While our ecology team investigated biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in the alpine grasslands of the Allgäu, our socio-ecological team from the Department of Sustainable Use of Natural Resources—Verena Seufert (Co-PI), Navya Miriam Itty (PhD researcher), Anna Pfauntsch (Master’s student), and Sara Heshmati—focused on the people who shape these landscapes.
We visited three farms representing distinct agricultural systems in the region. At Hof Vorderberg in Leutkirch im Allgäu, Ms. Lydia and Mr. Philipp Notz-Neumann welcomed us to their family farm and discussed its management in a two-hour conversation, emphasizing an approach that seeks to work with nature rather than control it. At Landschaftspflegehof Adelegg, Ms. Magdalena Zintl presented a farming system adapted to steep terrain and oriented toward maintaining open landscapes. The trip concluded with a hike to the Nickenalpe, where we met Mr. Georg Rädler, a 12th-generation alpine farmer whose work reflects a long tradition of alpine land stewardship.
Although analysis is ongoing, several preliminary patterns are emerging: farmers frequently describe themselves as stewards of cultural landscapes; women appear to hold central leadership roles; and the diversity of farming systems may contribute to regional resilience in the face of environmental and societal change.
Our ongoing ecological and socio-ecological research examines the interdependence of biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, and human decision-making, with further results to follow.
