ECOMOMT

Ecological effects of land use changes on European terrestrial mountain ecosystems

ECOMONT aims at investigating land-use changes in European Terrestrial Mountain Ecosystems. As a contribution to the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Initiative TERI, ECOMONT aims at a high degree of integration:

to investigate which changes in the canopy structure occur due to land-use changes in agricultural and forestal Alpine ecosystems along a South/North research-transect across the Eastern Alps and how these changes affect the exchange processes with the atmosphere;
to clear up how the changes in canopy structure are connected with species composition and performance, as well as with species competition and interaction;
to understand the influence of land-use changes on soil organic matter (SOM) status and turnover, on biogeochemical (CO₂, N) and hydrological processes at the ecosystem level, and on the exchange processes between the ecosystems and the lower layers of the atmosphere;
to extend this understanding to the landscape level by means of multimedia modelling activities;
to compare the results from the Alps with those of other European Mountains (Spanish Pyrenees, Scottish Highlands);
to develop functional analysis methods as a basis for the integrated management (sustainable development) of mountain ecosystems.

contact :

Dr. Alexander Cernusca
Institut für Botanik
Universität Innsbruck
A-6020 Innsbruck, Sternwartestraße 15
Austria
Alexander.Cernusca@uibk.ac.at

web site :

http://info.uibk.ac.at/c/c7/c717/ecomont/index.html