This course introduces landscapes as socially perceived, spatially and temporally dynamic entities that are shaped by natural and societal factors. Concepts and qualitative and quantitative methods to study landscapes from an ecological and societal perspective are presented. The course consists of a mixture of theoretical lectures and exercises or practical sessions.

Cultural landscapes and most ecosystems are anthropogenically shaped over time, in an interactive process linking human needs with natural resources in a specific topographic and spatial setting. In this course we will learn how pattern and processes of landscapes as well as ecosystem functions have to be interpreted with an integrative historic-ecological approach.