Important research activities of the chair deal with:

• basic research and development of guiding principles in post-mining landscapes and close-to-natural open landscapes (e.g. former military training areas).
• PCR-examinations of selected animal populations
• taxonomic examinations of pondweeds (working on Potamogeton: Rothmaler IV, Flora Malesiana, Ranunculus Subgenus Batrachium: Rothmaler, HEGI)
• autecology, population ecology, and life story of higher aquatic and marsh plants, ecology of water bodies and wetlands, long-term examination of the environment in water bodies, mires and marshes
• population biology and vegetation science of terrestrial phytocoenoses, especially in post-mining areas
• ecology of arthropods (locusts, bugs, caddis flies, moths, and dragonflies) in limnic and terrestrial habitats, particularly of post-mining landscapes

Applied Ecology

• theory of nature conservation, application of scientific- ecological results for concrete planning schemes, fundamentals of the development of guiding principles and ecological assessment
• nature conservation in post-mining landscapes, military training areas and large-scale nature reserves, development of guiding principles and action plans
• implentation of nature reserves and creation of large-scale concepts for the protection of nature (habitat network systems), restoration and rehabilitation.