In the global carbon budget, carbon can be drawn down from the atmosphere by silicate weathering and by the burial of organic carbon in anoxic environments such as the deep sea. In this project we study how organic carbon is transferred to, and transported in mountain streams.

Available languages: English 

Mit dem Projekt "Monitoring Flankierende Massnahmen Umwelt" (MFM-U) untersucht die Schweiz die Umwelt-Auswirkungen des Landverkehrsabkommens mit der EU sowie die Umwelt-Auswirkungen der flankierenden Massnahmen. Im diesem Teilprojekt stehen die Auswirkungen auf den Wald im Vordergrund. Als Indikator dient der Elementgehalt von Fichtenadeln.

Available languages: German 

Special focus of the Integrated Monitoring of Air Pollution Effects on Ecosystems is to improve the understanding about the effects of sulphur and nitrogen inputs into ecosystems. The research methods are intensive and are carried out within ecosystems in small hydrologically delineated catchments.

Available languages: English 

In a unique CO2 enrichment study experiment – the Swiss Canopy Project - led by the Institute of Botany, University of Basel (Prof. Körner) we are measuring DOM fluxes. A 100 year-old mixed broadleaf forest is exposed to elevated CO2 with the help of a crane. The added CO2 is depleted in 13C as compared to normal air, allowing to trace assimilated CO2 through the tree and soil system and to gain insight into soil C cycling.

Available languages: English 

This framework project contains research done on the site Erlenhöhe at Alptal (canton Schwyz, central Switzerland). It consists mainly of a nitrogen (N) addition experiment in which the effetcs of N deposition on a subalpine forest ecosystem are studied.

Available languages: German  English  French 

The goal of the project is to measure the effect of an elevated CO2 concentration onto the availability of nutrients in the soil, especially nitrogen. Are nutirents becoming more and more a limiting factor as CO2 availability to trees increases?

Available languages: German  English  French