Soils are not only the basis for the production of food and other raw materials, they also store and filter water, store carbon and harbour an overwhelming biodiversity. This multifunctionality emerges from complex interactions of small scale biological, physical and chemical processes. In this presentation we discuss how such processes can be represented in a systemic soil model that allows to predict the impact of soil management and climate change on soil functions and their dynamics at the scale of landscapes.
Iva Franić (WSL) will present her work on tree seed fungi, focusing on their diversity and how they can enhance seedling vigor and resilience or threaten plant vitality.
Die Fotografien von Sam V. Furrer erkunden die zarten Details des Holzes, die Spuren seiner Bewohner sowie das Spiel von Licht und Schatten im Innern des morschen Baumstamms. Die Erläuterungen von Forschenden der WSL geben einen Einblick in eine vielfältige Welt.
The best avalanche forecasts are worth little if users are unable to understand and apply the provided information in their risk management practices. While it is well established in the risk communication community that an in-depth understanding of the needs and skills of the target audience is critical for effective communication, avalanche safety research has traditionally focused mainly on improving the accuracy of avalanche forecasts and did not pay much attention to how the information is interpreted and applied
François Munoz (Université Grenoble Alpes) will introduce a new type of eco-evolutionary modelling, based on a coalescence approach, to evaluate and test different biogeographical and evolutionary scenarios.
Leben und Forschen in der Antarktis. Matthias Jaggi erzählt von seinem Forschungsaufenthalt auf der französisch-italienischen Forschungsstation Concordia auf dem antarktischen Hochplateau.
Climate change threatens cities particularly through increasing frequency and intensity of heat waves, rainstorms and droughts. Green infrastructure is increasingly seen as a key measure for urban climate change adaptation. What potential does it really have and how should it be designed? How can the conflict between densification in growing cities and the development of green infrastructure be resolved? The lecture will present results from research projects at the Centre for Urban Ecology and Climate Adaptation at the Technical University of Munich.
A joint seminar co-organized with the WSL Landscape Center
Nadine Schütz is a media-artist and master student in Curatorial Studies (Art Education) at Zurich University of the Arts. As part of the transdisciplinary Master Series residencies, she accompanied and exchanged with mycologist Artemis Treindl in her field research. Her talk is the end-presentation of this 3-month long exchange.
Debbie Leigh (WSL) will present the results of a common garden experiment to characterize standing local adaptation and trait genomic architecture.
Antrittsvorlesung von Janine Bolliger an der Universität Zürich
Increasingly sophisticated algorithms have already become part of our lives. This development is also starting to extend to avalanche forecasting. It is starting to impact our work as forecasters and will eventually also influence our forecast products.
The operational model chain at SLF now encompasses the physical snow-cover model SNOWPACK but also recently developed machine-learning models. These models deliver predictions on various aspects relevant to regional avalanche forecasting, such as the likelihood of dry-snow or wet-snow avalanches in a region, snowpack instability, and the danger level. Taking the perspective of the avalanche forecaster, I will share examples to underscore the potential advantages and challenges associated with utilizing these models in operational avalanche forecasting at SLF.
Seismometers record signals from more than just earthquakes. Ground vibrations due to natural processes were recognized more than a century ago by scientists designing the instrumentation for earthquake detection, who mostly interpreted those signals as something polluting the seismograms, and therefore to be discarded. However, what happens if we neglect earthquakes and analyse what remains in the records?
New Zealand’s climate and topography create conditions for challenging avalanche problems. For example, large wet avalanches will sometimes generate powder clouds, and storms will bring > 500 mm of rain to an alpine snowpack the middle of winter. Relatively sparse observational records hamper efforts to characterize avalanche hazards in many places. Our work aims to better understand avalanches in New Zealand using remote sensing observations and modelling.
Recent unprecedented heat and heavy rainfall extremes broke previous observed record intensities by large margins. Given their unprecedented intensity some media outlets and scientists raised the question whether extremes intensify faster than projected. Here I address this question and highlight some of the challenges such events pose to widely used methods in model evaluation and attribution. Furthermore, I discuss ways forward in quantifying the potential intensity of future record-shattering events.
Davnah Urbach will introduce the Global Mountain Biodiversity Assessment research network before building on the work it performs to give an overview (i) of the current state of knowledge and research on mountain biodiversity in the face of global change and (ii) of current efforts and options to support science-based policy making for mountain biodiversity.
Glacier mass change has crucial impacts on hydrology, sea level rise, and climate change. Geodetic and glaciological mass balance observations so far have insufficient resolution to capture processes occurring on small spatial and/or short temporal scales. However, a permanent Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) station adjacent to Hintereisferner (HEF, Ötztal Alps, Austria) provides daily Digital Elevation Models (DEMs), which allow closing spatiotemporal gaps in established glacier monitoring methods. An uncertainty assessment showed that smaller-scale processes, such as snow deposition and redistribution with a vertical spatial scale >0.10 m can be investigated with the TLS setup at HEF
Forschung und Verwaltung kommunizieren über verschiedenste Themen: Forschungsresultate, Politik, fachliche Wissensvermittlung und Sensibilisierung und vieles mehr. Damit die unterschiedlichen Kommunikationsbedürfnisse erfüllt werden könnten, braucht es eine gute Abstimmung und Umsetzung. Wissenschaftliche Findings müssen beispielsweise «übersetzt» werden, damit sie für das Zielpublikum wie Medien, Bevölkerung und Politik verständlich sind und einheitlich darüber kommuniziert wird - eine Auslegeordnung aus Sicht des Bundes.
The Living Well Within Limits project investigated the energy requirements of well-being, from quantitative, provisioning systems and political economy perspectives. In this presentation, I will communicate cross-cutting findings from the project, in the form of 10 stylized facts, and their implications, present and future. These stylised facts cover the current and future energy requirements of wellbeing, their unequal distribution, the crucial role played by provisioning systems and public services, the importance of political economy approaches and the necessity to consider transformations beyond capitalism. I will also briefly present upcoming research on post-growth economies. I thus argue for the active (as in activist) engagement of the research community.
This 22nd international course on "Wood Anatomy and Tree-Ring Ecology"
will be held in Hotel Morteratsch, Pontresina, Switzerland
The goals are to present an overview of eDNA tools that are ready for use and available to practitioners, and to write a white paper on best practices and recommendations for eDNA monitoring for use in Switzerland.
Module 6: Work on Your Own Project
Ursachen und Auswirkungen mariner Plastikverschmutzung. Plastikpartikel sind in allen Weltmeeren gesichtet worden. Berichte von Walen mit Plastiktüten in den Mägen oder von Robben, die in ausrangierten Netzen verfangen sind, sind auf social media zu finden. Aber wieviel Plastik ist im Ozean, wo sammelt es sich an, und was sind die Konsequenzen für marine Organismen?
RAMMS::Rockfall XChange Workshop über Neuerungen und Erfahrungen aus der Praxis
Plants are excellent indicators of environmental changes (incl. climate change), and we have used historical plant records previously to study (very) long-term vegetation changes in cold environments.
Das FORUM für Wissen ist eine Veranstaltung, die von der Eidg. Forschungsanstalt für Wald, Schnee und Landschaft WSL durchgeführt wird. Sie bietet eine Plattform, um aktuelle Themen aus den Arbeitsgebieten der WSL vorzustellen und zu diskutieren. Zielpublikum sind Forschung, Praxis, Wissenschaftsjournalisten, Berufsleute und Kunden.
Module 4: Literature Management with Endnote
Fernerkundungstechnologien und Methoden werden immer häufiger und erfolgreicher für die Erkennung und das Monitoring von alpinen Naturgefahren eingesetzt. In diesem dreitägigen Kurs zeigen wir auf, wo und wie solche Technologien sinnvoll eingesetzt werden können und wo ihre Grenzen liegen. Durch Vorträge, eine Exkursion und mit angewandten Übungen lernen die Teilnehmenden, wo sie selbst in Zukunft Fernerkundungstechnologie gewinnbringend einsetzen können.
Daniele Silvestro (U. of Fribourg) will explain how coupling artificial intelligence with evolutionary models holds great promise for advancing our understanding of biodiversity and its evolution.
About influencers, super-forecasters, group discussions, and majority voting in avalanche forecasting at SLF.
2-tägiger Kurs zum Sammeln und Bestimmen von saprophytischen Aphyllophorales
Module 4: Literature Management with Endnote
Natacha Bodenhausen (FiBL) will present her work on “microbiome diagnostics” to better predict successful AMF inoculation, which could enhance the efficiency of biofertilizers and thus lead to more…
Mixed snow avalanches exhibit distinct flow regimes, including a frictional dense core at the base, a collisional fluidized layer above it, and a turbulent regime forming a powder snow cloud at the top. Despite its destructive potential, the powder snow cloud is occasionally implemented in numerical codes for snow avalanche hazard mapping.
In recent years, Open Access (OA) publishing has experienced rapid growth, witnessing the emergence of numerous new publishers and journals. In this talk, I will explore the benefits, challenges, and potential pitfalls of OA publishing from the perspectives of both an active researcher and a research funder. I will briefly revisit the well-rehearsed arguments for OA and discuss some challenges and abuses, such as peer review quality or predatory practices. Finally, I will conclude with a discussion of best practices and alternative publishing models.
Module 5: Getting Started with LaTeX
Gianmaria Bonari (University of Siena) will present an European scale study about old-established black pine plantations and their impact on local biodiversity.
Der ScienceDay des SwissForestLab findet am 6. Oktober an der ETH statt. Mehr Informationen folgen.
Yann Hautier (Utrecht University) will present a novel large-scale experiment manipulating plant diversity and future precipitation scenarios to examine how biodiversity can provide us with natural…
Fritz Kleinschroth (ETHZ) will present tools and approaches aiming at inclusive social-ecological planning to reconcile biodiversity conservation and infrastructure development.
Eine neue Herangehensweise für die umfassende Risikosteuerung bei Naturgefahren. Naturgefahrenereignisse stellen in der ganzen Schweiz ein Risiko für Menschen und ihre Lebensgrundlage dar. Das Risiko nimmt zu. Damit stehen Verantwortliche der öffentlichen Hand und der Wirtschaft vor der Frage, wie sie ihre beschränkten Ressourcen einsetzen können, um Menschen und Sachwerte angemessen zu schützen und resilient zu werden.
We have the pleasure to announce the 33rd European Dendroecological Fieldweek, 10-17 September 2023. It will take place in the scenic region of Krkonoše just below the highest Czech Mountain Sněžka. This year the fieldweek will be organised in close collaboration between the Dendrolabs of the WSL and the Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic.
Machine Learning Seminars Kick-off Meeting
I will highlight the main insights that have been gathered from large-scale genomics of fungi inhabiting forests, focusing on the evolution of ectomycorrhizal fungi. I will also report on our recent effort to map fungal networks and their gene expression in upper montane subtropical forests.
Ectomycorrhizal fungi (ECM) are key engineers of forest ecosystems as they provide water and nutrients to host trees. These complex host-symbiont interactions are influenced by environmental conditions and can be particularly challenged by extreme climatic events such as drought or heat waves.
