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Climate change and the associated glacier retreat lead to considerable enlargement and alterations of the proglacial systems. The colonisation of plants in this ecosystem was found to be highly dependent on terrain age, initial site conditions and geomorphic disturbances. Although the explanatory variables are generally well understood, there is little knowledge on their collinearities and resulting influence on proglacial primary succession. To develop a sphere-spanning understanding of vegetation development, a more interdisciplinary approach was adopted. In the proglacial areas of Fürkeleferner, Zufallferner and Langenferner (Martell Valley, Eastern Italian Alps), in total 65 plots of 5×2 m were installed to perform the vegetation analysis on vegetation cover, species number and species composition. For each of those, 39 potential explanatory variables were collected, selected through an extensive literature review. To analyse and further avoid multicollinearities, 33 of the explanatory variables were clustered via principal component analysis (PCA) to five components. Subsequently, generalised additive models (GAMs) were used to analyse the potential explanatory factors of primary succession. The results showed that primary succession patterns were highly related to the first component (elevation and time), the second component (solar radiation), the third component (soil chemistry), the fifth component (soil physics) and landforms. In summary, the analysis of all explanatory variables together provides an overview of the most important influencing variables and their interactions; thus it provides a basis for the debate on future vegetation development in a changing climate.

Forest‐based mitigation strategies will play a pivotal role in achieving the rapid and deep net‐emission reductions required to prevent catastrophic climate change. However, large disagreement prevails on how to forge forest‐based mitigation strategies, in particular in regions where forests are currently growing in area and carbon density. Two opposing viewpoints prevail in the current discourse: (1) A widespread viewpoint, specifically in countries in the Global North, favours enhanced wood use, including bioenergy, for substitution of emissions‐intensive products and processes. (2) Others instead focus on the biophysical, resource‐efficiency and time‐response advantages of forest conservation and restoration for carbon sequestration and biodiversity conservation, whilst often not explicitly specifying how much wood extraction can still safeguard these ecological benefits. We here argue for a new perspective in sustainable forest research that aims at forging “no‐regret” forest‐based climate change mitigation strategies. Based on the consideration of forest growth dynamics and the opportunity carbon cost associated with wood use, we suggest that, instead of taking (hypothetical) wood‐for‐fossil substitution as starting point in assessments of carbon implications of wood products and services, analyses should take the potential and desired carbon sequestration of forests as starting point and quantify sustainable yield potentials compatible with those carbon sequestration potentials. Such an approach explicitly addresses the possible benefits provided by forests as carbon sinks, brings research on the permanence and vulnerability of C‐stocks in forests, of substitution effects, as well as explorations of demand‐side strategies to the forefront of research and, in particular, aligns better with the urgency to find viable climate solutions.

Jahrbuch f��r Geschichte des l��ndlichen Raumes, Bd. 8 (2011): Aus der Mitte der Landschaft. Landschaftswahrnehmung in Selbstzeugnissen

Die Landwirtschaft im Alpenraum ist seit der Mitte des 20. Jahrhunderts im Umbruch. Noch vor 70 Jahren nutzten die Bauern die wenigen Gunstlagen im Talbereich für den Ackerbau. Das Heu wurde auf den steilen Talhängen und auf den hochgelegenen Bergmähdern gewonnen. Das Vieh weidete den Sommer über auf den Almen. Heute hat sich dies geändert: Viele Flächen in den Gunstlagen sind Dauerkulturen gewichen, der Ackerbau ist weitgehend verschwunden. Grenzertragsflächen wurden extensiviert oder brachgelegt. Alle Entwicklungen sind mit ökologischen Folgen verbunden – positiven aber auch negativen. In diesem Artikel wird ein Überblick über den aktuellen Stand des Wissens gegeben, indem die landnutzungsbedingten Auswirkungen auf insgesamt 47 Ökosystem- und Landschaftsmerkmale dargestellt und diskutiert werden. Berücksichtigt werden unter anderem die Folgen auf den Boden, die Lebewesen, die Produktion, auf den Wald, die Wasserqualität und -quantität, sowie das Risikopotential und die Landschaftsqualität. Ecological effects of land-use changes in the Alps: Agriculture in the Alpine region has been changing fundamentally since the middle of the 20th century. Only 70 years ago, farmers still used the few agriculturally favorable areas in the valleys as arable land. The hay was obtained from steep valley slopes and high-elevation mountain meadows. The cattle grazed on alpine pastures during the summer. Today this has changed: Many areas in the valley bottoms are now used to grow fruits and wine, arable farming has largely disappeared at the expense of intensive grassland. Many extensively used hay meadows and alpine pastures have been abandoned. All these developments have ecological consequences - positive as well as negative ones. By presenting and discussing the land-use related impacts on a total of 47 ecosystem and landscape features, this article provides an overview of the current state of knowledge. Among others, the effects on soil, living organisms, production, forests, water quality and quantity, as well as potential risk and landscape quality are addressed.

Das Handbuch enthält: - Eine Einführung in ergebnisorientierte Massnahmen Projekt MERIT - Einen Überblick über die Vor- und Nachteile ergebnisorientierte Massnahmen - Wissenschaftlich fundierte Empfehlungen für die Gestaltung, Umsetzung und Governance ergebnisorientierter Biodiversitätsfördermassnahmen in der Berglandwirtschaft - Beispiel von ergebnisorientierten Massnahmen in Europa

International audience; This handbook is based on the results, reports, deliverables and user fora of a project entitled ‘Merit based income from sustainable land management in mountain farming’ (MERIT). This research was carried out under the RURAGRI programme ; an ERA-NET supported by the European Commission and national governmental funding bodies under the 7th EU Framework research Programme (FP 7, CA 235175).This handbook is targeted at policy makers from governmental bodies, public authorities, farmers’ associations as well as other private or public organizations involved and interested in the development and implementation of agri-environmental policies. It provides information about the implementation of result-oriented agri-environmental measures, a relatively new approach of preserving, enhancing and supporting biodiversity on agricultural areas: here, in the context of meadows and pastures and other habitats and landscape elements in mountain regions in Europe. The handbook provides policy recommendations for the effective design, implementation and governance of such measures that can be adopted by public bodies (governments, other responsible administrative bodies) as well as private organisations (NGOs or food chain managers).

Mountain regions meet an increasing demand for pleasant landscapes, offering many cultural ecosystem services to both their residents and tourists. As a result of global change, land managers and policy makers are faced with changes to this landscape and need efficient evaluation techniques to assess cultural ecosystem services. This study provides a spatially explicit modelling approach to estimating aesthetic landscape values by relating spatial landscape patterns to human perceptions via a photo-based survey. The respondents attributed higher aesthetic values to the Alpine landscape in respect to areas with settlements, infrastructure or intensive agricultural use. The aesthetic value of two study areas in the Central Alps (Stubai Valley, Austria and Vinschgau, Italy) was modelled for 10,215 viewpoints along hiking trails according to current land cover and a scenario considering the spontaneous reforestation of abandoned land. Viewpoints with high aesthetic values were mainly located at high altitude, allowing long vistas, and included views of lakes or glaciers, and the lowest values were for viewpoints close to streets and in narrow valleys with little view. The aesthetic values of the reforestation scenario decreased mainly at higher altitudes, but the whole area was affected, reducing aesthetic value by almost 10% in Stubai Valley and 15% in Vinschgau. Our proposed modelling approach allows the estimation of aesthetic values in spatial and qualitative terms for most viewpoints in the European Alps. The resulting maps can be used as information and the basis for discussion by stakeholders, to support the decision-making process and landscape planning. This paper also discusses the role of mountain farming in preserving an attractive landscape and related cultural values.

The Matschertal/ Val di Mazia, is a valley with a surface of 100 km2 and a length of 15 km. It is branching off the main Valley, Vinschgau, situated in the westernmost part of South Tyrol, in the Central Alps, in the northernmost province of Italy. The four LTER sites "Muntatschinig", "Saldur River Catchment", "Saldur River" and "Proglacial area Matsch" are distributed from the lower reaches of the valley at 950 m to the nival zone of glacier Matscher Ferner (app. 3000 m a.s.l.). The peak Wei��kugel/Palla Bianca (3738 m), which dominates the Matscher Ferner, closes the valley off to the northeast. The presence of a glacier enables investigations on the role of glacial runoff into the water regime of a typical inner-Alpine valley and, due to the closed catchment, the Matsch valley is suited for parameterizing hydrological models. With an average of 525 mm of precipitation per year (at 1500 m a.s.l.), the Matschertal is one of the driest valleys in the Alps. The aridity may be representative of future scenarios in other regions and thus, the Matschertal can serve as a reference area. The main village Matsch is located at 1600 m and has a population of 458 people. The valley has very few other settlements and is primarily used for farming. The range of land use types is representative of agricultural practices in mountainous regions of the Alps, including cultivated fields, poor- and high-yield meadows, pastureland and typical low-density larch forests. Over centuries of land-use a landscape mosaic has developed which is strongly dependent of human action. This is why we developed a holistic landscape approach with 4 research sites covering several spatial scales and an altitudinal range for our mainly climate change related studies in Val Mazia/Matscher Tal. First ecological investigations in Matschertal began in 2008, while the first automated microclimate station was installed in 2009. The original goal was to investigate the effects of a changing climate on specific microclimates, plant diversity and the yield of typical grasslands in mountainous regions. Investigations follow an integrated approach, both over time (historical analyses, current processes and future scenarios) and across spatial scales (single test plots to entire landscapes and across ecosystem types). An altitudinal transect within the human influenced catchment is used for climate simulation experiments e.g. for grassland transplantation experiments to model the impact of warmer temperatures on plot samples. Some parameters have been mapped periodically, such as vegetation, landscape type or soil type.