Prof. Dr. Stephan Pauleit

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The course covers the following learning objectives:
1. Basic knowledge of the development and ecology of urban habitats;
2. An overview of the effects of urbanisation on the biodiversity of plants and various animal groups in different habitat types;
3. Understanding of the different effects of urbanisation on a local, regional and global scale;
4. Insight into the goals, possibilities and limitations of biodiversity management in urban habitats;
5. An overview of the planning concepts of urban species protection and green space function management.
6. Through empirical surveys of selected organism groups along the urban-rural gradient, participants learn to reflect on the course content cognitively and implement it practically as part of an exercise.

Increasing urbanisation is one of the key processes in global change. For spontaneously occurring plants and animals, the transition from near-natural or agricultural landscapes to urban ecosystems is often associated with profound changes in site factors such as eco-climate, substrate and disturbance regimes. This process leads to diverse biodiversity losses, but also gives rise to new species combinations that do not occur in traditional cultural landscapes. New secondary habitats can also emerge for some rare species that are endangered in their extra-urban primary habitats due to intensified land use. In addition, cities are gateways for alien species and habitats for numerous cultivated and domesticated species. As a result, urban areas sometimes even harbour unusually diverse biocoenoses.
The assessment of the effects of urbanisation on biodiversity also depends heavily on the scale of observation: while urbanisation often leads to an increase in diversity at the regional level, it tends to result in species loss and a levelling of biodiversity at the global level. Understanding these relationships and processes is the first and most important goal of this course.
The second objective of the lecture series is to impart methodological and planning knowledge. In an accompanying exercise, urbanisation effects are empirically examined in various species groups. The aim of this part of the course is to reflect on the learning content cognitively and implement it practically.

This is a master's course that requires general basic knowledge of the ecology and systematics of animals and plants, as well as nature conservation assessment and environmental and landscape planning (e.g. indicator values of plants, biodiversity indices). This basic knowledge can be easily acquired independently, but cannot be repeated in the course due to time constraints.

The module consists of a lecture (with a one-day excursion) and a practical session. In the practical session, participants examine urbanisation gradients in selected species groups and habitats.
Dates (lecture Tue 8.15 - 10 a.m. sharp):
14 April 2026: Introduction, emergence of urban habitats: Albrecht
21 April 2026: Diversity-relevant site characteristics, scales of urban diversity: Albrecht
28 April 2026: Urbanisation effects at the global and regional level 1: Albrecht
5 May 2026: Urbanisation effects at the regional level 2: Albrecht
12 May 2026: Biodiversity of individual habitat types, biotope networking: Albrecht
19 May 2026: Full-day excursion to Munich: Albrecht / Pauleit
2 June 2026: Biodiversity conservation in the city of Munich: Bräu, LH Munich
9 June 2026: Human-nature relationship in urban environments: Pauleit
16 June 2026: Biodiversity and health: Pauleit
23 June 2026: Management of urban forests: Pauleit
30 June 2026: Green roofs as a strategy for urban biodiversity or management of urban wilderness: Julia Schiller or Pauleit
7 July 2026: Discussion of the study project: Albrecht / Pauleit
14 July 2026: Examination

Note: The timing of the presentations may still change during the semester

Written examination based on the lecture and excursion (40%).
Presentation of the results from the exercise (60%).

The course is based on numerous current original sources and meta-studies. Unfortunately, there is currently no comprehensive textbook on the subject.