Department of Agroecology – Staff

Dansk

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Research centres for strengthened interdisciplinary collaboration

During the past few years, we have had the privilege of getting two new centres within the field of landscape research, namely Land-CRAFT ”Center for Landscape Research in Sustainable Agricultural Futures” and SustainScapes ”Center for Sustainable Landscapes under Global Change”. This opens up entirely new opportunities for strengthened interdisciplinary collaboration, both within the department and at the university, nationally and internationally.

Tommy Dalgaard. Photo: AU Photo
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Box 1. A pioneer centre, which in the next 10 years and beyond, will initiate extensive research into 1) A basic understanding and measurement of the interaction between greenhouse gas and nutrient flows in dynamic agricultural landscapes, with healthy ecosystems based on an agro-ecological approach. 2) Landscape measures that contribute to robust, climate-adapted and sustainable agricultural systems with an optimum production together with ambitious targets for reduced losses of nutrients and greenhouse gases (climate neutrality at landscape scale) as well as protection of biodiversity. 3) Tools to promote effective methods for monitoring, verifying and reporting emissions at landscape scale, taking into account the social, economic and environmental conditions in the cultural landscape, including the potential for increased productivity, climate neutrality and sustainability in a broad sense.
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Box 1. The purpose of the Center for Sustainable Landscapes under Global Change is to rethink landscapes and re-establish biodiversity in a world of increased climate change and resource needs. Its research is based on a historical perspective on the landscape as well as a prioritisation of several concurrent sustainability goals (such as the UN’s global goals on climate action, life on land, responsible consumption and production as well as sustainable cities and local communities). Large amounts of data and time series are collected, for example via satellite and drone photos as well as soil and DNA samples in combination with map digitization, questionnaire surveys and historical statistics.
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Box 1. A cross-disciplinary national alliance between researchers, knowledge companies and public authorities to explore new routes and ideas about the use of nitrogen with sustainable solutions to the challenges of improving resource efficiency and public health as well as ensuring a reduced environmental and climate impact. The research has been conducted around a number of pilot area landscapes. Since the official project completion the network and data collections have been continued in connection with a wide range of national and international research projects and public sector consultancy in addition to the above centres.
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Figure 1. Figure 1: Example of the many nitrogen flows studied in the agricultural landscape through the Land-CRAFT center, and the different sources of loss/pollution (sources, marked with upward arrows) or elements for collecting the different nitrogen compounds (sinks, marked with downward arrows), which may benefit production (e.g. in nitrogen-fixing crops) or which have an adverse impact on the environment (as with the deposition of ammonia in nature areas). Modified on the basis of Creative Common License creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/. (Dalgaard et al. 2022).

You may pinch yourself when you think about the opportunities that have arisen in recent years with our new multi-year powerhouses in landscape research (Box 1).

Land-craft.dk ”Center for Landscape Research in Sustainable Agricultural Futures” is a so-called Pioneer Centre under the Danish National Research Foundation with a grant covering more than 10 years, and Sustainscapes.org has been given as a centre for 6 years for developing competencies in ”Biodiversity and Nature-Based Solutions for Sustainable Landscapes under Global Change” through the Novo Nordisk Foundation’s  Challenge programme. Via the home pages and the link to the recently published paper in “Vand og Jord” (Dalgaard et al., 2022), you can read more about the research going on in these centres, but most important are the opportunities provided for recruiting and supporting the development of so-called “Young Investigators” within the selected focus areas, the affiliation of a considerable number of new PhDs and postdocs and a platform for generating new research ideas and interdisciplinary collaboration; both within the department and at the university, nationally and internationally. The experiences from similar previous initiatives such as the www.dNmark.org research alliance (Box 1) are good, and include the establishment of interdisciplinary networks between research and practice partners and new research competencies, that can benefit us in the coming years development of “Living Labs” and landscape observatories, including a broad stakeholder involvement in the green transition of the agricultural and food industry.

Box 1. Examples of important research initiatives in sustainable landscape development.

Literature
Dalgaard T, Nordmand S, Hasler B, Ambus P and Butterbach-Bahl K (2022) Landskaber med fokus på klima-neutralitet og bæredygtighed. Vand og Jord. 29. årgang nr. 3, september 2022. p 122-125. ISSN 0908-7761. http://www.vandogjord.dk/  https://online.flippingbook.com/view/1068918590/

 

Revised 13.11.2025