Dr. Alessandra Bottero

I am Research Scientist in the Mountain Ecosystems research group at the Climate Change, Extremes, and Natural Hazards in Alpine Regions Research Centre CERC. The CERC is part of the WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF in Davos, Switzerland.

As a forest ecologist, I am interested in the influence and interaction of climate change, disturbances, and management on forest ecosystems. My research benefits from different types of data, based on a data fusion approach, and from the combination of different methods.

Strongly influenced by my professional activities as a forester, I value much the engagement and interaction with local stakeholders and practitioners, as well as the communication to and with the public.

Personal website  https://bottero.ch/

Impact of climate change and natural disturbances on mountain forest ecosystems, protective forests, ecosystem services, forest management, silviculture, forest adaptation strategies, dendroecology.

See my CV here.

Peer-reviewed

_{Gleason, K.E.; Bradford, J.B.; Bottero, A.; D’Amato, A.W.; Fraver, S.; Palik, B.J.; Battaglia, M.A.; Iverson, L.; Kenefic, L.; Kern, C.C., 2017: Competition amplifies drought stress in forests across broad climatic and compositional gradients. Ecosphere 8(7): 1-16. doi: 10.1002/ecs2.1849}

_{Bottero, A.; D'Amato, A.W.; Palik, B.J.; Bradford, J.B.; Fraver, S.; Battaglia, M.A.; Asherin, L.A., 2017: Density-dependent vulnerability of forest ecosystems to drought. Journal of Applied Ecology 54(6): 1605-1614. doi: 10.1111/1365-2664.12847}

_{Bottero, A.; D'Amato, A.W.; Palik, B.J.; Kern, C.C.; Bradford, J.B.; Scherer, S.S, 2017: Influence of repeated prescribed fire on tree growth and mortality in Pinus resinosa forests, Northern Minnesota. Forest Science 63(1): 94-100. doi: 10.5849/forsci.16-035}

_{Castagneri, D.; Bottero, A.; Motta, R.; Vacchiano, G., 2015: Repeated spring precipitation shortage alters individual growth patterns in Scots pine forests in the Western Alps. Trees 29(6): 1699-1712. doi: 10.1007/s00468-015-1250-z}

_{Bottero, A.; Garbarino, M.; Long, J.N.; Motta, R., 2013: The interacting ecological effects of large-scale disturbances and salvage logging on montane spruce forest regeneration in the western European Alps. Forest Ecology and Management 292: 18-28. doi: 10.1016/j.foreco.2012.12.021}

_{Garbarino, M.; Lingua, E.; Weisberg, P.J.; Bottero, A.; Meloni, F.; Motta, R., 2013: Land-use history and topographic gradients as driving factors of subalpine Larix decidua forests. Landscape Ecology 28(5): 805-817. doi: 10.1007/s10980-012-9792-6}

_{Bottero, A.; Garbarino, M.; Dukić, V.; Govedar, Z.; Lingua, E.; Nagel, T.A.; Motta, R., 2011: Gap-phase dynamics in the old-growth forest of Lom, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Silva Fennica 45(5): 875-887. doi: 10.14214/sf.76}

Others

_{Vacchiano, G.; Bottero, A.; Castagneri, D.; Chiavetta, U.; Matteucci, G.; Ripullone, F.; Pollastrini, M., 2020: La sete del bosco. Come le foreste reagiscono alla siccità e come aiutarle. Articolo LifeGate Ambiente – Biodiversità. Language: Italian. www.lifegate.it/sete-del-bosco-foreste-siccita}

_{Berretti, R.; Bottero, A.; Bruno, E.; Della Beffa, G.; Freppaz, M.; Giordano, L.; Gonthier, P.; Gottero, F.; Mosca, A.; Motta, R.; Nicolotti, G.; Vacchiano, G.; Viglietti, D.; Wermelinger, B., 2011: Foreste di protezione diretta: disturbi naturali e stabilità nelle Alpi occidentali. Arezzo: Compagnia delle Foreste, s.r.l., pp. 1-144, ISBN: 9788890122385. Language: Italian.}

_{Bovio, G.; Ascoli, D.; Bottero, A.; Valsecchi, C., 2011: Sintesi delle ricerche sugli incendi boschivi in faggeta dell’estate 2003, in: Piano regionale per la programmazione delle attività di previsione, prevenzione e lotta attiva contro gli incendi boschivi 2011-2014. Regione Piemonte, pp. 163-168. Language: Italian.}

_{Bovio, G.; Ascoli, D.; Valsecchi, C.; Bottero, A., 2011: Indagine sulle caratteristiche degli incendi boschivi e sulle dinamiche di risposta degli ecosistemi forestali. Gestione post-incendio in popolamenti di Fagus sylvatica L. del Piemonte. Language: Italian.}

Network of active collaborations (alphabetical list by country name):

• Austria: University of Innsbruck.
• Bulgaria: Bulgarian Academy of Sciences; University of Forestry.
• Czech Republic: Czech University of Life Sciences Prague.
• Finland: Natural Resources Institute Finland; University of Helsinki.
• France: INRAe; UMR RECOVER, Aix Marseille University, IRSTEA.
• Germany: Forest Research Institute Baden-Württemberg FVA; University of Freiburg; Technical University of Munich; University of Mainz.
• Israel: Weizmann institute of Science.
• Italy: Eurac research Bolzano; Polytechnic University of Marche; University of Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli"; University of Milano; University of Molise; University of Padova; University of Pavia; University of Reggio Calabria; University of Torino.
• Slovakia: Technical University in Zvolen.
• Slovenia: Slovenian Forestry Institute; University of Ljubljana.
• Spain: Spanish National Research Council; University Pablo de Olavide.
• Sweden: Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.
• Switzerland: Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne EPFL; ETH Zurich; Swiss Federal Institute for Forest Snow and Landscape Research WSL; WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF; Climate Change, Extremes, and Natural Hazards in Alpine Regions Research Centre CERC.
• UK: University of Cambridge; University of the Highlands and Islands; University of Liverpool.
• USA: Iowa State University; University of Arizona; University of Maine; University of North Carolina; University of Vermont; USDA FS NRS; USGS Southwest Biological Science Center; Utah State University; University of Alaska Anchorage.

Boards and Committees

02.2023 - present: Member of the Schweizerischen Gebirgswaldpflegegruppe GWG.

08.2022 - present: Member of the Verbund Waldbau Schweiz.

02.2022 - present: Co-representative of the Swiss eLTER team at the Mountain Research Initiative (MRI), together with Esther R. Frei.

Editorial and Review activity

05.2021 – present: Associate Editor of the Canadian Journal of Forest Research.

06.2018 – present: Review Editor for Forest Growth / Frontiers in Forests and Global Change.

Reviewer for scientific journals: Acta Oecologica; Agricultural and Forest Meteorology; Annals of Forest Science; Current Forestry Reports; Ecological Applications; Ecology; European Journal of Forest Research; Fire Ecology; Forest Ecology and Management; Forest Science; Global Change Biology; iForest; Journal of Ecology; PLOS ONE; Schweizerische Zeitschrift für Forstwesen (SZF); Trees.

Reviewer for scientific institutions: Laboratory of Excellence ARBRE – INRAe Nancy (France); Future of UK Treescapes programme – Natural Environment Research Council, Arts & Humanities Council, Economic & Social Research council, Defra, Welsh Government and Scottish Government (UK).

Science Communication, Outreach and Media Coverage

English

Using silviculture to prepare managed Norway spruce and silver fir forests for drought. News WSL (08.2021)

French / Français

La sylviculture permet de préparer les forêts à la sécheresse, selon une étude suisse. RTS online (08.2021)

La sylviculture à l’aide des forêts d’épicéas et de sapins. Le Journal horaire (17.08.2021 à 15:00, min. 2:38)

Comment préparer les forêts à la sécheresse. News Le Nouvelliste (08.2021)

La sylviculture pour contrer la sécheresse. News La Liberté (08.2021)

Comment préparer les forêts à la sécheresse. News Arcinfo (08.2021)

Préparer les forêts d’épicéas et de sapins à la sécheresse grâce à la sylviculture. News WSL (08.2021)

German / Deutsch

Das SLF war Aussteller auf der Davoser Messe. Der Stand des SLF stiess bei jüngeren und älteren Besucherinnen und Besuchern auf reges Interesse, mit Entnahme von Bohrkernen aus Bäumen, Quiz, Drohnen und mehr. «Davoser Mäss@Promenade» (09.10.2021)

Wie man Wälder auf zunehmende Dürreperioden vorbereiten kann. WDR 5 Quarks – Wissenschaft und mehr (22.09.2021 mit Alessandra Bottero)

Trockenheit im Wald. SRF Wissenschaftsmagazin (Meldungen vom 21.08.2021, ab Min. 9:50)

3 Rezepte für den Wald der Zukunft: Ausdünnen, andere Bäume wählen und sie klein halten. BauernZeitung (18.08.2021)

Hohe Bäume reagieren empfindlicher darauf wenn das Wasser knapp wird. Radio SRF Nachrichten (15 Uhr vom 17.08.2021, Min. 2:02)

Grosse Bäume reagieren besonders empfindlich auf schwere Dürren. News Swissinfo (08.2021)

Tanne zäher gegenüber Dürre als die Fichte. News Blick online (08.2021)

Grosse Bäume reagieren besonders empfindlich auf Dürren. News Tierwelt online (08.2021)

Tanne zäher gegenüber Dürre als die Fichte. News Uzwil24 (08.2021)

Fichten- und Tannenwirtschaftswälder durch den Waldbau auf Trockenheit vorbereiten. News WSL (08.2021)

Italian / Italiano

Il bosco che sta male. RSI News (intervista del 18.07.2022 con Alessandra Bottero)

Castagneri D., A. Bottero e G. Vacchiano. Resilienza alla siccità e diradamenti. Pillole di Scienze Forestali SISEF (03.2022)

Lo stato di salute delle foreste svizzere. Telegiornale RSI (intervista del 29.10.2021 con Alessandra Bottero)

Resistere allo “stress da siccità”. Radiogiornale RSI (intervista del 18.08.2021 con Alessandra Bottero)

Preparare alla siccità le foreste coltivate di abete rosso e bianco attraverso la selvicoltura. News WSL (08.2021)

Vacchiano G., A. Bottero, D. Castagneri, U. Chiavetta, G. Matteucci, F. Ripullone e M. Pollastrini. La sete del bosco. Come le foreste reagiscono alla siccità e come aiutarle. Articolo LifeGate Ambiente – Biodiversità (08.2020)

Opportunities for Students

Looking for a Topic for a Bachelor / Master's thesis? Below is a list with opportunities currently available.

Are you passionate about a particular research topic in the field of 'Ecology and management of mountain forests'? Reach out to me, and let's explore the possibility of collaborating on your thesis with our team.

Sorry... no openings at the moment but stay tuned...