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Forest Ecosystems

A forest is an ecosystem. At WSL we are studying the influence of soil, water, air, climate, plants and animals on the growth and development processes in forests, with a special focus on assessing the effects of changes in climate. Here below-ground processes involving roots, fungi, bacteria and the forest soil play an essential role.

In focus

Does a warmer climate lengthen the mushroom fruiting season?

Climate change lentghens mushroom season

21.08.2012: For the fist time researchers analyzed the growth of mushrooms over a period of almost 40 years. The study shows that the fruiting season has become longer in many European countries.

Available languages: German English French

Long-term Forest Ecosystem Research Programme LWF

The mission of LWF is to improve our understanding of how natural and anthropogenic stresses affect forests in the long term, and which risks for humans are involved. Consequently, we need to gain a more profound knowledge of the cause-effect relationships in the forest ecosystem and the underlying processes.

Available languages: German English French

Swiss National Forest Inventory NFI

What does the Swiss forest look like and how does it change over time? The Swiss National Forest Inventory (NFI) tries to answer these questions.

Available languages: German English French Italian

International research cooperation

COST Action FP0803: Belowground carbon turnover in European forests

COST Action FP0803 chaired by WSL soil scientist Ivano Brunner. Focusing on the four key areas: fine root turnover, mycorrhizal mycelia turnover, soil C stocks, and biogeochemical modelling, with the intention of linking the different research fields involved, evaluating the potential of new and innovative methodologies, and developing new process-based descriptions of belowground C dynamics within biogeochemical models.

Available languages: English