The Landscape Laboratory

The landscape laboratory in Alnarp includes 20 hectares of woodland stands, edges, shelterbelts, roadside plantations, meadows, wetlands and water bodies, constructed and planted close to campus from 1982 and onwards. Here, landscape enrichment and dynamic vegetation are studied and demonstrated in full-scale areas as an inspiration for urban forests, agricultural land, parks, gardens and road environments. The main aim is to create an arena that explores and shows examples of multiple-use and enrichment in recreation, ecological values as well as forestry and agricultural production.

One of the areas in the park is the showroom Tor Nitzelius park. It was originally created in 1994 to protect Alnarpsparken's large range of plants against the harsh western winds. The park consists of plots in a variety of shape, form and content. They vary in what stratum is represented in the vegetation as well as the number of species. They also offer the opportunity to get an understanding of how the plots react according to the succession. This way, whole systems with plants from different continents can be studied and it offers an opportunity to compare and acquire inspiration by Northern European, North American and East Asian mixtures of plants.

The laboratory offers both national and international visitors, as well as students, teachers and researchers an outdoor laboratory for long term follow up studies, shorter experiments, workshops, inspiration and outdoor learning.