Our mission

Research at the IBG-3: Agrosphere Institute aims at improving our understanding of hydrological and biogeochemical processes in terrestrial systems with a specific focus on agricultural and soil-groundwater systems.

The core research activities include the study of biogeochemical cycles as well as the quantification of exchange processes and subsurface processes in the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum. Sensing technologies, experiments at the lab, field and regional scale and modelling approaches are used to bridge disparities between the different spatial and temporal scales at which processes in terrestrial systems are occurring.

Therefore the links between agricultural land use and fluxes and transformations of matter are being investigated at various scales. The use of the state of the art experimental laboratory-, lysimeter- and field based approaches and the application of experimental platforms form the basis of the development of multi-scale models, which help to predict the influence of changes in land-use and climate on ecosystems.

This knowledge serves as a basis for the development of management strategies for a sustainable use of terrestrial resources such as water and soil and for the quantification of the effect of climate and land use changes on the dynamics and adaptation of terrestrial systems.