Amanda Eigner

Biography

Since 2012: Scientific assistant at the Department of Animal Ecology at the Justus Liebig University in Giessen in the course of the “JAGUAR-Project” (Sustainable futures for cultural landscapes of Japan and Germany - biodiversity and ecosystem services as unifying concepts for the management of agricultural regions) 2009-2012: Masters programme in Nutrition Economics at the Justus Liebig-University in Giessen with the main focus on Environmental and Ecological Economics Thesis: „ Socio-economic metabolism of a village at the confluence of wildlife management and wetland agriculture“ 2006-2009: Bachelors programme in Ecotrophology at the Justus-Liebig University in Giessen with the main focus on interactions between social and natural systems Thesis: „Strukturwandel und Wettbewerbsfähigkeit: Bedeutung von Agrarumweltprogrammen“

Research Interest

Cultural landscapes are multi-functional. Apart from delivering food and fibres, cultural landscapes also have the purpose to deliver biomass for energy production and to preserve flora and fauna. Additionally, they are relevant as recreational space and for outdoor activities. In the course of my dissertation within the scope of the “JAGUAR-Project”, the focus is set on the development of spatial explicit bio-economic models, which depict the above mentioned multi-functionality of landscapes. The case studies are located in the Vogelsberg and Wetterau region in central Hesse, Germany. The aim is to integrate several demands arising from the variety of landscape use in order to identify trade-offs and synergies of ecosystem services. The concept of ecosystem services gains increasing popularity in science and politics, and thus will play a major role in the landscape analysis. A challenge will be how to model interactions between ecosystem services and the agricultural use of natural resources. With that, the perception and valuation of the natural capital is central for farmers’ decision making regarding several land-use options.