Die vorliegende Biotoptypenkartierung wurde im Rahmen der Fortschreibung des Landschaftsrahmenplanes erstellt. Bei dieser Kartierung wurde erstmals der Kartierschlüssel für Biotoptypen nach Darchenfels angewendet. Die Ergebnisse der Kartierung sind in einem Flächen-, einem Linien- und einem Punktdatensatz abgelegt.
Das Projekt "Rehabilitation of Degraded Forests in Yunnan (German-Chinese Cooperation for Agrarian Research)" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Hamburg, Arbeitsbereich für Weltforstwirtschaft und Institut für Weltforstwirtschaft des Friedrich-Löffler-Institut, Bundesforschungsinstitut für Tiergesundheit durchgeführt. Background: An increasing frequency of massive flooding along the lower Yangtse River in China ended in a disastrous catastrophe in summer 1998 leaving several thousand people homeless, more than 3.600 dead and causing enormous economic damage. Inappropriate land-use techniques and large scale timber felling in the water catchment of the upper Yangtse and its feeder streams were stated to be the main causes. Immediate timber cutting bans were imposed and investigations on land use patterns were initiated by the Chinese Government. The Institute for World Forestry of the Federal Research Centre for Forestry and Forest Products was approached by the Yunnan Academy of Forestry in Kunming to exchange experiences and to cooperate scientifically in the design and application of appropriate afforestation and silvicultural management techniques in the water catchment area of the Yangtse. This cooperation was initiated in 1999 and is based on formal agreements in the fields of agrarian research between the German and Chinese Governments. Objectives: The cooperation was in the first step focussing on the identification of factors which caused the enormous floodings. After their identification measures of prevention were determined and put into practice. In this context experiences made in past centuries in the alpine region of central Europe served as an incentive and example for similar environmental problems and solutions under comparable conditions. Relevant key questions of the cooperation project were: - Analysis of forest related factors influencing the recent floodings of the Yangtse, - Analysis and evaluation of silvicultural management experiences from central Europe for know-how transfer, - Evaluation of rehabilitation measures for successful application in Yunnan, - Dissemination of knowledge through vocational training. Results: - Frequent wild grazing of husbandry is a key factor for forest degeneration beyond unsustainable timber harvests, forest fires and insect calamities leading to increased water run-off in the mountainous region of Yunnan; - Browsing of cattle interrupts succession thus avoiding natural regeneration and leaving a logging ban ineffective; - Mountain pasture in the Alps had similar effects in the past in central Europe. The introduction of controlled grazing has led to an ecologically compatible coexistence of pasture and ecology. Close-to-nature forestry can have positive effects in this sensitive environment. - Afforestation with site adopted broadleaves and coniferous tree species was implemented on demonstration level using advanced techniques in Yunnan.
Das Projekt "Sources, sinks and impacts of atmospheric nitrogen deposition in the Arctic (NSINK), WP5: Aquatic Ecosystems and Palaeolimnology" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Innsbruck, Institut für Ökologie durchgeführt. The NSINK Initial Stage Network training network targets one of the most vital, interdisciplinary problems facing future Arctic environmental management: namely the enrichment of Arctic terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems by reactive atmospheric nitrogen from low latitude emission centres. This problem will greatly exacerbate ecosystem response to climate change, and urgently requires holistic, sources to sinks type studies of nitrogen dynamics. The delivery of nitrogen from tropospheric and even stratospheric sources will be considered using lagrangian and eulerian approaches that directly link air mass movements to the mass balance of nitrogen at the ground surface. NSINK will then track the fate of this nitrogen through the polar sunrise and into the melt period by considering atmosphere-snow-soil-organism transfers at small plot to catchment scales. Further, in order to constrain temporal change in nitrogen accumulation in this sensitive environment, research into the collection and interpretation of ice core and lake sediment archives will also be undertaken and linked to a reanalysis of atmospheric observations collected over the last 16 years at Ny Ålesund. The concept behind NSINK is that a major European research facility (namely Ny Ålesund in Svalbard) can be used to train a significant cohort of new expertise in environmental science to tackle a major environmental problem from a multidisciplinary perspective. NSINK therefore offers training in atmospheric sciences, snow physics, hydrology, biogeochemistry and aquatic/terrestrial ecology from experienced practitioners in UK , Norwegian, Swedish, Austrian and German institutions. The principal scientific objectives of NSINK are to: 1. Establish the climatology and dynamics of atmospheric nitrogen delivery to the European High Arctic at an unprecedented range of temporal scales; 2. Construct mass balance models of the biogeochemical cycling of reactive nitrogen in the resident snow, ice and ecosystem stores within this part of the European High Arctic; 3. Conduct process studies of nitrogen dynamics that include the use of natural and artificial tracers (where relevant) of the fluxes that link the above stores; 4. Determine ecosystem response to enhanced atmospheric N deposition, and consequences for ecosystem biodiversity, productivity and carbon balance; 5. Produce models with the capacity to forecast ecosystem response to scenarios of coupled climate warming and atmospheric nitrogen enrichment. Fellow 5A ( Nitrogen Cycling in Aquatic Ecosystems ) will consider microbial foodwebs and nitrogen cycling in the aquatic ecosystems of the Ny Ålesund area whilst under the supervision of Birgit Sattler and Roland Psenner. Fellow 5B ( Palaeolimnology ) will work on the palaeolimnology of local lakes in Svalbard under the supervision of Karin Koinig (second supervisor: Anne Hormes). This work will constrain the history and drivers of physico-chemical conditions throughout the late Holocene by exa
Das Projekt "Monitoring and interpretation of hydrological and landcover parameters in climate change affected permafrost regions using satellite active microwave data" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Technische Universität Wien, Institut für Photogrammetrie und Fernerkundung (IPF) durchgeführt. Periglacial environments are highly sensitive to climate change. Expected impacts are changes in water balance in all permafrost affected areas, the increased release of greenhouse gases in especially high latitude lowlands and an increased frequency and magnitude of mass movements in high mountain permafrost regions. What exactly are the consequences of global climate change on permafrost dynamics and extent? Knowledge about these patterns will allow enhanced quantification of changes in the carbon cycle together with impact on greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and feedbacks. In order to follow this question up, spatial seasonal and inter-annual patterns of biogeophysical parameters need to be investigated over a longer time period and over large regions. For this project remotely sensed data have been chosen to monitor these changes. Such data have not only been proven applicable for investigation on regional and global scale, there have been recent advances considering monitoring of parameters which can be associated with permafrost. It is aspired to utilize the potential of existing microwave remote sensing analysis techniques and products rather than developing completely new data analyses methods. Special emphasis is put on bridging the gap between remote sensing technology and application.The effect of climate change in permafrost regions does highly impact hydrology. Thus, the primary parameters of interest for this study are relative soil moisture in the surface layer, inundation and freeze/thaw. Their seasonal and inter-annual dynamics will be analyzed with respect to permafrost. Study areas cover large proportions of Siberian and the Tibetan plateau. They represent all types of permafrost (continuous, discontinuous and sporadic) and climate regions: latitudinal and altitudinal permafrost.During the initial phase of the project, products from three different microwave sensors will be assessed for their suitability of the proposed purpose. The second phase encompasses the time series analyses. The products cover up to 15 years. Latest data from all sensors will be permanently incorporated. Finally, the observed changes will be compared with results from available permafrost models.
Das Projekt "Microbial Communities in extreme environments (MicrEx)" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Innsbruck, Institut für Ökologie durchgeführt.