Research in Sustainability and Environment

The global demand for forest and nature resources and the pressures on the natural environment continue to increase. The need to ensure the sustainability of natural resources and services for future generations has never been greater.

 

We focus on the research questions:

 

• What are the impacts of land use, in particular forestry and natural landscapes on ecosystems and the provision of ecosystem services?

• How does intensified biomass and nutrient export affect the forest ecosystem and especially the biodiversity and nutrient budgets and pools in both short and long term perspective?

• Can wood ash application counteract the nutrient export, and if so, does the ash need pre-treatment before spreading?

• How can legislation secure that nutrients from ash will be re-circulated and at the same time avoid negative impacts on ecosystems?

• Wood chips provide good conditions fore growth of moulds. How can wood chips be produced and used as an energy resource, without work environment risk.

• How can wood chips be produced and used as an energy resource (for the growth of moulds) without risk for the work environment?

• How can a high biomass production in energy crops systems be secured, such as short rotation willow, without introducing negative environmental effects?

• Can leaching of nutrients be reduced to a minimum when growing short rotation willow for energy?

• Can waste products from bioenergy production be utilised in various other production systems e.g. extraction of phosphorus for fertilization purposes and mixing wood chip ashes with sludge or manure for fertilization of Christmas trees or other agricultural crops?

Researchers Simon Skov Senior Consultant   Morten Ingerslev Senior Researcher   Niels Strange Professor