Long-term monitoring of high-elevation terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems in the Alps – a five-year synthesis

Abstract

Whether and how alpine organismic communities respond to ongoing environmental changes is difficult to assess quantitatively, given their intrinsically slow responses, remote locations and limited data. Here we provide a synthesis of the first five years of a multidisciplinary, highly standardized, long-term monitoring programme of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems in the Austrian Hohe Tauern National Park and companion sites in northern Italy and the central Swiss Alps. The programme aims at evidencing the ecological state and trends in largely late-successional, high-elevation ecosystems. We present the conceptual framework, the study design and first results. Replicated over five regions, different sites and a multitude of permanent plots, the abiotic (microclimate, physics and chemistry of soils and water bodies), biodiversity (plants, animals, microbes), and productivity data (alpine grassland, lakes, streams) provide a representative reference for future re-assessments. The wide spectrum of biological baseline data presented and their spatial and temporal variation also illustrate the degree of uncertainty associated with smaller-scale and short-term studies and the role of stochasticity in long-term biological monitoring.

Four ways to define the growing season

“…There is also no meteorological way to define the end of the season because the arrival of snow or frosty weather is unpredictable, with autonomous (in deciduous woody species, commonly photoperiod controlled) completion of above-ground plant senescence defining the end (Möhl et al, 2022). In such cases, meteorology-based end-of-season definitions best use a fixed date for which it is known that above-ground seasonal activity largely ceased (for instance: 1st or 15th September in the alpine belt of the N-hemisphere temperate zone; Körner et al, 2022).…”

Frontiers in soil ecology—Insights from the World Biodiversity Forum 2022

“…While multiple previous works have focused on DNA sequencing of taxonomic markers, studies based on metagenomics, metatranscriptomics or metaproteomics can also provide the fundamental basis between soil biodiversity and ecosystem function. Establishing a long‐term monitoring system : Soil ecosystems are dynamic in space and especially in time (Eisenhauer et al, 2021; Kuzyakov & Blagodatskaya, 2015). To understand the mechanisms linking biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in soil, and to extrapolate them in the future, we need temporal analysis of trends in soil organisms and functions (e.g., Körner et al, 2022). This requires knowledge integration across different microhabitats (Eisenhauer et al, 2021), and putting soil biodiversity in the landscape context (Le Provost et al, 2021).…”

“…Establishing a long-term monitoring system: Soil ecosystems are dynamic in space and especially in time Kuzyakov & Blagodatskaya, 2015). To understand the mechanisms linking biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in soil, and to extrapolate them in the future, we need temporal analysis of trends in soil organisms and functions (e.g., Körner et al, 2022). This requires knowledge integration across different microhabitats , and putting soil biodiversity in the landscape context (Le Provost et al, 2021).…”

A global framework of mountain ecology

“…The alpine fraction corresponds to 2.6% of the global land area outside Antarctica but hosts an over-proportional fraction of global biodiversity (Körner 2004). In terms of terminology, elevated land should be addressed by elevation, while altitude applies to the free atmosphere only (McVicar & Körner 2013), something non-native speakers like myself had long ignored.…”

“…The only problem is the year-to-year stochasticity of weather conditions, calling for sufficiently long-time frames for initial data collection. Embedded in a permanent plot concept, such data collection can also serve as a reference for future revisitations (Körner et al 2022).…”