idw – Informationsdienst Wissenschaft
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
From Lake Ammersee to cultivated algae: With a new Early Career Research Group, Würzburg-based European ethnologist Laura Otto aims to investigate a distinctive living environment and economic space: Bavaria’s standing waters.
Still waters run deep, as the saying goes – a phrase commonly used to describe people of a quiet disposition. In a new research project, Laura Otto, Junior Professor of Rural Anthropology at Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg (JMU), is exploring not the figurative but the literal meaning of the expression.
TThe new Emmy Noether Research Group ‘AquaNaturenKulturen – Stillwater Economies in the Anthropocene’, led by Otto, takes a closer look at four forms of standing-water use from an anthropological perspective: carp farming in the Aischgrund region, fishing on Lake Ammersee, as well as commercial algae cultivation and aquaponics.
“Compared with seas or rivers, standing waters have received relatively little attention in anthropology. They are seen as less dramatic or interesting. But if you take a closer look, you find that they are places where key social and political issues of our time play out, such as biodiversity, the future of food and how we manage water. Our project shows that standing waters are essential to survival on our planet – for humans and other living beings,” says Laura Otto.
Bavarian waters in focus
The Research Group combines approaches from rural anthropology, the nature–culture debate and multispecies research. How do people make a living from and with these bodies of water? What interactions with other living beings arise in the process? Where are the boundaries between nature and culture – and how do the two work together?
The researchers do not have to leave Bavaria to explore these questions. “Bavaria is a leader in Germany when it comes to economies based around standing waters. Being geographically close to our project partners allows us to work particularly closely with them and makes field research easier,” explains Laura Otto.
These partners represent forms of agriculture and food production ranging from the highly traditional to the technologically advanced. Carp farming in the Aischgrund region and fishing on Lake Ammersee, for example, both have histories stretching back more than a thousand years. Aquaponics and algae cultivation, by contrast, are much more recent ways of making economic use of water.
Rural life through the ages
“Rural Anthropology” is the title of Laura Otto’s junior professorship at JMU, and the subject also plays a central role in the Research Group. “We are particularly interested in how people living in rural areas define rurality themselves. And the concept is not static: what it means to be rural is constantly changing.”
Aquaponics – which combines fish farming with soil-free plant cultivation – and algae farming are relatively new examples of the economic use of standing waters and are often regarded as sustainable responses to the challenges posed by climate change. Traditional forms of water-based production, meanwhile, face numerous obstacles. Alongside climate change, other forms of human impact are also threatening their survival.
Lake Ammersee, for example, is affected by pollution from tyre abrasion caused by heavy traffic along its shores. Potentially far more serious, however, is the damage that could be caused by an invasive species: the quagga mussel. Originally native to the Black Sea region, it has been spread by shipping and water sports and can now be found in rivers and lakes across Western Europe as well as North America.
“This mussel is a huge problem. It faces very little pressure from predators here, so it reproduces rapidly and filters so much out of the water that other species lose the resources they need to survive.” In Lake Michigan in the United States, quagga mussels already account for 90 per cent of the biomass. There are also indications that the species is present in Lake Ammersee.
“For the lake, the quagga mussel would be an apocalypse – and potentially a death sentence for the fishing industry. We are talking about a centuries-old cultural tradition whose very existence is under threat,” says Laura Otto.
Approaches to sustainable agriculture for the future
“The people working in these areas also see it as their responsibility to preserve habitats and traditions – while constantly adapting to new challenges.” So far, they have often succeeded in doing so. But tackling challenges such as the quagga mussel would require extensive political support – a view widely shared among the fishers.
The Research Group aims to find out how agriculture, species conservation and sustainable food production can work today and in the future in the scientifically under-researched realm of standing waters. The project also aims to identify practical approaches that can benefit people working in agriculture and food production. Ultimately, it addresses a fundamental question: What does the future hold for agriculture – and, not least, for life on Earth?
Emmy Noether Programme
The German Research Foundation’s (DFG) Emmy Noether Programme is aimed at postdoctoral researchers and junior professors on fixed-term contracts who are at an early stage of their academic careers.
It enables them to qualify for a university professorship by independently leading an Early Career Research Group for a period of six years.
Jun.-Prof. Dr Laura Otto, Junior Professorship of Rural Anthropology, email: laura.otto@uni-wuerzburg.de, tel: +49 931 31-88071
Traditional fishing huts on Lake Ammersee.
Source: Laura Otto
Copyright: Laura Otto
Criteria of this press release:
Journalists, all interested persons
Cultural sciences, Economics / business administration, Environment / ecology, Social studies, Zoology / agricultural and forest sciences
transregional, national
Personnel announcements, Research projects
English
Traditional fishing huts on Lake Ammersee.
Source: Laura Otto
Copyright: Laura Otto
You can combine search terms with and, or and/or not, e.g. Philo not logy.
You can use brackets to separate combinations from each other, e.g. (Philo not logy) or (Psycho and logy).
Coherent groups of words will be located as complete phrases if you put them into quotation marks, e.g. “Federal Republic of Germany”.
You can also use the advanced search without entering search terms. It will then follow the criteria you have selected (e.g. country or subject area).
If you have not selected any criteria in a given category, the entire category will be searched (e.g. all subject areas or all countries).
