Plant ecologists have initiated a project aimed at understanding the long-term production capacity of woodlands and how their biological diversity can be maintained. Lund's ecologists are also deeply involved in studying soil and the root zone of vegetation from both chemical and microbiological perspectives. Other ecologists are interested in the effect of climatic fluctuations on the ecosystem, chiefly as regards large-scale interactions between climate and the terrestrial biosphere through changes in the circulation of carbon and water. Insects Speak Chemistry Insects communicate with each other by means of chemical signals, pheromones. A large research team is studying these signals, which are often scents.
Applied research seeks to develop scent-based methods to predict and combat insect onslaughts.
The methods of molecular genetics are being increasingly used in ecological research. By charting genetic differences between individuals from natural populations of animals and fungi, scientists are now studying how variation in individual genes affects the evolution, for example, of resistance to disease and toxins. Limnologists have been working with the restoration of lakes and wetlands.