Dr. Wenna Ding

At its 26th edition, the Alpine Glaciology Meeting is an annual, community-building gathering addressing researchers that are active in the field of glaciology.

TreeMig ist ein dynamisches Waldmodell auf Landschaftsebene, das an der WSL entwickelt und eingesetzt wird. Wollten Sie schon immer wissen, was dahintersteckt, wie es funktioniert und welche potentiellen Anwendungen TreeMig hat?

The Swiss Landscape Monitoring Program LABES is one of the first large-scale landscape observatories world-wide where not only physical/spatial data are included but landscape perception is systematically monitored by representative surveys as well.

VEGEDAZ ist ein Programm für die Erfassung und Auswertung von Vegetationsaufnahmen. VEGEDAZ ist darauf angelegt, die oft mühsame und zeitintensive Aufbereitung von Vegetationsdaten möglichst einfach und effizient zu gestalten und übliche Auswertungen schnell und sicher auszuführen. Die VEGEDAZ-eigenen Auswertungsfunktionen sind für herkömmliche Auswertungen, zum Beispiel in der Umsetzung, geeignet. So ist für Berichte häufig der Zustand und die Veränderung der Vegetation bezüglich Zeigerwerten, Artenzusammensetzung und Vegetationstyp zu untersuchen. Eine Schnittstelle zur Statistikumgebung R ermöglicht eine grosse Flexibilität bei der Datenauswertung.

Flechten begegnet man auf Schritt und Tritt - vom Vorgarten bis auf die höchsten Berggipfel. Sie sind gute Indikatoren, beispielsweise zur Bestimmung der Luftgüte.

Annals of Forest Science organises special events at Nancy (IONRAE Champenoux and AgroParisTech) and at Zürich (WSL-Birmensdorf). We warmly invite you to follow the Mini Symposiums at Nancy and Birmensdorf.

Im ersten Forum für Wissen 2023 wollen wir zeigen, wie und wo Fernerkundungstechnologien heute eingesetzt werden und in welche Anwendungen Potenzial für die Zukunft steckt.

Seitdem klimatische Extremereignisse, Störungen und globaler Wandel im Zuge des anhaltenden Klimawandels immer markantere Auswirkungen auf die Wälder haben, müssen wir unsere Vorstellung von den Zukunftsbaumarten überdenken: die Frage lautet nicht mehr, wo in 50 Jahren welche Baumarten am besten wachsen werden, sondern welche Bäume in unseren Wäldern die nächsten 20 Jahre überstehen. Können wir auch in Zukunft auf die Naturverjüngung setzen?

The Expert Group Services and Infrastructure (EG-SI) of the ETH ORD Program invited to a full-day workshop on technical interoperability between ORD services and repositories in the ETH Domain.

The 2023 Summer School PROMOWOOD "Promotion of wood as key element for achieving net zero" will take place in August in Davos.

The WSL Biodiversity Center and the Blue-Green Biodiversity Research Initiative are pleased to announce their upcoming “Summer school: Blue-green biodiversity. Research and practice and the interface of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems”, to be held in August 2023 in Davos, Switzerland.

Der diesjährige Naturkongress widmet sich dem Thema «Nachhaltige Ernährungssysteme für mehr Biodiversität – vom Acker bis zum Teller».

Das QGIS-Plugin Seilaplan ist ein an der WSL entwickeltes GIS-basiertes Tool zur Unterstützung der Waldbewirtschaftung. Mit Seilaplan können Seillinien geplant und berechnet werden. An der Seilaplan-Tagung möchten wir die wichtigsten theoretischen Grundlagen sowie den Umgang mit dem Tool vermitteln.

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.

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.

Machine Learning Seminars Kick-off Meeting

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.

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.

Fritz Kleinschroth (ETHZ) will present tools and approaches aiming at inclusive social-ecological planning to reconcile biodiversity conservation and infrastructure development.

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…

Der ScienceDay des SwissForestLab findet am 6. Oktober an der ETH statt. Mehr Informationen folgen.

Gianmaria Bonari (University of Siena) will present an European scale study about old-established black pine plantations and their impact on local biodiversity.

Module 5: Getting Started with LaTeX

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.

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.

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…

Die forstlichen Herausforderungen von morgen – auf der Alpensüdseite bereits Realität!

A data-fusion approach towards continuous spatio-temporal snow water equivalent in high-mountain regions

Module 4: Literature Management with Endnote

2-tägiger Kurs zum Sammeln und Bestimmen von saprophytischen Aphyllophorales

About influencers, super-forecasters, group discussions, and majority voting in avalanche forecasting at SLF.

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.

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.

Module 4: Literature Management with Endnote

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.

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.

Module 4: Literature Management with Endnote

ChatGPT and other large language models get integrated in our daily work more and more. They support us in writing code and emails, searching the internet and many other things. In the future they might even operate our kitchen, producing our dinner, based on a prompt we sent them from work.

In this talk, Celli Hull will discuss ancient and modern insights into this question in the context of the research that she will be carrying out during her time at the WSL.

RAMMS::Rockfall XChange Workshop über Neuerungen und Erfahrungen aus der Praxis

Many of us have judged the size of an avalanche seen in the field or have mapped the outlines when reporting it. Some of us have even used this data, or avalanche outlines from remote sensing imagery, for analyses in avalanche research

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?

Joan Casanelles will present his work on urban biodiversity and socio-ecological drivers as well as on protected areas.

In a world where countries like Switzerland are prospering, the unseen environmental and social impacts of our consumption and trade might be overlooked. The notion of virtual water, emphasizing the hidden transfer of water through global food trade, broadens the traditionally topographically-bound concept watersheds, and helps us understand how food and water insecurities can be globally transferred and acutely affect regions with limited resources.

Module 6: Work on Your Own Project

In this event, three outstanding speakers will reflect on the role of biodiversity in net zero transformation.

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.

This 22nd international course on "Wood Anatomy and Tree-Ring Ecology" will be held in Hotel Morteratsch, Pontresina, Switzerland

The presentation of the doctoral thesis introduces a comprehensive framework for modelling avalanche hazard and risk to buildings at large scale, considering climate change scenarios.

Mark Anthony

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.

Lessons learnt from an inter- and transdisciplinary project on biodiversity loss and climate change

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.

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

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.

As it will be the anniversary of the 1959 Dyatlov Pass Incident in Russia which will be the topic of the presentation, and after the title of a National Geographic article.

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.

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.

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?

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.

Anita Narwani (Eawag)

Antrittsvorlesung von Janine Bolliger an der Universität Zürich

Debbie Leigh (WSL) will present the results of a common garden experiment to characterize standing local adaptation and trait genomic architecture.

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.

Dieser Workshop ist eine Wiederholung desjenigen vom letzten Jahr, mit verbesserter Software.

3-tägiger Workshop

A joint seminar co-organized with the WSL Landscape Center

Flechten begegnet man auf Schritt und Tritt - vom Vorgarten bis auf die höchsten Berggipfel. Sie sind gute Indikatoren, beispielsweise zur Bestimmung der Luftgüte. Dieser Kurs gibt Einblick in die Biologie, Ökologie und die Bestimmung von Flechten. Anhand von ausgewählten Flechten werden die wichtigsten Merkmale zur Bestimmung von Flechten eingeführt. Wir werden auf Flechtenpirsch gehen, das gesammelte Material unter dem Binokular anschauen und mithilfe von Fachliteratur bestimmen.

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.

Leben und Forschen in der Antarktis. Matthias Jaggi erzählt von seinem Forschungsaufenthalt auf der französisch-italienischen Forschungsstation Concordia auf dem antarktischen Hochplateau.

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.

The effective hydraulic conductivity of snow is highly impacted by dynamic microstructures and time dependent phase changes at the pore scale, yet these mechanisms have never been investigated at the pore scale. This inhibits improvements on the constitutive laws for larger scale models of snow hydrology using upscaling methods.

Irene Cordero (WSL)

Snowpack models can complement the standard human information sources used by avalanche forecasters by producing spatially and temporally more continuous assessments, providing short-term forecasts, and offering an alternative and potentially more objective second opinion. However, these simulated data sets quickly become too large and complex for human processing.

In this presentation, Terry Hartig will describe the development of research concerned with nature experience and health as it involves the convergence of interests across multiple disciplines within the health, natural, and social sciences.

Women scientists continue to face greater barriers to success than their male counterparts. The same is true for my own field economics in which progress has stalled even more than in science. Empirical evidence from economics demonstrates that the underrepresentation of female researchers has important consequences for society. I also show evidence on some potential reasons for the gender gap in science and economics, and discuss policies that could help to foster a stronger representation of women in science.

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

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.

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.

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Erin Saupe

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.

Ross Shackleton

Für Forschende, die Versicherungs- und Rückversicherungsindustrie sowie für die Bundesverwaltung ist das Thema der Extremereignisse von zentralem Interesse. Dies betrifft die Vorhersage, Vorsorge und Warnung, aber auch die Anpassung und Risikominderung. Dieser vom WSL-Programm Extremes, SCOR und von der Schweizer Hagel organisierte Workshop stimulierte den Dialog zu Themen, wo es Lösungen und Fortschritte braucht, die man gemeinsam anpacken muss (z.B. Standardisierungsbedarf, Dürre-Informationstools, Schnittstelle zum Zivilschutz).

As in all the mountains of the world, the snow, glaciers and permafrost of the European Alps are undergoing major changes in relation to the current global change. After presenting a picture of this evolution of the cryosphere, which has been accelerating since the 1990s, all the more so as the mountains are more affected by the global warming, we will show its effects on geomorphic processes such as rock fall, rock and ice avalanches, debris flows, moraine failure, or lake dynamics.

“Nature” has diverse meanings, each with its referents. Those working in environmental psychology and allied fields favor some of those meanings, using them and attending to their referents in particular ways. Other meanings see less use, despite their relevance, and their referents receive relatively little attention. I will consider some meanings of “nature” and some problems that their use or neglect has had for environment-behavior-design research. Those problems involve forms of insensitivity or blindness – to some ubiquitous and behaviorally influential natural phenomena, to historical and cultural contingencies of restorative benefits of nature experience, and to limitations of evolutionary assumptions commonly invoked in discussions of such benefits. Awareness of these problems will support further development in theory and methods useful for the study of human-nature relations.

Vierter und letzter Infoanlass zur Feldkampagne Revision der Roten Liste der Pilze der Schweiz.

The fragile landscape of hilly regions of India is susceptible to several disasters like earthquakes, landslides, snow avalanche and flash floods. Landslide disaster is one of the major recurrent concerns in Himalayan terrain. The highly sensitive hilly regions have also been subjected to enormous amount of pressure, primarily due to the escalating population thereby leading to overexploitation of natural resources. Thus, the amalgamation of ecological disruption either due to natural or anthropogenic activities is making the hill slopes fragile and thus the infrastructures unsafe. Such disasters pose risk to lives and all sorts of vital infrastructures such as human settlements, roads, rails, tunnels, hydro-power projects etc. The most recent example is the Joshimath landslidesubsidence incident which aggravated in the month of January 2023 affecting thousands of human settlements.

Les biotopes aquatiques et terrestres sont étroitement liés. De nombreuses espèces végétales et animales utilisent les deux biotopes durant leur vie; l’échange de substances et d’organismes entre «l’eau» et la «terre» est intense. Les interactions entre les biotopes aquatiques et terrestres marquent aussi l’utilisation et l’aménagement anthropiques des paysages. Le présent livre invite à découvrir activement le fonctionnement de ces biotopes et leur biodiversité en huit excursions.

Uncertainty of spillover effects (including property devaluation) from proposed land-use change elicits opposition to local development and hinders cities to implement densification land-use policy. In this context, I review how existing 3D Computer-Aided-Design (3DCAD) is used to systematically generate and evaluate building-specific design performance and how this process can be co-opted to infer a design's location-based amenity value. Connecting 3DCAD-based evaluations of building-specific visual landscape quality with financial market data, I present an integrated approach to predict the property value at risk due to newly-proposed development. Finally, I illustrate how a global assessment of the at-risk building stock allows cities and developers alike to mitigate development-associated spillover effects.

Das Programm OWARNA2@MCH wurde an der MeteoSchweiz gestartet, um eine Massnahme aus dem Massnahmenpaket OWARNA 2 , das der LAINAT (Lenkungsausschuss Intervention Naturgefahren) beim Bundesrat beantragt hat, umzusetzen. Ziel dieses Programmes ist, das Unwetterwarnsystem zu erneuern und weiter zu entwickeln

Is early browning in European forests a harbinger of tree death or simply a sign of temporary stress? In 2018, science could not answer this question. But one thing was clear: the frequency of extreme events, including droughts, had increased after the hot summer of 2003. Even though droughts had also occurred during the last century, they were not accompanied by such high temperatures as today. And on top of climate warming, various manifestations of global change trigger a multitude of cascading processes in and around forests. Indeed, it’s complicated.

Die ibW Maienfeld und die WSL bieten zwei Weiterbildungen zum Thema Seilkranprojektierung an. Im Einführungskurs Seilaplan und QGIS (23.8.2024) wird das an der WSL entwickelte QGIS-Plugin Seilaplan vorgestellt. Mit Seilaplan können Seillinien geplant und berechnet werden. Es werden die wichtigsten theoretischen Grundlagen von Seilaplan, der Umgang mit dem Tool sowie in einem kurzen Crashkurs die für Seilaplan notwendigen QGIS-Kenntnisse vermittelt.

We have the pleasure to announce the 34th European Dendroecological Fieldweek, August 23-30. It will take place in the scenic mountain village of Bardonecchia, in the south-western Italian Alps . This year the EDF will be organised in close collaboration between the Dendrolabs of the WSL and the University of Torino, Italy. The Association for Tree-Ring Research ATR, will support the event with some travel grants.

The WSL Biodiversity Center is pleased to announce their second summer school on blue-green biodiversity.

Nous présenterons le nouveau projet sur la plate-forme de recherche du WSL dans le Parc naturel Pfyn-Finges et ferons une démonstration du dispositif expérimental, unique au monde à cette échelle.

Am Infotag werden die Ergebnisse der geminsamen Forschungsinitiative von Eawag und WSL zum Thema "Blue Green Biodiversity" vorgestellt.

Snow slab avalanches, caused by the failure of a weak snow layer buried beneath a cohesive slab, are very difficult to predict and by far the deadliest type of snow hazard. Recently, numerical simulations and observations of real-scale avalanches showed evidence of a transition from a sub-Rayleigh to intersonic fracture.

Daniel Wegmann (UniFr) and his team work on developing analysis tools for biodiversity monitoring that are robust to variation in the sampling process. In this seminar, he will present three tools to infer population trends from noisy count data, to infer species distributions from camera trapping data, and to use AI to speed up the labeling process of biodiversity records.

Old-growth forests, ancient forests and forest reserves are attractive and rewarding outdoor laboratories to study diverse topics in forest ecology. This summer school offers scientific training for Master and PhD students interested in old-growth forests. It is organized by the Swiss-Ukrainian research cooperation for primeval forest structures and biodiversity. The goal is to bring together a group of individuals which are motivated to learn from specialists in forest ecology, remote sensing, animal ecology, biodiversity and data management, and to contribute to an inspiring atmospher

Curious to learn new ways to communicate your research and reach wider audiences? Join our first videomaking workshop.

Dendrochronology - the study of the rings in trees - allows us to study climate history over the past ca. 2,000 years and to put current climate change in a long-term context.

Mountain snow provides many services as a store of water, a habitat and a playground, but also poses threats as a flood and avalanche risk because it is highly sensitive to climate variability and change.

Julie G. Zähringer (Wyss Academy) and her team work in Laos, Madagascar, and the Peruvian Amazon. In this talk, she will discuss the current challenges in applying various transdisciplinary and interdisciplinary methods and the limitations of counterfactual designs in evaluating the multifaceted outcomes of external interventions on land.

Der Wald ist ein wichtiger Lebensraum für Flechten und beherbergt eine Vielzahl verschiedener Arten. Dieser Kurs gibt Einblick in die Welt der Flechten in Wäldern. Auf kurzen Streifzügen in der näheren Umgebung der WSL und anhand von Kursmaterial lernen wir ausgewählte Arten kennen und bestimmen. Die Zeigerarten für authochthone Bergwälder werden vorgestellt.

SLF snow expert Fabian Wolfsperger leads the three-part Snow-How Webinar series of the Erasmus+ funded projekt SIEPPUR starting from 30 September.

The WSL Biodiversity Center is pleased to announce their first Biodiversity Research Day.

Extreme weather-driven hazards are among the most likely and costly global risks, with societal fragility confirmed repeatedly through recent events. Record-breaking events and sequences of interacting weather extremes are increasingly causing devastating impacts through severe storms, heatwaves, wildfires, droughts and floods. (. . .)

What is the role of forest diversity in resisting invasions?

This presentation will explore the unique flora and fauna of the Western Ghats and demonstrate how different taxonomic groups can provide insights into ecological questions and processes.

A 4RI networking and collaboration event about Aerosol & Health

I am excited to invite you to a colloquium where I will present an overview of my research and experiences during the past 6.5 years at SLF.

Antrittsvorlesung von Silke Bauer an der ETH Zürich

The Gran Paradiso National Park, the Swiss National Park and the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) are pleased to invite you to the 25th Meeting of the Alpine Ibex European Specialists Group - Gruppo Stambecco Europa (GSE- AIESG) that will be held in Zernez (Engadin, Switzerland) on 23rd-25th October 2024. ​

Jacqueline Oehri will present Reconnect, a multi-indicator, multispecies framework for rapid connectivity assessments at fine spatial resolutions across large ecoregions.

The panel consists of one speaker from each of the 4RIs and a guest speaker from the University of Zürich, and will delve into the advantages and challenges of Diamond OA, addressing questions such as what we as researchers can and should be doing regarding promoting publishing via Diamond OA journals.

Dialogue entre la recherche et la pratique. Grâce à la diversité des exemples présentés, ce rendez-vous s’adresse aux personnes intéressées par la planification et l’aménagement durable du paysage urbain, l'architecture «verte», les questions d'écologie urbaine, les forêts urbaines, la santé publique et les co-bénéfices santé-environnement et, plus largement, par la transition écologique des territoires urbains au milieu d’une crise de la biodiversité et climatique.

Tree mortality beyond field detection: challenges for inference, modeling and predictions

Le 31 Octobre 2024, le premier colloque torrents aura lieu sur le campus de Rapperswil-Jona. Le thème du premier colloque est la modélisation numérique et physique des processus torrentiels.

2-tägiger Kurs zum Sammeln und Bestimmen von saprophytischen Aphyllophorales

Abschiedsvorlesung von Prof. Dr. James Kirchner

Die zahlreichen und schnellen Veränderungen, die wir in Umwelt und Gesellschaft wahrnehmen, führen zu Veränderungen in Risiken. Welche Risiken sind das und wie hängen sie zusammen? Wo stehen wir im Umgang damit und wo besteht Forschungs- und Handlungsbedarf? Im WSL-Forum 2024 wollen wir quer durch die Themenlandschaft der WSL gegenwärtige Herausforderungen und mögliche Lösungsansätze beleuchten und diskutieren.

Nach den bisherigen erfolgreichen Tagungen organisiert das Zentrum Landschaft der WSL wieder die Tagung "Junge Landschaftsforschung". Diese richtet sich an Nachwuchsforschende und -gestaltende, die an Projekten (Bachelor- und Masterarbeiten, Dissertationen, PostDoc-Projekte usw.) mit Landschafts-Bezug arbeiten, und diese in Kurzbeiträgen vorstellen möchten. Zudem bietet die Tagung Gelegenheit, sich mit erfahrenen Landschafts-Forschenden auszutauschen.

Marco Pacheco (WSL) will explore how the relationship between species diversity and energy availability is influenced by additional factors, such as the area and spatial distribution of energy-related conditions.

The workshop will bring together scientists and practitioners working in urban ecology and management.

Zoodirektor Severin Dressen spricht in seinem Referat über die Geschichte und Entwicklung des Zoo Zürich sowie über die generelle Rolle der Zoologischen Gärten in der Gesellschaft.

Die Tabletop-Übung «Drought» verfolgt das Ziel, die Tauglichkeit des Schweizer Bevölkerungsschutzes zur Bewältigung von mehrjährigen Trockenheitsereignissen zu überprüfen. Dabei werden Mitglieder der Bevölkerungsschutz-Partnerorganisationen hypothetischen, aber realistischen extremen Dürreszenarien ausgesetzt, die vom WSL-Programm Extremes und dem Center for Security Studies der ETH Zürich entwickelt wurden. Dies ermöglicht die Überprüfung der aktuellen Strukturen, Prozesse und Ressourcen im Hinblick auf zukünftige Extremereignisse. Die Teilnahme ist nur auf Einladung möglich.

Together with the rise of computational power, numerical weather prediction (NWP) models can be applied at hectometric and sub-hectometric grid spacings over mountainous terrain. Given the fine horizontal grid spacing, major topography features are resolved realistically in the model, which allows us to simulate mountain boundary layer processes such as orographically-induced gravity waves and thermally-induced flows explicitly.

Annegret Larsen (Wageningen University)

Our third annual symposium - this time on biodiversity and communication

Juan-Carlos Zamora (Conservatoire et Jardin botaniques de la Ville de Genève) will discuss the relevance of natural history collections for research, conservation, and our society in general.

The upcoming DACH Permafrost Conference will take place at SLF Davos. This annual meeting provides an important platform to promote direct exchange between scientists working in polar and mountain permafrost regions with the aim of exploiting synergies and jointly developing methodological approaches.

The WSL research program CCAMM – Climate Change Impacts on Alpine Mass Movements began in January 2018 to respond to the new challenges posed by the impacts of climate change on alpine mass movements. CCAMM promotes inter- and transdisciplinary research aimed at enhancing the knowledge base on the risks associated with natural hazards and how best to address them. The program focuses on five overarching key topics: Hazard Disposition, Dynamics, Risk and Adaptation, Cascading Processes, and Early Warning. CCAMM will conclude in 2025, and we cordially invite you to our final CCAMM Annual Meeting, marking the internal closure of this research program.

Clara Zemp (University of Neuchâtel) will discuss the key findings from a biodiversity enrichment experiment established 10 years ago in an oil palm landscape in Sumatra, Indonesia.

Aims: to gain an overview of existing climate adaptation related activities from different perspectives (politics, economics, society, science policy, media) to get insights from the different perspectives and partners how they see the role of the 4RI and their contributions to climate adaptation to identify cooperating opportunities for the 4RI and their partners in the area of climate change and living

The annual Assembly of SwissForestLab members

We are pleased to announce that the next Zurich R User Group event will be hosted at WSL. This is a great opportunity for R enthusiasts to join us, share knowledge, and network with peers. WSL’s strong foundation in R, demonstrated through our annual R courses and innovative research projects, will be showcased in this special meetup.

Mirko Kovač (Empa) will present how animal-inspired robot design methods can integrate adaptive morphologies, functional materials and energy-efficient locomotion principles to enable this new class of environmental robotics.

In diesem Workshop werden die Ergebnisse einer Tabletop-Übung zum Thema extreme Trockenheit, die zuvor mit Mitgliedern des Schweizer Bevölkerungsschutzes durchgeführt wurde, aus der Perspektive des Versicherungssektors und seiner Bedürfnisse analysiert.

This Workshop aims to inform interested scientists about Copera (history, current research, available data, status, potentials, and limitations of the research site) and to connect scientists who want to write a project proposal for further research in Copera.

A Research Software Engineer (RSE) is basically anyone that contributes a significant portion of their time to software/technical development for research. An RSE can be a scientist with a focus on programming as well as a software engineer with a connection to science. In the frame of the ETH Domain ORD Program M2: “Building a Research Software Engineering Community to Promote Open Science”, we are organizing a first RSE community meeting at WSL, in order to introduce and clarify the concept of RSE at WSL, to connect to the wider RSE community, and to exchange ideas for the future.

How do trees and their associated fungal partners respond to water deficit? Félix Fracchia (WSL) will discuss the impact of soil water availability in Switzerland on the fungal communities associated with the root systems of decaying and healthy beech trees in natural beech forests.

Landscapes receive water from rain and snow, and then release it as "blue water" that flows downward to streams and "green water" that flows upward to vegetation

Exploring the impact of snow on energy prices and production in Northern Europe, as well as how research from the oil industry can contribute to improving hydropower production planning.

The workshop will bring together the WSL community engaged in alpine biodiversity research and monitoring programs to identify new opportunities and directions for research on global change impacts in mountain environments.

Seed masts in temperate forests create resource pulses that ripple through ecosystems, affecting rodents, predators, and even insectivorous birds like the ground-nesting, migratory wood warbler. How do these fluctuations shape songbird populations—and what does climate change mean for them?

Rockfall is a significant natural hazard in mountainous areas posing a major threat to infrastructure, transportation lines, and human safety. Simulation techniques to predict rockfall trajectories in complex three-dimensional terrain have great practical value as they can be used to determine the danger of rockfall run-out zones as well as to dimension protection measures.

Biodiversity is more than an abstract concept—it can be experienced! Science journalist Atlant Bieri makes it tangible through sight, smell, and touch. In his talk, he’ll share how he communicates biodiversity to a broad audience.

Anhand eines einfachen Risikokonzepts (RI.S.S.K.) werden die zentralen Inhalte des klassischen Risikomanagements in eine leicht umsetzbare Form gebracht, die auch von ausgesprochenen Praktiker_innen gut umsetzbar sind. Mittels zugehöriger APP werden alle Grundlagen dokumentiert und kommuniziert bzw. in der jeweiligen Anwendergruppe auch geteilt.

Current trends in urban development across the planet contradict all principles of sustainability. It is a remarkable irony that the more knowledge and planning capacity societies have at their disposal, the more common increases in urban sprawl have become, particularly in Europe.

Despite increasing scientific knowledge and the implementation of hazard and risk management strategies, mountain societies continue to be affected by high loss events (e.g. events Grison, Valais, Ticino in the summer 2024).

Das WSL-Forschungsprogramm Extremes organisiert ein eintägiges Forum für Wissen am WSL-Standort Birmensdorf. Die Veranstaltung vermittelt den Stand der Forschung zu zukünftigen Extremereignissen, insbesondere zu Trockenheit, und stellt die gemeinsam mit der Praxis entwickelten Lösungsansätze für den Umgang mit zukünftigen Extremereignissen vor.

As a drought-sensitive species, European beech is thought to be particularly vulnerable to climate change (Leuschner, 2020) and increasing temperatures and rain-free days in Switzerland and Europe. The drought in 2018 has led to significant dieback in Switzerland (Frei et al., 2022) and models estimate large reductions in population growth rate in the coming decades in Europe (Martinez del Castillo et al., 2022). However, there is evidence that some beech individuals or populations may be more drought tolerant (Kurath et al., 2024). Characterizing the spatial distribution of genomic variation underlying beech resistance to drier and hotter climates will be key to determine where and under what conditions beech forests will persist in Europe.

Biodiversity loss isn’t just a political issue—it’s a cultural one. In this talk, Claudi Keller will explore how narratives can shape values and influence action for biodiversity.

Flechten begegnet man auf Schritt und Tritt - vom Vorgarten bis auf die höchsten Berggipfel. Sie sind gute Indikatoren, beispielsweise zur Bestimmung der Luftgüte. Dieser Kurs gibt Einblick in die Biologie, Ökologie und die Bestimmung von Flechten. Anhand von ausgewählten Flechten werden die wichtigsten Merkmale zur Bestimmung von Flechten eingeführt. Wir werden auf Flechtenpirsch gehen, das gesammelte Material unter dem Binokular anschauen und mithilfe von Fachliteratur bestimmen.

For several decades now, the invasive ascomycete fungus Hymenoscyphus fraxineus has caused a serious, steady population decline of common ash (Fraxinus excelsior) across Europe. This decline in ash populations in Sweden caused the species to become Red-listed in 2010, and since 2015 its status has only worsened to become critically endangered.

There is a growing consensus that business-as-usual approaches to sustainability are inadequate to address urgent problems such as climate change and biodiversity loss. Yet how do we transform at the rate, scale, speed, and depth that is called for by researchers, decision makers, and activists?

Many cities worldwide have introduced densification strategies. Yet, the current implementation of densification brings many challenges for a just and socio-ecological urban development, particularly regarding the displacement of lower-income residents, high CO2-emissions stemming from building activities, and the rather low democratic acceptance of densification. In this talk, I will exemplify these challenges and outline potential strategies towards a fair and sustainable densification.

Ein zentrales Anliegen der Holzbranche ist die entschiedene Mehrnutzung von Schweizer Holz. Strategisches Ziel ist mittelfristig ein Plus von 1 Mio Kubikmeter pro Jahr. Viele der noch ungenutzten Bestände der für die Holzwirtschaft wichtigen Fichten und Weisstannen finden sich dabei in voralpinem oder alpinem Gelände. Die Wissenschaft hat interessante Vorarbeit zur optimaleren Erschliessung dieser Gebiete geleistet. Aber ist diese auch umsetzbar?

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IUFRO Div. 7 Working Parties Conference

Workshop Integrate Network in Zürich

In recent years, the availability of Earth observation data from satellites has increased dramatically, allowing for systematic and global monitoring of Earth's surface processes at an unprecedented scale.

Génétique appliquée à la conservation pour la pratique Grâce à ce cours, les participants pourront élargir ou mettre à jour leurs connaissances sur les bases de la génétique appliquée à la conservation. L'objectif est de combler les lacunes de connaissances, d’évaluer le potentiel et les limites, d'éviter les malentendus et de poser les bases des futurs projets suisses de génétique de la conservation.

The workshop will be a forum for presenting and discussing results of research on a network of 11 Oriental beech stands across France, Germany, and Switzerland. On the first day, talks given by researchers will cover comparative analysis of European and Oriental beech regarding their phenology, growth and wood anatomy, physiology, and genetics. In particular, extensive research will be presented on the hybridization of the two species and its consequences for the long-term survival of the stands. We will also discuss if remote sensing can be used to track the spread of Oriental beech in a European beech forest. Foresters managing forests with planted Oriental beech will be invited, as well as responsible administrative bodies of the three countries. During the workshop session, foresters and researchers will think together about the potential risks and benefits of using Oriental beech for assisted migration in Western Europe. On the second day, a field trip will take place to the forest of Allenwiller, where Oriental beech was introduced over 100 years ago. The event will close with talks introducing future projects on assisted migration in Europe and a discussion on the development of a protected network of sites.

The Alpine Forest Genomics Network facilitates exchange and collaboration among researchers using genomic approaches for studying alpine forest ecosystems.

m Einführungskurs Seilaplan und QGIS wird das an der WSL entwickelte QGIS-Plugin Seilaplan vorgestellt. Seilaplan ist ein an der WSL entwickeltes GIS-basiertes Tool zur Unterstützung der Waldbewirtschaftung. Mit Seilaplan können Seillinien geplant und berechnet werden. Wir werden die wichtigsten theoretischen Grundlagen von Seilaplan, den Umgang mit dem Tool sowie in einem kurzen Crashkurs die für Seilaplan notwendigen QGIS-Kenntnisse vermitteln. Für eine aktive Teilnahme wird deshalb ein eigener Laptop mit installiertem QGIS und Seilaplan-Plugin benötigt.

From 2007 to 2022, mycologists of the Greater Zürich Area have met once a year in a one-day symposium termed 'Zürich Mycology Symposium'. The goal of the symposium was the scientific exchange and the networking among this community and the location and the organizers of the symposium alternated between the participating institutions i.e. ETH Zürich, University of Zürich, Agroscope Reckenholz, Agroscope Wädenswil and WSL Birmensdorf

Internationaler Workshop zum Projekt VPDrought

The WSL Biodiversity Center is pleased to announce the third summer school on blue-green biodiversity.

Forest cover and ecosystem services are increasingly threatened by uncertainties, amplified by climate change. Together with experts from France, Germany, and Switzerland, we will explore key questions: How will forests evolve in the future? How can forest management sustain forests and their functions?

We are pleased to announce the 35th European Dendroecological Fieldweek, will take place from August 29 to September 5 2025. This event will be held in the town of Son (Spain) at the heart of the Catalan Pyrenees, within the Alt Pirineu Natural Park, a unique reserve showcasing the natural and cultural heritage of the Pyrenees.

1975 pflanzten die WSL und das SLF in einem gemeinsamen Projekt 92'000 Bäume am Stillberg im Dischmatal bei Davos – 2025 jährt sich diese Pflanzung zum 50. Mal

Der Wald ist ein wichtiger Lebensraum für Flechten und beherbergt eine Vielzahl verschiedener Arten. Dieser Kurs gibt Einblick in die Welt der Flechten in Wäldern. Auf kurzen Streifzügen in der näheren Umgebung der WSL und anhand von Kursmaterial lernen wir ausgewählte Arten kennen und bestimmen. Die Zeigerarten für authochthone Bergwälder werden vorgestellt.

2-tägiger Kurs zum Sammeln und Bestimmen von saprophytischen Aphyllophorales

Europe’s forests are under increasing pressure from climate extremes, requiring better monitoring of changing forest dynamics.