Amanda E. Eigner

Research interests

Cultural landscapes are multi-functional. Apart from delivering food and fibres, cultural landscapes also have the purpose to deliver biomass for energy production and to preserve flora and fauna. Additionally, they are relevant as recreational space and for outdoor activities.
In the course of my dissertation within the scope of the “JAGUAR-Project” (Homepage), the focus is set on the development of spatial explicit bio-economic models, which depict the above mentioned multi-functionality of landscapes. The case studies are located in the Vogelsberg and Wetterau region in central Hesse, Germany. The aim is to integrate several demands arising from the variety of landscape use in order to identify trade-offs and synergies of ecosystem services. The concept of ecosystem services gains increasing popularity in science and politics, and thus will play a major role in the landscape analysis. A challenge will be how to model interactions between ecosystem services and the agricultural use of natural resources. With that, the perception and valuation of the natural capital is central for farmers’ decision making regarding several land-use options.