MiCSS - Physiological drivers of tree growth

MiCSS is a SNF-funded project that aims to investigate the key physiological processes underlying tree growth in order to improve forest dynamics and carbon cycle modelling.

Harnessing forest genetic resources

OptFORESTS is an European funded project that aims to support the conservation and sustainable use of forest genetic resources.

Calibrating remote-sensed drought impact

The main objective of the project is to contribute towards a better understanding of the impact of drought on forests from the Alps by integrating satellite based remote sensing with ground-based measurement of tree water use and carbon fixation performed at sub-seasonal resolution.

Plant-consumer interactions in a warmer world

Plant enemies, such as herbivores and fungal pathogens can strongly affect plant communities, biodiversity, and ecosystem functioning. However, their impact might be altered by climate change. This project aims to find out how plant-consumer interactions will change in a warmer world.

VPDrought: A novel approach to disentangle atmospheric and soil drought

By deciphering the single vs. combined VPD and soil moisture effects, we will be able to improve global predictions. We aim to apply a scale spanning approach to disentangle the processes affected by atmospheric (i.e., VPD) and soil droughts from the tissue to the tree and the ecosystem level.

Knowledge co-poduction for future mass movement risks in the Alps

This transdisciplinary project tests and evaluates such a knowledge co-creation process for dealing with regional mass movement risks in the Canton of Uri (Göschenertal) and Valais (Saastal) using a quasi-experimental approach.

Floods and droughts under global change

This project aims to enhance our understanding and modeling capability of regional hydrologic extremes in the Alps in a global change context.

How does a changing light environment in terms of intensity and spectrum affect plant functioning?

Using stable isotopes, we want to investigate how a changing light quality could affect plant functioning and what mechanisms underlie these responses, especially when light interacts with other environmental factors.

Bark beetle infestation in protective forests

This project aims at improving the early detection of bark beetle damage in forests in the canton of Grisons as well as the prioritisation of management against bark beetle infestation in protective forests in the long term.

INSECT - A research initiative on changes in the insect fauna in Switzerland

How are insects doing in Switzerland? What changes have there been, which are underway, what are their causes? WSL and four partner institutions are investigating these questions in the project INSECT.

PROHYDRO

PROHYDRO aims to explore the potential to improve reconstructions of inter- and intra-seasonal droughts and hydroclimate by developing a QWA-module for the tree-growth process-based Vaganov-Shashkin model.

PhenoMast

This project aims to integrate the recording of standardized mast observation into existing phenology networks (e.g. PhaenoNet, Phenowald, PhenoRanger) and field surveys. The recorded data will be made publicly available on the already established platform of MastWeb hosted at WSL.

Forest disturbances induce soil carbon losses

Disturbances of forest ecosystems by storms and dieback following drought and insect infestation are increasing with ongoing climatic changes. We study the magnitude of C losses following disturbances by combining field studies, modelling, and a meta-analysis.

Urbtrees

Our project combines high-resolution field measurements, modelling and participatory workshops in the fields of plant ecology, atmospheric chemistry and social urban science. We expect our work to lead to the elaboration of feasible nature-based solutions strategies for our cities where environmental, sociocultural, and infrastructural factors are fully co-considered.

High-resolution climate reconstruction

Tree-ring d13C variations are a valuable archive of climatic information. A novel laser-ablation isotope-ratio mass-spectrometer enables to study variations within a single tree ring. We therefore plan to determine the occurrence of dry and wet periods of the past with unprecedented resolution.

Leaf temperature reconstruction

We critically lack leaf temperature assessments because of the difficulties associated with these measurements. The project aims at developing a novel approach that reconstructs leaf temperature over multiple time scales using plant water isotopes.

Digiforest

The mission of DIGIFOREST is to develop the technology needed to achieve sustainable digital forestry. It includes fundamental science for mobile robotic navigation (multi-sensor motion tracking, 3D mission planning etc.) and data-driven semantic mapping.

HEAT - Keeping it cool in a Hotter world: brEAking new ground into the drivers and consequences of forest Temperature regulation

We will use a hierarchical cross-scale approach that spans plant physiology, remote sensing, and community ecology to assess the physiological and ecological processes that underpin forest temperature regulation during hotter droughts. The work will take place at the Model Ecosystem Facility (MODOEK) and in Saillon (Valais).

RENOIR – Systematically deriving supraglacial debris thickness, properties, and changes

This project will systematically collect the measurements of physical properties needed to constrain the a new generation of debris thickness inversion methods, enabling high-accuracy global estimates of supraglacial debris thickness and its rate of change.

PAMIR

PAMIR is a multi-institutional, interdisciplinary scientific programme funded by the Swiss Polar Institute to understand the state, changes, and consequences of the cryosphere in the Pamir Mountains of Central Asia.

SOLID - SOiL Information for species Distribution modelling

In this project, we are investigating the extent to which the spatial predictability of forest plant species and fungi can be improved by using high-resolution soil maps. In addition, we analyse how climate change affects the distribution of different species and what role soil plays in this.

TreeWater - Disentangling the isotopic signal transfer from source water to tree rings

TreeWater aims to improve our understanding of whether and how information on water uptake dynamics can be retrieved from the oxygen and hydrogen (i.e. water) isotopes in tree rings.

Acceptance of management and policy options for resilient forests (ABePo)

The project examines in two case study regions (Canton Berne and Canton Aargau) forest owners' acceptance of various forest management and policy options concerning increasing extreme disturbances in the forest.

PathFinder

PathFinder will develop an innovative integrated forest monitoring and pathway assessment system by the most efficient use of field, remotely sensed data, and advanced ground measurement devices. NFIs and ICP Forests networks and data will be complemented by innovative field monitoring sites.

SUPERB

SUPERB compiles, and brings to large-scale application, existing practical and scientific knowledge on successful forest and forest landscape restoration. WSL will lead the WP "Governance and Society" and care about the monitoring societal demands regarding forest restoration.

Adhoris

We will provide an overview where and how high resolution, kilometer scale, climate data can provide new insights from climate change impact models. To do so, we will use a set of climate impact models across several sectors, ranging from dynamic vegetation, to hydrology, or biodiversity models.

ExtremeThaw

In this ambitious project, we study ecological effects of permafrost thaw in the Swiss Alps.

CCAMM II: Cascading Processes

The CCAMM cluster "Cascading Processes"develops knowledge and models that can be used to anticipate future cascading events. At "Spitze Stei", Kandersteg BE, we study the cascading processes: rock slope instability, debris flow, rock/snow avalanches and lake outburst floods.

How can we use past experience to enhance net-zero transformations?

We identify enabling and hindering conditions for potential transformations related to the net-zero target. Our approach generates novel insights into environmental policy and natural resource management regarding forests, landscape, biodiversity, climate, and natural hazards for WSL at large.

TEMPEST - TEMPerature ESTimation for mountain glaciers

TEMPEST combines an unprecedented inventory of historic glacier meteorological datasets with dedicated measurements in the Swiss Alps to develop a new model of air temperature for mountain glaciers globally.

Climate and snow input at different spatial and temporal scales

Our project aims to collaborate with various proposed CAMM II projects within the clusters "Cascading processes' and "Early warning systems", providing meteorological, snow cover, ground temperature and snow melt data at different temporal and spatial scales.

ProtoAIM - Enhanced Plot Design for Advanced Inventorying and Monitoring

We will enhance the design of the Swiss NFI plots to accomodate an augmented series of measurements, sampling and analysis needed to respond to pressing research question on status and change of the Swiss forest.

MastWeb 2.0: Mobile friendliness and interactive analysis tool to assess and visualize annual tree fecundity levels

New and improved functionality for the mastweb.ch platform to collect, distribute, visualise and evaluate data on tree fecundity levels in Swiss forests.

EMERGE - Extreme droughts in mountain regions

EMERGE will investigate the impacts of historic megadroughts on water fluxes and ecosystems in mountain regions, and use this knowledge to develop stress-test scenarios for a possible future megadrought in the Swiss Alps.

Integrating optical and radar satellite data for early mass movement detection and warning

Remote sensing data – in particular optical and radar imagery – are a powerful tool to monitor the evolution of alpine mass movements. In this project, we investigate how these tools can support regional-scale hazard mitigation and improve our understanding of the processes driving slope instabilities in alpine terrain.

CCAMM-2 Early Warning for Alpine Mass Movements

Remote sensing methods provide powerful tools for monitoring and early warning of alpine mass movements. In this project, we investigate how modern machine learning tools, seismic and infrasound data, and satellite images can help forecast mass movements in alpine terrain.

Suffizienzpolitik in ländlichen Gemeinden

Das Forschungsprojekt untersucht, welche Potentiale für Suffizienzpolitik es in ländlichen Gemeinden gibt, welche Faktoren eine solche Politik hemmen und fördern, und wie Bund und Kantone die Gemeinden unterstützen können, Suffizienzpolitiken zu entwickeln und zu realisieren.

Drought and flood statistics in regulated catchments

This project aims to enhance our understanding of the statistical behavior of multivariate hydrologic extremes in the Alps in a global change context where streamflow is increasingly regulated through reservoir operation or water abstraction.

Detecting temperature thresholds for photosynthesis and understanding how they are controlled by long-term acclimation to soil drought

We evaluate the potential of thermal imaging with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) to detect drought stress in Pinus sylvestris in a long-term irrigation experiment in the Pfyn forest in Valais (southern Switzerland).

Enhance existing Swiss precipitation products with particular regards to snowfall

In Switzerland there are hundreds of stations to measure snow depth. In the absence of sufficient snow water equivalent data, the combination of precipitation and snow depth data along with snow modelling and data assimilation methods enable determining biases in existing precipitation products.

BugNet - a global research network

The aim of BugNet is to better understand the impact of invertebrate herbivores and fungal pathogens on plant communities and ecosystems. To do so we coordinate surveys on consumers and plant communities, and invertebrate herbivore and fungal exclusion experiments in many part of the world.

Rock / ice avalanches in India

Modelling destructive rock / ica avalanches in Uttarakhand, India

ONEforest

ONEforest develops a multi-criteria planning system for strategic decision makers from forestry, politics and industry and provides information regarding potential social, ecologic and ecologic and economic impacts of alternative forest management options in a medium to long-term perspective.

Discovering forgotten glacier images in a new glance (DEFOGGING)

This project sets out to guarantee long-term accessibility to a unique record of glacier photographs that have been collected over the years. Starting from a pool of over 50,000 images available at the project's host institution, the aim is to integrate these historic documents in the Image Archive

European beech under climate change

We will conduct a continental-scale climate sensitivity analysis of European beech and will investigate how different beech provenances differ in their climate growth response

Sentinel-2 vegetation height models

The aim of the project is to generate annual vegetation height models for Switzerland based on satellite imagery from Sentinel-2. Within the framework of the Swiss NFI, a workflow will be implemented and the accuracy of the resulting products will be estimated.

Blue-green conservation design

This project contributes to the Blue Green Biodiversity Research Initiative - an Eawag-WSL collaboration focusing on Biodiversity at the interface of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems.

Virtual Forest

In this project, realistic digital twins of existing forests are created. By connecting these with forest growth simulators, long-term effects of different forest management strategies and climate scenarios can be explored visually.

SWEET-EDGE

The aim of SWEET-EDGE (2021-2027) is to investigate and demonstrate pathways to promote decentralized renewable energy generation in Switzerland. In this context, we will investigate the availability and mobilization of woody and non-woody biomass as a central resource in the midlands and the Alps.

Global change effects on food webs

Food-web structure is likely affected by global change with consequences for biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. In this project we study changes in food webs and nutrient fluxes in response to global change drivers in aquatic, terrestrial and interconnected habitats.

PhenoRangers

"PhenoRangers" aims to establish interactions between current research on the impact of climate change on the forest and the public, using phenology as the main tool.

SCC II - REACT

Species-specific reactions of temperate European forest trees to a changing environment. A project related to the Swiss Canopy Crane II (SCC II) site near Basel and the network TreeNet.

Abisko Long-Term Ecological Research ALTER

Setting up the ALTER experiment in Abisko, Sweden for non-destructive in situ monitoring of belowground vegetation and microbial dynamics.

GRADCATCH - Using natural environmental GRADients to decipher the adaptation of soil microbial Communities to climATe CHange

GRADCATCH will assess how soil microbial abundance, diversity, activity and functions change along four natural gradients

Building a multi-resolution land surface model infrastructure to study environmental processes within regional to global scale applications

This project aims to bridge the gap between site-scale observations and coarse-resolution global scale simulations by building a multi-resolution and multi-scale modeling infrastructure using the latest generation of the process-based Community Land Model (CLM5).

Invasiveness of T. fortunei in the forests of southern Switzerland

The invasion of ecosystems by non-native species is one of the largest threats for biodiversity and ecosystem functioning worldwide. To control the spread of non-native plants, it is crucial to understand by which mechanisms they outperform native vegetation. Yet, despite the considerable applied re

Polytunnel Greenhouse Experiment

Das Projekt untersucht, wie gut zukunftsfähige Baumarten während der Verjüngungsphase in einem Klima mit wärmeren Wintern und heiss-trockenen Sommermonaten wachsen, wie sie sich gegenseitig beeinflussen und welche Auswirkungen ihre Präsenz auf den Boden und die darin lebenden Organismen hat.

CROMO-ADAPT

Glacier, snow and permafrost monitoring in Central Asia

Enabling Weather, Water and Climate Services in Tajikistan

Improved resilience of mountain communities in Tajikistan to natural hazards, climate change and climate variability through use of effective weather, water and climate services. Caritas led project with MeteoSwiss and SLF as partners.

Identifying seed sources for highly adaptable oak forests in a changing climate

The international BiodivERsA project ACORN aims to identify oak populations capable to cope with future drought-stress due to climate change.

New basics for the forest management planning of staged forests

Based on forest roads, forest structures and ecosystem services to be provided, this project will develop new basics for the separation of management and operation units as a planning basis for mountain and permanent forests.

Partitioning of resources between beech trees during drought

We will examine whether recent drought events shifted the partitioning of growth among tree size classes of beech trees and use this information to develop thinning strategies for mitigating drought impacts in lowland and montane Swiss beech forests

Cold stress mighgt limit carbon gain also in a warming climate

Photosynthesis of forest ecosystems can be reduced in spring most likely due to cold temperatures. Such cold-related processes are, however, not captured in mechanistic models and we thus aim to assess the mechanisms and frequencies of such depressions and include them into models.

DigiSeil

The project aims to establish the digital cable road design. Among others, a guideline for digital cable road design and calculation as well as further training documents will be produced.

N-DEPEND - Is there a "Nitrogen Deposition Penalty" for Forests under Drought?

This project intends to test the "N-penalty" hypothesis for the Swiss forests. By statistical modeling and quasi-experimental analyses based on N deposition estimates, drought indices and NFI data, we assess interacting effects of N deposition and drought on forest health and productivity.

deepT - deep neural network algorithms to recognize species and their specific response patterns in stem growth data of TreeNet

deepT investigates times series of stem radius changes with deep neural network (DNN) algorithms in order to recognize tree species, growth patterns and tree water deficit-induced stem shrinkage characteristics.

Regional warnings for slope instabilities: Napf pilot study

In this project, elements of regional landslide early warning are applied in a pilot early warning system in the Napf region, and their added value for such early warning systems is assessed.

Remote sensing-based national forest damage assessment system

In the FNEWs project, a national remote sensing-based monitoring system for forest damage is being set up for Germany. In the WSL's work package the potentials of Sentinel-1 C-band data are analysed, demonstrated and operational procedures are designed.

Gebirgswaldverjüngung

In diesem Langfristprojekt starten wir in 10 Versuchsflächen in Fichten- und Fichten-Tannenwäldern waldbauliche Langzeit-Experimente. Wir erfassen die Naturverjüngung wiederholt, um die Demografie der Bäume zu verstehen und abzuleiten, wie die Verjüngung gefördert werden kann.

How will changes in the phenology of species affect the biodiversity of lakes and their surrounding watersheds?

As part of the Blue-Green Biodiversity Research Initiative (Eawag-WSL funded by ETH), we study differences in the effect of global environmental change on the phenology of primary production in lakes and their surrounding watersheds using remote sensing techniques.

Feedbacks between Biodiversity and Climate

Despite being an essential element of the biodiversity and climate change crisis, the feedback between biodiversity and climate remains an understudied subject in biodiversity and climate science. The project FeedBaCks will focus on this important interaction between the two disciplines.

ROXAS X

The aim of this project is the complete revision of ROXAS, the successful image analysis tool for quantifying xylem cell anatomical features is ROXAS.

Impacts of climate change induced extreme windthrow events on forest management and economy of European forest enterprises (ExWiFE)

An increase of extreme environmental disturbances is expected, which is for different reasons a big challenge for forest stakeholders on the operating-, strategic-, financial- and environmental level. Using diverse methods, we aim to describe the complexity of the current problem.

Arctic Biodiversity

New EU Project on Arctic Biodiversity

Pre-study soil inventory

In the years 2021 - 2025, the forest soil survey of 1993 on the 8 x 8 km will be repeated. This grid does not cover all combinations of soil formation and environmental factors that potentially occur in Switzerland. This project evaluates the most efficient way to close these gaps.

RICH-SOIL: Radiocarbon Inventory of Swiss Soils

RICH-SOIL gains insight into soil C cycling by determining radiocarbon signatures in Swiss soil C pools and fluxes. The project analyses archived samples, national soil inventory, and the LWF (Long-term-Monitoring of Forests Ecosystem) program.

MACHINE LEARNING AIDED FORECASTING OF SUBSEASONAL DROUGHT INDICATORS IN THE EUROPEAN ALPS

This research aims to explore the predictability of drought at a monthly time horizon in the form of low flow in Switzerland and the European Alps by using machine learning techniques and linking large scale weather patterns with local hydrological events.

TM Wrapper

We develop a R package for the easier applicability of the forest landscape model TreeMig.

Phenological synchrony between soil microbes, nutrient availability, trees leaf-out and moths

The synchronization between supply and demand of resources in temperate forests is vital to ensure the optimal and sustainable functioning of these ecosystems. This project aims to understand how global warming is disrupting interactions between above- and below-ground organisms.

TreeNet - The biological drought and growth indicator network

TreeNet ist ein internationales Beobachtungs- und Forschungsnetzwerk, in dem Punktdendrometer automatisch die täglichen Stammradiusschwankungen von Bäumen erfassen. Der kontinuierliche Fluss von Daten liefert Echtzeitinformationen über die Wasserverhältnisse im Baum und das radial Stammwachstum

Hundred years of Swiss glacier changes from historical terrestrial images

The aim of this project is to process a unique archive of several thousand historical terrestrial images that have been acquired in the 1920s until 1940s by the Federal Office of Topography (swisstopo). A 3D-​representation of the largest Swiss glaciers will be reconstructed from stereoscopic image pairs and using modern photogrammetric techniques. These will then be compared to modern topography and yield an estimate of the total ice volume change.

Soil and tree resilience after forest wildfire in Southern Italy

Pine tree stand and forest site resilience after the severe 2017 wildfire on the slopes of Vesuvius, Italy

Projecting Sea-​Level Rise: from Ice Sheets to Local Implications (PROTECT)

The overarching scientific objective of PROTECT is to assess and project changes in the land-​based cryosphere with quantified uncertainties, to produce robust global, regional and local projections of SLR on a wide range of timescales.

Process-​based modelling of global glacier changes (PROGGRES)

This project sets out to revise both the basis upon which global glacier changes estimates are computed, and the way these estimates can be interpreted. This will be done by harnessing recent advances in obtaining globally-​complete glaciological data, and by including some hitherto unaccounted processes into global glacier projections.

4D-​Antarctica

The 4D-​Antarctica project focuses on creating and consolidating an unprecedented dataset composed of ice-​sheet wide hydrology and lithospheric products, Earth Observation datasets, and state of the art ice-​sheet and hydrology models for the whole of Antarctica.

Drought & beech: Effects of the 2018 summer drought on beech on the northern side of the Alps

In this project, we investigate causes for the impacts of the extreme summer drought 2018 on the vitality of beech trees in different regions of the Swiss Plateau and Jura.

Impact of tree species interactions on tree water relations under a warmer and drier climate

This research aims to gain a mechanistic understanding of the role of tree species interactions on tree plastic physiological responses to heat and drought stress. It combines an experimental climate manipulation with tree seedlings and fieldwork in a mature forest subjected yearly to hot droughts.

ExtremeImpact

This project build up on high-resolution observations of conifer tree growth in the Swiss Lötschental valley to quantify at cell-based resolution the impact of the extreme summer drought 2015 on tree-ring biomass, sapwood conductivity, and water use efficiency.

Prospective Management Natural Hazards SBB

Development of a method and a tool for risk indication mapping of mass movements along the railway network of SBB.

Moringa

We aim on analyzing the exact formation of tree-rings (Xylogenesis) in Moringa peregrina (Forssk.) Fiori during a calendar year, building a long chronology for this species, and analyzing 13C and 18O to assess the tree-environment interactions, particularly precipitation.

Bridging paleoclimate records and climate model simulations

We plan to measure anatomical properties of trees that grow in highly temperature-restricted environments and compare and assimilate them with ensembles of climate models (PMIP4/CMIP6).

eLTER Switzerland

The Long-Term Ecologiocal Research in Europe (LTER-Europe) capitalizes on research infrastructures such as the in-situ network of sites and information technology. Thousands of research projects have been carried out taking advantage of this infrastructure.

Climate-smart forestry directions based on national Forest Inventory data

In this project we use the data of the Swiss national forest inventory to develop an assessment system that accounts for the three aspects of climate-smart forestry: mitigation, adaptation and the sustainable provision of forest ecosystem services.

Modelling forest growth using 3-PG

Testing 3-PG in uneven-aged forests, comparing predictions with an empirical model and developing a 3-PG R package.

Acclimation and environmental memory

Which are the main mechanisms conveying adaptation on the organ and whole tree level, how fast does acclimation occur and how long is an acclimation potential sustained?

High-resolution soil maps for the Swiss forest

In this project we model high-resolution soil maps with different soil properties such as pH or texture for the entire Swiss forest.

Alpine Drought Obvservatory

According to the Alpine Convention, water scarcity and related conflicts are becoming a worrying topic in many Alpine regions, depending on water from snowmelt and glaciers.

Biomass transport for energy in Switzerland

The aim of this project is to explore the transport chains of biomass for energy in Switzerland and assess their economic and ecological impacts. Costs, energy inputs, and CO2 balances are calculated for the major paths travelled by forest wood and manure.

Dormancy-Track

The project aims to track the progress of winter bud dormancy of major temperate trees by regularly tracing the amount of isotopically labelled water that can be transferred to the buds during the whole dormancy period.

Past genetic diversity of Swiss mountain forests

Future climate change will have drastic effects on mountain forests. We will analyse ancient DNA preserved in natural archives to reconstruct the impact of past rapid climate change on the neutral and adaptive genetic diversity of trees.

Soil organic matter dynamics under drought

DRYSOM assesses soil organic matter (SOM) to drought in a long-term irrigation experiment (Pfynwald). Responses range from a suppressed processing through microbial and faunal communities, decreases in carbon inputs from trees into soils, to shifts in soil carbon storage.

On future water resources in Switzerland"

Continuing climate change modifies the water supply and accentuates the pressure from competing water uses.

Anyui – Volcanoes, Climate and the Peopling of the Americas

We performed ambitious fieldwork on and documentation of the little-known Anyui volcano in northeast Siberia.

European Forest Research Initiative (EuFoRIa)

This is a working group with members from all over Europe carrying out research in primeval forest and forest reserves. The main goal of the group is to explore possibilities to join forces, enhance the visibility and exploit the potential of the existing long-term monitoring plots in primeval forests and forest reserves of Europe.

Optimized forest planning

An optimization model will be developed in the frame of this project to determine the optimal segregation of management strategies that can best fulfill the diverse services.

Drought influence on lightning-induced fires

In a changing climate, lightning-caused wildfires might increase in Switzerland over the next decades. Our studies aim at understanding patters and conditions under which these fires develop.

Mehrzweckspeicher als Zukunftsmodell?

Obwohl die Schweiz über reichlich Wasser verfügt, kann es zukünftig lokal zu Engpässen kommen. Mehrzweckspeicher stellen eine Möglichkeit dar, um auf zukünftige Wasserknappheit zu reagieren. Dieses Projekt untersucht die Chancen und Risiken einer gemeinsamen Bewirtschaftung.

Storm damage indication map

Remote sensing methods allow a rapid, wide-area and objective overview of the forest damage after a storm event.

Give and take: how much water does soil retain for trees?

Establishing an inventory of soil water availability to trees in Swiss forest soils. This is done by means of model-based analysis of the water balances at 16 long-term monitoring sites in Switzerland, representing various geographical locations, soil and vegetation types.

Effects of unbalanced winter-spring warming

Saplings of an evergreen and a deciduous tree species are treated with various levels of defoliation (to change the C-resource availability) and unbalanced winter-spring warming, to study the effects of unbalanced winter-spring warming on spring phenology and its C-resource related mechanisms.

Caldera

In this SNF funded Sinergia project - aimed at quantifying climate and societal impacts induced by major volcanic eruptions of the Common Era - the WSL mainly contribute by providing a unprecedented millennial long chronology of wood cell anatomical features.

Simulating dynamics and spread of vegetation and interacting species

The spatio-temporal DGVM LPJ-GM is extended with modules for dynamics and spread of interacting species and tested in case studies with different interactors

ELBARA Radiometer in MOSAiC Expedition

An L-band ELBARA microwave Radiometer is used on the MOSAiC arctic expedition for close range sensing of sea ice properties.

Rescue, documentation and re-analysis of glacier monitoring data

Long-​term glacier monitoring in Switzerland has resulted in some of the longest and most complete data series at the global scale. The direct observations of mass balance date back until the late 19th century and, at some sites, have been continued until today. The present project sets out to significantly advance the documentation of long-​term glacier data within Swiss glacier monitoring activities.

CCAMM Task 1.0: Downscaling Meorological forcings.

The WSL program Climate Change Impacts on Alpine Mass Movements (CCAMM) comprises projects covering a range of topics in natural hazards. Most investigations use models and thus require climate forcing data. The aim of this task is to provide meteorological forcings at the slope scale and in high temporal resolution.

XELLCLIM

We identify the best xylem cell anatomical features for climate reconstructions and assess their characteristics across temporal scales compared to established tree-ring parameters, and against instrumental records and climate model simulations.

Drought 2018 - TreeNet meets Sentinel2

TreeNet permanently measures growth and tree water deficit (TWD) of about 250 tree individuals in forests all over Switzerland with so-called point dendrometers. TWD has shown to be a reasonable biological indicator for drought stress and quantifies the amount of missing water a tree needs to reach full saturation. In combination with spectral anomalies of satellite-based indices (e.g., NDWI from Sentinel2ab) between 2018 and a reference period we test whether we can find a close link between the two drought stress indicators.

FORClimateS

The project aims to aggregate and synthesize existing information on different spatial and temporal scales to provide decision-makers with relevant and robust information on short- and long-term risks for forests and forest functions and on adaptation strategies under different climate futures

Swiss Snow contribution to MOSAiC - Snowphysics on sea ice

Energy fluxes are extremely variable across the Arctic due to the dependence on sea-ice thickness and atmospheric- ocean heat transfer. One of MOSAiC’s key objectives is to answer the question: “What are the seasonally-varying energy sources that affect the heat and momentum budgets of the Arctic atmosphere, ocean and sea ice?”

Establishing hydrogen isotope analysis of organic material

We aim to develop a method for hydrogen isotope (d2H) analysis of organics which will have many applications in plant and soil sciences and thereby provide a powerful new tool to disentangle and reconstruct past and present physiological, biochemical, and hydrological processes.

SwissSPOT- Swiss forest Soil water POTential network

SwissSPOT is a network to monitor soil water down to 2m soil depth at Swiss Long-term Forest Ecosystem Research (LWF) sites.

GenWood

We link genomic and dendro-phenotypic data in Norway Spruce (Picea abies) to study the genomic basis of wood anatomy and assess the adaptive potential of forest trees under climate change.

Isodrought

We want to explore a stable isotope tree-ring approach for analyzing physiological drought responses of trees. The results are expected to provide a novel diagnostic tool for understanding causes of tree decline.

BLACKDYNAMITE

This Swiss-Spanish project investigates the dynamics and competition of the black Périgord and Burgundy truffles under the influence of climate change.

Towards automated monitoring of alpine mass movements

This project aims at setting up an interactive network of autonomously communicating instruments to capture processes happening during and directly after alpine mass movements.

Root endophytic fungi and their contribution to arctic and alpine climate change feedback

Arctic and Alpine vegetation dynamics under climate change can exert a lasting impact on belowground processes and ultimately on world's largest carbon stocks. This long-term field manipulation investigates the functional significance of plant interactions with species-specific endophytic fungi.

Measuring snow water equivalent (SWE) with low-cost GPS sensors

How much water is stored in the snow is important to know for agriculture, energy production and flood forecasting. So far, SWE has been determined mainly with non-continuous, manual measurements. We aim to assess the suitability of GNSS sensors for the operational measurement of SWE.

Snow avalanche flow regime transitions

The aim of this project is to understand how increased temperature and precipitations will affect avalanche flow behavior, in particular flow transitions, and assess consequences for hazard mapping. For this purpose, we use experimental data from Vallée de la Sionne test site and DEM modeling.

Homogenization of snow data for robust snow climatology in the Alps (Hom4Snow)

There has been almost no effort so far to develop methods to adjust snow series, despite the sometimes obvious signal of an inhomogeneity. The project intends to serve as a best practice study for the state of the art homogenisation of snow series as the basis for proper time series analysis.

Multi-hazard risk assessment framework

The goal is to develop a multi-hazard risk assessment framework which is able to deal with several conjoint or cascading hazards as they can be expected as consequence of climate change in high mountain regions.

Joint models in biodiversity modeling

This project aims to evaluate advantages and potential pitfalls of JSDMs in biodiversity modeling

Snow instability in a changing climate

Less snow, less avalanches? We investigate the influence of climate change on avalanches by using climate projections to model future snow instability for selected representative sites in Switzerland.

Drought duration effects

The present study will analyze the within-tree distribution of C, N, and P reserves in trees treated with different drought duration and frequency, to investigate the C, N and P reserves in relation to recovery ability and mortality following repeated drought events with various drought duration.

Photoperiod and ciracian clocks - effects on adaptation and acclimation

Do evolutionary constraints on photoperiod and circadian clocks hinder adaptation and acclimation of plants to climate change? With this project, we will provide the mechanistic basis and a conceptual framework to understand how climatic and daylight/photoperiod cues jointly affects tree functioning.

Understanding how species interactions modulate long-term heat and drought impacts

The project aims to assess the physiological processes by which trees adapt and interact with each other under a changing climate, determine how these processes affect tree physiological responses to climatic stresses, and better understand long-term shifts in tree internal carbon and water cycles.

Adaptation of trees to extreme climate events

Extreme climate events are expected to become more frequent with climate warming. We test genetic differentiation in resistance to late frost and drought in silver fir populations planted in the 1980s in Swizterland and abroad.

Rock sediment disposition

Recently, rock-ice deposits have come into focus for their potential to provide sources of secondary hazards and as an alternative water resource in a changing climate. The aim of this project is to model the evolution of the thermal regime of rock-ice deposits under future climate scenarios.

QUPFIS

Our aim is to estimate Swiss forest net ecosystem productivity (NEP) at monthly or seasonal resolution for each individual year in order to link biomass changes over time with global drivers.

The role of mycorrhizae in soil carbon storage of mountain ecosystems

This research project focuses on the role of mycorrhizae in the turnover of soil organic carbon in mountain ecosystems. It estimates the potential release of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere resulting from changes in above and belowground communities.

CLIMASTEPPE - Solutions for climate-smart land use in the dry steppes of Russia

In the CLIMASTEPPE project, we will investigate with partners from Russia, Germany, Slovakia how to optimise the land use of Russian steppe under changing climate conditions.

Demonstrator for flexible SHP (SmallFlex): Real-time hydrological forecasts

DEForScen

Current plastic response of plants to climate change may be reflected by tree health. We investigate tree health data collected on ca. 6000 plots across Europe since the 1980s to figure out whether changes and trends in defoliation permit to identify species-specific response to climate change.

Risks for small hydropower plants associated with climate change

estimate the impact of climate change on the inflow in a snowmelt dominated tributary of a small hydropower plant using a stochastic 2-dimensional weather generator, a high-resolution energy balance snow cover and a gridded hydrological model

Forests under stress

In this project we will assess the physiological processes by which trees adjust and interact among each other under a changing climate, determine the consequences of these processes on forest responses to climatic stresses and improve our understanding of these effects on forests functioning at a large comprehensive scale.

A seismological study of mass movements

The aim of this project is to better understand the dynamics and triggering mechanisms of mass movements in a changing climate.

Hydro-CH2018: Multiple use of reservoirs

This synthesis work aims at identifying the potential of reservoirs (such as natural and artificial lakes, storage dams and other reservoirs) to mitigate future drought situations both at the national (Swiss) scale, but also for specific case study areas.

Host-mistletoe relationships

The project focuses on the host-mistletoe relationship in relation to changes in the growth environment of the host, and the underlying physiological mechanisms.

PRO3FILE

To improve our assessment of ozone effects on forest ecosystems, we advocate the need (i) for further experimental and long-term monitoring studies and (ii) to develop physiological and demographic modelling tools.

Experimental plantations of tree species

With a network of 57 experimental plantations we investigate which tree species and seed provenances will grow well in the Swiss forest under the climatic conditions in 50 - 100 years.

Redevelopment of the single tree growth model Massimo

Massimo ist ein Distanz- und Positions- unabhängiges Einzelbaum Wachstumsmodell, basierend auf dem Netz des Schweizerischen Landesforstinventars. Die Module für Wachstum, Mortalität, Störungen und Bewirtschaftung basieren auf empirische Modelle die mit Daten des LFI angepasst wurden.

HYDRO-CH2018 "Forhycs-Ice"

In the project FORHYCS-ICE, ("Forest, Glacier and Hydrology Change in Switzerland"), we aim at providing the first holistic simulations of climate impacts (CH2018 scenarios) on water resources, glaciers and forests.

Sumforest - ForRISK

Risk resilient forest management - Adapting forest management regimes, including risk assessment related to potential climate change impacts.

GoApply: Multilevel Governance of Adaptation to Climate Change

GoApply will contribute to the vertical and horizontal integration and further development of national climate change adaptation strategies and action plans.

Einfluss des Klimawandels auf das Permafrost-Mikrobiom (CRYOLINK)

Wir erforschen den Permafrost als Refugium für mikrobielle Lebensformen in den drei Polen (Alpen, Arktis, Antarktis). Diese Organismen leben Tausende von Jahren im Permafrost und Eis. Was passiert mit ihnen, wenn sie durch die Klimaerwärmung aus ihrem „Dornröschenschlaf“ geweckt werden?

Tree species migration in DGVMs

Combining very efficient methods for simulation of seed dispersal and for local vegetation dynamics allows for large scale spatiotemporal vegetation dynamics simulations in DGVMs

CRAMPON - Cryospheric Monitoring and Prediction Online

How much are Swiss glaciers melting right now? In the CRAMPON project we develop an operational modeling tool to nowcast and predict mass balance and runoff of all Swiss glaciers.

Drought effects on reproductive phenology and the underlying physiological mechanisms in pine trees

We use a long-term precipitation manipulation experiment in mature Pinus sylvestris forests and a natural precipitation gradient from 840 mm to 290 mm/year with Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica, to study the "Drought effects on reproductive phenology and the physiological mechanisms of pine trees".

Stability in Lotka-Volterra competition models

We analyse the stability of Lotka-Volterra competition models

Vegetation height model NFI

For Switzerland, a national vegetation elevation model was calculated and updated on an ongoing basis. The ADS80 images routinely captured by swisstopo form the basis for the image matching workflow for deriving a 3D model of the landscape.

CaNuPine/MICRO

In this project, adaptive and stress responses to drought stress and varying nutrient availability are being analyzed at tissue, cell and subcellular level in foliage of Scots pine and downy oak.

Drifting snow and turbulent flow

How does the snow saltation reacts to the unsteady wind forcing is still poorly understood. In our cold wind tunnel we investigate the dynamics of the drifting snow as well as its interaction with the turbulent boundary layer flow.

ClimSens - Climate Sensitivity of plants and animals in Switzerland

This project assesses the sensitivity of (mostly) plant and animal species to expected climatic changes.

MicroVegSnow

With a view to improving climate and weather forecasts as well as disaster prevention, ESA determines the water content in upper soil layers worldwide. A research project carried out in the Swiss Alps will now investigate how these satellites could be used to measure data about snow as well as frost in the soil.

Integrating Species Mixtures in Tree Growth Functions for Forest Development Models in Switzerland

The project advances the understanding of the effects of species mixtures on tree growth under a broad range of environmental conditions in Switzerland, and it prepares this knowledge for further development of forest scenario models.

Species Mixture Effects on Tree Growth

The project advances the understanding of the effects of species mixtures on tree growth under a broad range of environmental conditions in Switzerland, and it prepares this knowledge for further development of forest scenario models.

Insights into streamflow generation mechanisms

To study streamflow generation mechanisms in steep mountainous catchments, we installed a «lab in the field» for monitoring stable water isotopes and water quality in streamflow and precipitation at 30-min resolution.

Water loss and artificial snowmaking

The SLF is examining how much of the water ejected by snow lances is not transformed into snow on the ground.

GLORIA

Within the framework of a major international project, the SLF is investigating the changes that occur in the plant kingdom over a period of decades on eight mountain summits in the Swiss National Park.

The potential of UAV photogrammetry for hydro-glaciological forecasts

This study investigates (a) the impact of weather forecasts on the resulting runoff predictions and (b) the potential of the UAV photogrammetry to generate high-resolution digital elevation models, ice flow velocities, and snow heights.

Clipping Experiment

In an genecological common garden experiment, we investigate quantitative genetic variation within and among Swiss provenances of Abies alba, Picea abies, and Fagus sylvatica, before and after clipping. Growth, resilience after simulated browsing and provenance differences are related to environmental variables of seed sources.

Prediction of hydrological drought

SREP-drought will evaluate how summer low flows and droughts are affected by winter snowpack in three catchments (Prealps, central Switzerland; Jizera Mountains, northern Czech Republic; Little Caucasus, central Georgia).

Integrated Carbon Observation System (ICOS)

Integrated Carbon Observation System (ICOS) is a European research infrastructure to quantify and understand the greenhouse gas balance of the European continent and of adjacent regions.

PiCadapt - Adaptive genetic variation of Swiss stone pine in response to environmental gradients across the Alpine timberline ecotone

PiCadapt aims to study gene-encoded nucleotide variation in the bird-dispersed P. cembra, a keystone tree species of the Alpine timberline ecotone, in response to environmental gradients.

FORHYCS

A hydrological model is coupled to a forest model to better assess the influence of changing drivers to forests and the hydrological cycle

Population ecology of the mountain hare

We study the distribution, abundance and dynamics of a mountain hare population in a strictly protected Alpine ecosystem with annual field surveys and non-invasive genetic methods.

Permafrost rock walls

How does snow influence the temperature of frozen rock walls? A novel combination of measurement and modelling techniques is being used to determine snow distribution and its impacts on the underlying rock in extremely steep terrain.

GTREE

We investigate seedling emergence and survival of Norway spruce and European larch at treeline in an experiment at Stillberg near Davos.

QuercAdapt

We investigate the relationship between genetic variation and environmental factors, notably soil characteristics, in three native oak species. Thereby we can investigate the adaptedness of the different species and provenances in the context of silvicultural practice under climate change.

How beeches cope with drought

The BuKlim project aims to study the responses of Swiss beech provenances to drought. The results of the project help to assess the adaptational potential of this tree species to the changing climate.

Foliar symptoms specific for ozone stress in rain forest trees of southern Brazil

The toxic effects of tropospheric ozone concentrations on plants have been reported primarily for ecosystems from the northern hemisphere with a mediterranean, temperate or boreal climate. In the southern hemisphere with its tropical climate, the impact of ozone on natural ecosystems is still mostly unknown.

MICRO

Microscopical changes in cells and tissues in response to various environmental stress factors are investigated in trees to develop diagnosis tools and understand the mechanistic link between stress and injury.

Exotic tree species

Exotic tree species, which are adapted to a warmer and dryer climate, could contribute to coping with climate change. Six such species are tested in a long-term field experiment near Mutrux (Canton of Vaud).

Climate change and forest birds

In this study, we assess the direct and indirect effects of climate change on the realised ecological niches of habitat specialists of mountain forests by assessing key structural and vegetational habitat components along a climatic gradient.

Summit Flora

The stronger global warming is, the greater the increase in the number of plant species on mountain tops. This was the main finding of a study published in the journal Nature.

Understory removal experiment Salgesch

Long-term research on the interactions between changes in land use and climate and their consequences regarding forest health and dynamic in the pine forests at low elevation of Central Alps

Soil as a site factor

This project delivers soil and site related information for Swiss forests which are based mainly on measured values: (i) response of tree species relating to direct and indirect environmental variables, (ii) quantitative characterisation of species' ecological niche and (iii) soil ecological indicator values for forest plant species.

DROUGHT CH

Droughts and heat waves are expected to become more frequent in Switzerland due to climate change. Droughts have major impacts on water resources, public health, ecosystems and consequently the economy. However, information about relevant economic and societal impacts and knowledge about adequate coping strategies are still lacking.

The need for high resolution

The goal of this project is to provide current and scenario climate grids of resolutions adequate for ecological studies and applications.

Tree regeneration after windthrow

Wind disturbance is the main natural driver of forest stand dynamics in Central and Northern Europe. On the basis of a large sample of windthrow gaps, this project aimed to quantify natural tree regeneration after wind disturbance, and to identify factors influencing tree regeneration dynamics.

Genetic Variation

Die Klimerwärmung dürfte den Wald auf vielen Standorten unter Stress setzen. Wir untersuchen, ob die genetische Variation der Waldbäume es ihnen erlaubt, sich an den Klimawandel anzupassen. Wir fokussieren dabei auf die drei häufigsten Baumarten in Schweizer Wäldern, die Fichte, die Tanne und die Buche.

Germination experiment

Recent Scots pine mortality in forests of the upper Rhone valley have been suggested to be caused by climate change. In an ongoing PhD study, effects of different climate parameters and interspecific competition on the regeneration of both Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) and black pine (Pinus nigra) are tested.

Lötschental

Lötschental offers an ideal setting to study the influence of global warming on tree-growth

Macro- and micro morphological reactions to low soil water availability in the foliage of Scots pine from Wallis

In this project, the structural changes in foliage of Scots pine are used as sensitive bioindications of environmental constraints to study the reactions of dry pine forests in Wallis to low soil water availability and changes in land use.

Alpine treelines in a CO2-rich and warm world

Concentrations of atmospheric CO2 and temperatures will strongly increase during the next century. We are investigating how these climatic changes will affect plant growth, biodiversity, and the cycling of carbon and nutrients in temperature sensitive ecosystems at the alpine treeline.

TreeMig

A spatio-temporal forest modelled has been developed to simulate forest dynamics and species migration under a changing climate.

Soil solution in LWF plots

The chemistry of soil solution and the soil water availability for plants have been monitored since 1997 in seven forest plots in Switzerland. This project, linked to the Swiss Long-term Forest Ecosystem Research project (LWF), aims to assess the soil response to atmospheric pollution (acidifying substances and nitrogen) and to climate change.

Perception of natural hazards

With a telephonic survey the Swiss inhabitant's perception of natural hazards and specifically the hurricane "Lothar" has been investigated. The scientists asked almost 1000 people.

Consequences of "Lothar" to interest groups

The storm Lothar has had consequences for totally different groups interested in the forest. These are not only groups economically linked with the forest, but also people, which use the forest in their leisure time. Which consequences did "Lothar" have for the different interest groups?

Tundra Experiment

Temperature in Arctic and alpine regions have increased more rapidly than in other regions. How do tundra ecosystems respond to that climate warming? The SLF is contributing to an international research network that studies at over 40 locations worldwide how cold adapted plants respond to warmer temperatures.

Greenland Climate Network

Network of 20 automatic weather stations (AWS) distributed over the Greenland ice sheet. Data are transmitted via satellite link on an hourly interval and updated.

Stability of Larsen C

This project focuses on Larsen C, the largest remaining ice shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula. Three automatic weather stations (AWS) installed in 2008 along a north-south transect. During the 2009 field season, extensive ice penetrating radar and kinematic GPS surveys were conducted along and across flow lines near each AWS station.

Maximum melt extent in Greenland

The total area of surface melt on the Greenland Ice Sheet broke all known records again in 2005 for the island as analysis of melt extent on the Greenland ice sheet using passive microwave satellite data show a very dramatic increasing melt trend since 1979 which appeared to be interrupted only in 1992 by the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo.

TreeNet

TreeNet is a biological drought and growth indicator network of forest ecosystems. It provides information about drought responses of trees all over Switzerland and their effects on the carbon balance of forests. TreeNet links the research of the eddy flux super sites Davos and Lägeren to the forest next to your home.