ABSTRACT
MFA is usually a multidisciplinary task. Materials flow through many branches of an economy, and they cross boundaries such as the interfaces “anthroposphere-environment” or “water-air-soil.” Hence, it is of prime importance to seek advice from experts of those disciplines that are relevant to a particular MFA. For example, if regional nutrient balances are investigated by MFA, it is necessary to include the knowledge of partners from agriculture, nutrition, sewage treatment, water quality, and hydrology, either by forming a project team or by engaging the experts as consultants when needed. Sometimes this cooperation leads to new research questions, since research within individual disciplines may be stimulated by specialized knowledge from other fields of study (see Section 3.1.2).
