Core group Biodiversity Economics,
German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv)

More information about Leo can be found on her old homepage at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology.

Humans manage most of the Earth's land surface and modify many fundamental surface properties, for example, due to deforestation. This induces a forcing of the climate system via biogeochemical and biogeophysical land-atmosphere feedbacks on local, regional and global scales and on many timescales. Many modeling and observational studies investigated the impacts of land use and land cover change (LULCC). Some studies also addressed the impact of land management on average climate conditions or extreme weather events.

I will lay out how land-atmosphere interactions can be positive (enhance the initial forcing) or negative (dampen the initial forcing). The detailed processes of these interactions are highly complex. Often there is not even agreement about the sign of the forcing. Therefore, improving our understanding of human-induced land-atmosphere processes is essential to develop sustainable future pathways for our society — especially when LULCC and land management will become increasingly important due to, e.g., land scarcity, increases in food demand or for other natural resources.

talk on 24 Nov 2022 — Ringvorlesung in the Winter Term 2022/23