With the profile of the BTU in mind and to further the topics of "ecosystem development", "recultivation" and "landscape change / alternative land use" as well as the simultaneous pursuit of excellence in research and teaching, the graduate class "Applied ecosystem research and landscape change" is a structure-building and technical oriented unifying element that also satisfies both the claims of basic-oriented as well as application-oriented research.

The overall research theme is an integrated view of landscape change and ecosystem relationships, the functions and services of ecosystems (ecosystem services) in order to optimize adapted and sustainable land use strategies that take the predicted climate change into account. Thereby the interactions in soil-water-plant system are in the center of attention. Accordingly, the modules "climate", "soil", "water" and "organisms" form the scientific basis of the approach.

From the abiotic and biotic factors and processes the relevant control variables that are responsible for the planning of land use and landscape changes, have to be identified. Therefor, parameters are to derive which allow a generalization, and thus a transfer to different land use systems and ecosystems in different climate regions. The international orientation, in the form of cooperation with the University of Alberta, Canada, will feature an excellent approach. In deriving generalizable models for sustainable landscape management, aspects of the historic and prehistoric landscape change are to be considered (cultural landscape development).