The Diversity of Nature and How to Manage it with Geo-Spatial-Technologies- Experiences in Sustainability got from Fieldwork in Hohentauern

Nowadays the measuring and valuing of the natural environment resides in the centre of interest of geographic researchers. In most of that cases the grade diversity (biodiversity for the biotic or geodiversity for the abiotic branch) can be used to quantify the value of the as-is state of the environment and to describe the relevant elements of the landscape’s inventory. With other terms: The focus of sustainability and the goals of sustainable acting are seriously infl uenced by diversity of nature respectively their indicators. Furthermore, dealing with diversity and sustainability in general has brought up a need for so called sustainable approaches as well as for an adequate (and of course sustainable) set of toolboxes. This concept can be applied also in more detailed regional scales and particularly in high mountain environments where human and natural sphere typically are infl uenced by each other in a very intensive way. Therefore, spatially referenced data material and the knowledge about how to work with it can be seen as funda-mentals of diversity acquisition and management; according to this higher education in that fi eld of research fi rst of all has to provide an highly integrated introduction in GIS/RS/Mapping toolboxes and their application during intensive, methodically interlocked fi eld campaigns. On these mandatory fi eld trips the students have to elaborate special thematic packages of their choice, which might work as indicators for diversity and development of a region. In a vertical way of sight all characteristic elements of Geo-Spatial Technologies (acquisition, management, analysis and visualisation of spatially referenced data) have to be employed to perform the most important tasks of diversity research, actual state audit, change detection and conservation