the determination of onset, intensity and end of wood formation, but also aspects of cell wall quality. The results will be made available for the development of scenario simulations related on expected future climate change.

• Rehabilitierung von degradierten Acacia mangium-Beständen in Malaysia

  The Compensatory Plantation Program with Acacia mangium was a complete failure. Inappropriate species selection, unsuitable provenances and neglected silvicultural treatments lead to heavily degraded stands. Especially those comprising of Acacia mangium are now due for harvest at the age of 15-20 years. These stands have to be rehabilitated and mixed-stands with appropriate species have to be planted to reach the productions objectives in the second generation.

• Relation between spatial patterns of soil fertility parameters, plant mineral nutrient status and diseases in oil palms

  Relation between spatial patterns of soil fertility parameters, plant mineral nutrient status and diseases in oil palms.

• Research on an efficient forest assessment design as planning tool for sustainable forest management

  In this study, three research questions will be worked on with the overall objective to raise the efficiency of the Korean NFI: 1) Remote sensing integration: With field and map data from the third NFI, regionalization approaches are being researched into and compared. Focus is on regression modelling approaches and the knn-method, their applicability to Korean forest conditions is tested and their possible limitations are identified. 2) Plot design optimization: With field data from the third NFI and own field observations, type and size of the field observation units (field plots) are optimized for the conditions of different forest types. 3) Sampling design optimization: With field data from the third NFI and in simulation studies sampling design options are compared and analysed, integrating also the findings of the technical objectives (1) and (2). While the research and further development of assessment methods is being carried out for the specific conditions of South Korean forests, the results are of general interest in forest inventory research.

• Forschungsarbeiten an Nutzpflanzen und Lebensmitteln von spezieller Bedeutung für Länder mit Entwicklungsbedarf

  The objective is to improve food security and safety in developing countries

• Research program: Science and Technology for the Mata Atlântica

  The program Mata Atlântica aims to develop strategies and action plans for the conservation, sustainable management and use of endangered remnants of the Brazilian Atlantic forest. These strategies will be based on interdisciplinary research and provide a long-term vision. The application of scientific results should improve the efficiency of measures to protect the biodiversity of the Mata Atlântica, and thereby provide an ecological basis for regional landscape planning, in order to promote the persistence and regeneration of the typical biodiversity within this region. Mata Atlântica is part of the Brazilian - German co-operation program: 'Science and Technology for the Mata Atlântica' launched by the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico Cnpq, Brazil and the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung BMBF, Germany.

• RIVERTWIN - A regional model for integrated water management in twinned river basins

  The 'RIVERTWIN' project aims to support the goals of the Global Water Initiative by adjusting, testing and implementing an integrated regional model for the strategic planning of water resources management in twinned river basins. The regional model will assist planning authorities and decision makers to assess the impacts of economic and technological development, and the effects of global climate and land use changes on the long-term availability and quality of water bodies. The model is based on a Geographic Information System, which integrates ecological (water availability and quality) and economic aspects (water demand and water use) of water management in user-friendly software.

• Rural Universe Network

  ICT for rural development

• SAR remote sensing for West African Land Resource Investigations (SARFARI)

  West African countries show strong changes in land cover during the last decades, which cause considerable socio-economic problems. Remote sensing analysis allow to monitor these changes over several years in high temporal and spatial resolution in these difficult to access regions. On the other hand difficulties of remote sensing based land cover classification exist due to strong gradients of the meteorological conditions from the Guinea coast to the Sahel region and a lack of adequate digital elevation models. The objectives of the proposed project comprise the systematic evaluation of the influence of vegetation cover and moisture gradients on the quality of InSAR-derived digital elevations models in Benin and Ghana.

• Seasonal availability of soil nutrients and the management for barley production in the arid winter rain agro ecological zone of Syria

  Improving the efficiency in soil water use and crop nutrient uptake can increase production. To achieve this efficiency gain, knowledge on the interaction of soil moisture and nutrient dynamics in relation to the farming system is a prerequisite. The spatial and temporal variation in soil moisture and nutrient availability needs to be analyzed in relation to existing nutrient management strategies (including nutrient fluxes and balances) to develop and target appropriate technical options.

• Secondary Forests and Fallow Vegetation in the Eastern Amazon Region, Brazil - Function and Management

  The management techniques of the proposed mulch based systems should contribute: - to an improved use of the secondary vegetation as a source of organic matter and nutrients, - to the temporal maintenance or even shortening of the fallow period without affecting the regenerative function of the fallow. In the long run they should contribute: - to avoid farmers migration to new colonization frontiers, i.e. the primary forests, - to avoid migrations to the outskirts of the cities, to contribute to the sustainable development of the agricultural sector of the northeast of the state of Para.

• SFB 268 Kulturentwicklung und Sprachgeschichte im Naturraum westafrikanische Savanne

  The SFB 268 is an interdisciplinray research project in Burkina Faso, Benin and Nigeria. Description is only available in German.

• SFB 564

  The SFB 564 Research for Sustainable Land Use and Rural Development in Mountainous Regions of Southeast Asia known as The Uplands Program in the partner countries is a huge interdisciplinary research program - now in the second phase. In the Uplands Program eight universities and research institutes from Thailand, Vietnam and Germany are working together with partners in Northern Thailand and Northern Vietnam. It combines 17 sub-projects of which six are located in Thailand, three in Vietnam and four in both countries, with 12 disciplines involved ranging from soil, plant and animal sciences to economics and sociology.

• Smallholders in the Amazon: Interaction between Ecosystem and Social Systems in the Utilisation and Protection of Tropical Rainforests

  The project evaluates new, fire free, agricultural technologies that offer prospects for sustainable land use for smallholders in the Eastern Amazon. Specifically, the project analyses (1) the profitability of these technologies, (2) the impact on factor input, household income and local markets, (3) the additional benefits for the environment, and (4) perspectives, strategies and the institutional set-up for the dissemination of the technologies. Furthermore, policy options are to be defined and the transferability of the results to other Amazon regions is studied.

• Social organization and processes of ecological stabilization and destabilization: A comparative analysis

  Project A2 is concerned with the investigation of social and cultural factors, which are expected to have a decisive impact on modes of individual and collective forest use and its local management. Whereas in the 1st phase of research mainly villages in the eastern border areas of the Lore Lindu Nation al Park have been investigated, research in the 2nd phase will concentrate on the western part of the Park (Kulawi valley). This focus aims at a comparative analysis under partly different socio-economic, socio-cultural and organizational conditions.

• Bodenbiota und Biogeochemie in Küstenregenwäldern Südbrasiliens -Evaluierung von Diversität und Bodenfunktion unter anthropogenem Einfluß (Mata Atlântica, Paraná)

  SOLOBIOMA studies the soil biota, ranging from microorganisms and tiny decomposers like pot-worms to ecosystem engineers like earthworms and top predators of the food web like spiders and ants. Their diversity and their function in the nutrient cycling processes of the forests are of special interest. The coastal region in the Brazilian state of Paraná encompasses the best preserved continuous forest remnant of the Mata Atlântica. Lying at the transition from the tropical to the subtropical zone, coastal forests in Paraná grow from close to the sealine on sandy podzol soils and ground-water influenced gleysols on the coastal plains up to the mountains where they grow on cambisols. Soils influence the biotic conditions, the vegetation structure and the land use as well as the regeneration capacity of the forests.

• Paketantrag 'Boden und Umweltforschung'

  The aim of the research project is to quantify the stocks and turnover of soil nitrogen in Western and Southern China as dependent from soil structure an land use. Key soil characteristics are determined at representative sites with regional specific land use and degradation status. The investigations will follow a land use gradient of natural forests, arable and pasture soils, the latter ones considering different degradation and rehabilitations status.

• Böden als Indikatoren für Vegetationsgeschichte und aktuelle Vegetationsdynamik im Grasland-Wald-Vegetationsmosaik der südbrasilianischen Araukarienwälder

  Research over the forest-grassland mosaic.

• Solar treatment of drinking water in Flores and surrounding areas

  No description available

• SFB 308 Standortgerechte Landwirtschaft in West Afrika

  With the completion of the Special Research Program 308 on Adapted Farming in West Africa the time has come to sum up the experiences of 15 years of agricultural research. This research program, carried out by scientists from the University of Hohenheim, played a particular role in the context of agricultural research systems in West Africa. With a funding provided upon review of results and application over five phases of three years each, short-term research plans had to be drawn up with a long term perspective. Inter-institutional collaboration with international as well as national partners required fine tuning and an accommodation of plans to fit and complement existing efforts and priorities of the existing research institutions. Interdisciplinary approaches generated synergy effects.

• SPP-1127: Radiationen- Genese biologischer Diversität

  The objective of this interdisciplinary research program is a critical assessment of hypotheses concerning the rapid origin of multiple species during evolutionary (adaptive) radiations as a source of biodiversity. By combining expertise from Zoology, Botany, Ecology, Evolutionary Biology, and Population Genetics, those evolutionary mechanisms are to be identified that promote the origin of natural morphological and physiological diversity. Experimentally accessible radiations involving contemporary, active processes of speciation are the focus of the programme. Topics of special interest are (1) the role of reproductive systems in the origin of species, (2) )geographical separation and allopatric speciation, (3) the role of 'key innovations' in radiations, (4) radiations in interdependent groups of organisms (coevolution).

• Stabilität von Randzonen tropischer Regenwälder in Indonesien (STORMA) (SFB 552)

  The German Research Council supports an extensive interdisciplinary research programme to be conducted in the area of the Lore Lindu National Park, Central Sulawesi. The first phase of the programme is scheduled to last for 3 years (July 2000 - June 2003). Up to four successive phases, each lasting 3 years, may follow, depending on the outcome and success of the current phase. The programme comprises 5 sub-programmes, containing a total of 17 projects, each involving at least one doctoral student from Germany.

• Strategies for Sustainable Rural Livelihoods in Amazonia

  One of the most important aspects of the project is the formation of a multilateral and interdisciplinary research network which is to consist not only of academic institutions, but also of non-governmental organisations from Brazil, Bolivia, Great Britain, France and Germany. In this way, a concentration of different professional and regional competences, an exchange of intercultural and interdisciplinary experiences and a discussion about conception and realisation of regionally adapted land use systems and strategies of rural development can be guaranteed.

• Untersuchungen von Stabilität, Wachstum und Diversität von Kreuzungsnachkommenschaften ausgewählter Baumarten unter verschiedenen Klima- und Bodenbedingungen

  he objective of this project is to investigate the possibilities of crossbreeding for improvement of growth, stability, and adaptability especially regarding climate change and its consequences for genetic constitution and diversity. Furthermore parameters of quantitative genetics like heritability shall be estimated and gene markers detected. Object of the investigation are progeny tests of Scots pine and trials with hybrids between European and Japanese larch. Controlled crosses will be carried out between pines selected for growth performance from central Europe and drought resistant pines from Russia and China.

• Study of the antidiabetic properties of Momordica charantia

  Goal: To improve the quality and efficacy of bitter gourd supplementation for reduced hyperglycemia in resource-limited, high diabetic prevalent areas Purpose: To better understand the antidiabetic properties of bitter gourd from a biochemical aspect; and to verify the efficacy of bitter gourd varieties selected by in vitro antidiabetic methods

• Sustainable Safeguarding of the Quality of Life Within the Framework of Large Damming Projects: Development of Strategies for Optimal Spatial Use Based on the Example of Xiangxi, Three Valley Area of the Yangtze, People's Republic of China

  The aim of this project is the development of strategies for the optimal use of space, leading to a lasting safeguarding of the quality of life for the affected population within the framework of this and other large damming projects. Chosen as the region of research was the catchment area of the Xiangxi River, as it flows into the Yangtze only a few kilometres above the dam of the Three Valley Project and will therefore be especially affected by it.

• Sustainable use of African savannas

  Savannas are intriguing ecological systems that cover a substantial proportion of the earth. They are defined as tropical or sub-tropical systems characterised by a continuous grass cover and a discontinuous tree cover. Many of the properties of savannas are determined by the relative abundance of grasses and trees. Our research on savannas aims to unravel the relative influence of the biophysical processes that shape the interactions between grasses and trees. Our research is based in empirical research being conducted in the Kruger National Park, South Africa. These empirical data are used to parameterise models and to test competing theories of savanna dynamics. A new research project is testing these models and theories in Venezuelan savannas. The ecological models are also being used as a biophysical basis for the exploration of sustainable landuse strategies for savanna systems. The stochastic and non-linear dynamics fundamental to savannas have motivated us to use intenstive numerical techniques to define these sustainable landuse strategies.

• Swidden farming and fallow vegetation in northern Thailand

  Swidden farming practiced by hill people in northern Thailand for centuries has led to the conversion of large tracts of primary hill forest to secondary vegetation formations. This type of vegetation change is commonly regarded as a process of degradation and swidden farming as a destructive form of land use. The quality of secondary formations in terms of life-form spectrum, species diversity and structural complexity, however, varies considerably, depending to a large extent on the different types of swidden farming practiced by the various ethnic groups living in the mountains of northern Thailand. The objective of the project was, to study the impact of different types of swidden farming on the establishment and the ecological characteristics of secondary vegetationn formations on fallow fields, especially of secondary forests. Ecological data were supplemented by information concerning the economic potential of secondary plants provided by local informants.

• The influence of fog on the carbon dioxide and vapor exchange of Chamaecyparis

  The contribution of fog deposition to the hydrological and nitrogen cycle in a mountain cloud forest in Central Taiwan is studied. The forest mainly consists of Chamaecyparis obtusa var. formosana, which is an extraordinarily important cypress species of Taiwan. The fog frequency at the Yuan Yang Lake (YYL) ecosystem research site is high, and fog deposition probably plays a key role in the biogeochemical cycles of the ecosystem. During extended field experiments in Taiwan, the deposition of fog is directly quantified through a micrometeorological method. Eddy covariance with a high speed fog droplet spectrometer is employed. In combination with the chemical composition of fog water, the deposition of nutrients and pollutants is quantified. This is a partner project in collaboration with the National Dong Hwa University in Hua Lien, Taiwan.

• The influence of land use on the dynamics of native soil nitrogen at watershed scale in West Africa

  Quantify seasonal dynamics of N along transects in an model inland valley and nitrate dynamics during the dry-to-wet transition season in 27 valleys of major categories of West Africa. Establish interactions between slope characteristics and N dynamics at different scales. Determine the effect of agricultural land use on the N balance of valley segments and the whole watershed Develop a simple tool, predicting N fluxes and crop N use in a watershed as a function of land use. Extrapolate at sub-regional scale the extent of N dynamics and the potential impact of available land use management strategies .

• The influence of markets and policies on resource use A3/SFB552

  The objective of project A3 is to identify, explain and evaluate the 'patterns' and 'pathways' of resource use at village-level which have arisen in the forest margin zone of the study area. 'Pattern', is seen as referring to the observed combination of resource-use systems at the village-level which in the study area include agroforestry use, maize cultivation, the construction of forest gardens and the use of primary forest resources in particular.

• The Invasion Potential of Alien Species

  •To develop concepts for identification, ecological and economic assessment and risk management of alien species. •To create a prevention framework for biological invasions.

• The Ohia Project: Studying Hawaiian Rainforest Dynamics

  research questions include: Do the Ohia populations regenerate? Did invasive alien species take advantage of the forest decline? If yes: How did/will they change the native forest? Is the prediction of future rainforest dynamics possible?

• Erarbeitung physiologischer Indikatoren zur nachhaltigen Verbesserung der Leistungsfähigkeit

  To investigate and characterize physiological indicators improved for sustainable animal production at high performance level.

• Trade and Environmental, Food Safety, and Social Standards

  To contribute to an understanding of the determinants of environmental and social standards and their impacts on trade, environmental quality, and social aspects. Special emphasis has been put on the cost implications of environmental standards in the agricultural sector.

• Water Shortage, Water Use Conflicts and Water Management in Arid Regions of Central Asia

  Since the early 1960s an increasing shortage of water resources can be noted in the arid regions of Central Asia. It manifests itself in a premature drying up of rivers which run into arid basins without outlets (Amu-darja, Syr-darja, Ili, Tarim, etc.), in the drying up of their deltas and in the silting up processes of the lakes they feed into (Lake Aral, Lake Balchash, Lake Manas, Lop Nur, etc.). Result of this development is a desertification process with grave consequences for the natural environment, economy and the social situation of the affected population.Targets of the research project are to record and register the causes for theses developments (economic, hydrologic, climatic); to examine the consequences of the increasing water shortage and deterioration of the water quality (ecologic, economic, social, consequences for health, political consequences, special international conflicts of water use) and work out the general character of the ongoing processes via a comparative analysis of four basin areas (Lake Aral Basin, Ili-Balchash-Basin, Issyk-kul-Basin and Tarim-Basin).

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