Source: Pixabay

The Pinova Festival is the crowning glory of a module of the sustainability science minor at the Leuphana University. For two years, the students intensively researched biodiversity at a local orchard, surpassing themselves and their lecturers in the process. At the end of January 2024, the current cohort presented their research results in a variety of creative ways at the Pinova Festival ranging from videos to games.

Prof. Dr. Vicky Temperton and Prof. Dr. Berta Martin-Lopez are in charge of this module, where other lecturers are also contributing: Manuel Pacheco-Romero, Miguel A. Cebrian-Piqueras, Emanuela W. A. Weidlich, Milena Gross, and Eva Völler.

Sumirti Singaravelu supported the module as the student assistant studying sustainability science in her minor herself and in her major economics. Prof. Dr. Berta Martin-Lopez and  Sumirti Singaravelu share their impressions from the module and the festival.

The minor

The students can try things out, learn from each other and apply their knowledge in practice. Since the students have different majors, they bring different perspectives and knowledge to the minor and can thus learn a lot from each other and also make knowledge from the minor fruitful in the major and vice versa.

“One of the beauties of this minor is that you can cross-pollinate ideas from different majors. For instance, if I’m using some statistics in the minor, I actually go back to my economics statistics class in order to check whether I can transfer some of the ideas.” Sumirti

Four special semesters…

… in the first semester the students learn the concepts of sustainability.

… in the second semester they get an idea of the methods and develop own research questions.

… in the third and fourth semester they do their own research projects, e.g. sampling and monitoring butterflies or mammals to answer their research questions.

“The first two semesters the lecturers encourage us to get associated with theoretical ideas behind ecological restoration and conservation. While the last two semesters are a one year project. We do work the theories in practical in the orchard. So, it’s like one year of full theory and one year of full practice.” Sumirti

The festival

“I like ending the minor program with a festival first, because it is like a celebration of the work of the students. This way the students engage way more than they would if it would be an exam. The Pinova Festival is organized by the science communication group, but everyone has to chip in because the success of the festival is when every group present their results in an innovative way. It fosters collaboration with the whole cohort.

From a horse paddock to a biodiversity rich orchard

The current cohort of students analysed different aspects of biodiversity at a local orchard in four different groups:

• Understory-Pollinator group doing research on pollinators.
• Butterfly group analysing butterflies in the orchards.
• Camera Trap group tracking mammals and birds.
• Outreach group responsible for the science communication and organising the festival. Watch their documentary here.

Students from the Leuphana University have done experiments in the orchards since 2016. They planted different trees, did experiments and manged the area. Over the years biodiversity has increased: more butterflies, more pollinators, more mammals.

The Orchard has been a site of ecological restoration and a long-standing initiative of the Traditional Orchard Club of Lüneburg. The Leuphana University has joined hands with them since 2016. The Orchard was restored from a former 2.700 square metres large horse paddock. It has 15 apple trees, 2 cherry trees, and 1 pear tree. It is surrounded by agricultural fields, private residencies, and an old train track.

Because of that, it is not just a module, but a long-term biodiversity monitoring program: Each cohort analyses biodiversity from different perspectives in the orchard. The student groups then pass their knowledge to the next cohort.

“Although there are different students working on the orchard, each of them brings their own ideas to make their research better. The interesting thing to me is that every year we get better and better because the students are improving from the past generations to the point that, for example, they also go way beyond the skills of the lecturers.” Berta

Major results from the current cohort

The Understory-Pollinator detected less pollinators and the Butterfly group detected less butterflies. They analysed how this is connected to the weather conditions.

The Camera Trap group tracked less big mammals but more small mammals, e.g., rabbits and raccoons, and new deer and sub-species, because they changed the position of the camera and used a new AI called Agouti. It is an AI created by Wageningen University and the Research Institute for Nature and Forest to classify species from the images.

You can have a look at the flyers with their results and the list of authors here.

The Outreach group produced science communication and organised the festival. Watch their documentary here.

Abstract economics vs. practical work in the orchard

“In economics, we mostly deal with models. But when you come to the orchard and when you actually look and deal with the real-life research, you get to know that there are several things which are not actually compatible with the models.” Sumirti

Through the theoretical foundation plus the subsequent practical application of knowledge about biodiversity and conservation, students learn much more in the orchard than would be possible in the lecture hall.

“When we talk about climate change in environmental economics, we deal with ideas or concepts which are far away from me, e.g., carbon trading. In the orchard, it is different: Once a team of volunteers mowed the grass in such a way that instead of cutting the grass completely, it just cuts in such a way that the water content of the grass doesn’t go out completely. So, there is still wetness in the grass. And so, this is one of the ways to retain the grass from getting burnt due to the high temperature. Besides, this is cost efficient, it reduces the CO2 that is being produced from the mowing and most importantly, this new technology actually protects 88% of diversity in the orchard. So, economics bring extremely complex solutions. But actually, all you need is to have a good machinery to do the mowing.” Sumirti

Forming personal relationships with nature in the orchard – feeling at home

“A beauty of this minor is that many of the students are not necessarily in contact with nature in their majors and through the minor, there is no other way out. They have to spend one semester in the orchard. The students were reporting that it was remarkable for them because suddenly they develop relational values, human-nature connections. One of the students highlighted his experience with butterflies and said that it was like the most beautiful thing he done in his life, catching butterflies and releasing the butterflies. So, it also touches their lives in the sense how they connect with nature and how they connect with others through nature.” Berta

“I come from India, which is a very tropical country. And so, I cannot spot all German trees and name them, but I do know about them, I do know that this tree is this and this tree has this property. But once I came to Germany, one of my major problems was that I just couldn’t have any value of any relationship to any of the plants around me, which actually was off putting because I am doing this minor, which is in ecological conservation. But I couldn’t have a story apart from the name and the size and the biological taxonomy of the tree.

So, I asked the other students: ‘can you give me a memory which you have associated with your trees, or can you talk about your trees in your childhood?’ So that’s one of my ways to develop my relationship with my surroundings in Germany.

I think this is really important for someone who is coming to Germany as an immigrant in order to be local and also to reduce the foreignness for a land.

I can now identify the different trees and when I see an oak tree, there are memories of my friends which they have shared their stories about it. And I often connect with the tree through those stories.”

Sumirti

Text Mareike Andert