Das Projekt "Matter and nutrient fluxes - Scenario development and compilation of an interdisciplinary (Internet) atlas" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Kassel, Lehr- und Forschungsgebiet Nutztierwissenschaften, Group Animal Husbandry in the Tropics and Subtropics durchgeführt. For centuries sophisticated oasis agriculture and ocean fishery provided the living of the sedentary population in the mountainous desert country of Oman. Since the early 1970s, the country's political opening and commercial oil exploitation led to fundamental changes in the conditions for agricultural production. Being part of an interdisciplinary programme comprising research in social and natural sciences, the overall aim of this subproject is to quantify the bio-physical processes and socio-economic variables that determine the current crop-livestock husbandry in Omani mountain oasis settlements. To this end, nutrient and water use efficiencies in the cropping system are determined along with feeding strategies in livestock husbandry, labour needs and financial in- and outputs related to the various activities. Through bio-economic modelling land use options that are biologically and economically sustainable are identified and scenarios are developed for a socially acceptable future agricultural use of the millennia-old terrace systems with their high cultural value.