Das Projekt "ECOMONT - Oekologische Auswirkungen von Bewirtschaftungsaenderungen in europaeischen Bergoekosystemen. Untersuchung von oekosystemaren Prozessen im Alpenraum, den Spanischen Pyrenaeen und dem Schottischen Hochland" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Innsbruck, Institut für Botanik, Abteilung Ökologie durchgeführt. ECOMONT aims at investigating land-use changes in European Terrestrial Mountain Ecosystems in the context of the EU-framework IV. As a contribution to the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Initiative TERI, ECOMONT aims at a high degree of integration: - to investigate which changes in the canopy structure occur due to land-use changes in agricultural and forestal Alpine ecosystems along a South/North research-transect across the Eastern Alps and how these changes affect the exchange process with the atmosphere; - to clear up how the changes in canopy structure are connected with species composition and performance, as well as with species composition and interaction; - to understand the influence of land-use changes on soil organic matter (SOM) status and turnover, on biogeochemical (CO2, N) and hydrological processes and the lower layers of the athmospere; - to extend this understanding to the landscape level by means of multimedia modelling activities; - to compare the results from the Alps with those of other European mountains (Spanish Pyrenees, Scottish Highland). Home page:HTTP://Info.UIBL.AC.AT/ECOMONT.