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Institution

Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research

FacilityBirmensdorf, Switzerland
About: Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research is a facility organization based out in Birmensdorf, Switzerland. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Climate change & Soil water. The organization has 1256 authors who have published 3222 publications receiving 161639 citations. The organization is also known as: WSL.


Papers
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: To make current wood-production practices in beech forests throughout Europe more conservation oriented, it is recommended increasing the amount of dead wood to >20 m(3) /ha; not removing dead wood of large diameter and allowing more dead wood in advanced stages of decomposition to develop; and designating strict forest reserves that would serve as refuges for and sources of saproxylic habitat specialists.
Abstract: With the aim of wood production with negligible negative effects on biodiversity and ecosystem processes, a silvicultural practice of selective logging with natural regeneration has been implemented in European beech forests (Fagus sylvatica) during the last decades. Despite this near-to-nature strategy, species richness of various taxa is lower in these forests than in unmanaged forests. To develop guidelines to minimize the fundamental weaknesses in the current practice, we linked functional traits of saproxylic beetle species to ecosystem characteristics. We used continental-scale data from 8 European countries and regional-scale data from a large forest in southern Germany and forest-stand variables that represented a gradient of intensity of forest use to evaluate the effect of current near-to-nature management strategies on the functional diversity of saproxylic beetles. Forest-stand variables did not have a statistically significant effect on overall functional diversity, but they did significantly affect community mean and diversity of single functional traits. As the amount of dead wood increased the composition of assemblages shifted toward dominance of larger species and species preferring dead wood of large diameter and in advanced stages of decay. The mean amount of dead wood across plots in which most species occurred was from 20 to 60 m(3) /ha. Species occurring in plots with mean dead wood >60 m(3) /ha were consistently those inhabiting dead wood of large diameter and in advanced stages of decay. On the basis of our results, to make current wood-production practices in beech forests throughout Europe more conservation oriented (i.e., promoting biodiversity and ecosystem functioning), we recommend increasing the amount of dead wood to >20 m(3) /ha; not removing dead wood of large diameter (50 cm) and allowing more dead wood in advanced stages of decomposition to develop; and designating strict forest reserves, with their exceptionally high amounts of dead wood, that would serve as refuges for and sources of saproxylic habitat specialists.

186 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the existence of characteristic landscape scales was investigated by analyzing two-dimensional Fourier power spectra derived from high-resolution topographic maps of two landscapes in California.
Abstract: [1] Landscapes are sometimes argued to be scale-invariant or random surfaces, yet qualitative observations suggest that they contain characteristic spatial scales. We quantitatively investigate the existence of characteristic landscape scales by analyzing two-dimensional Fourier power spectra derived from high-resolution topographic maps of two landscapes in California. In both cases, we find that spectral power declines sharply above a frequency that corresponds roughly to hillslope length, implying that the landscape is relatively smooth at finer scales. The spectra also show that both landscapes contain quasiperiodic ridge-and-valley structures, and we derive a robust measure of the ridge-valley wavelength. By comparing the spectra with the statistical properties of spectra derived from randomly generated topography, we show that such uniform valley spacing is unlikely to occur in a random surface. We describe several potential applications of spectral analysis in geomorphology beyond the identification of characteristic spatial scales, including a filtering technique that can be used to measure topographic attributes, such as local relief, at specific scales or in specific orientations.

186 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors used radiocarbon-dated sediments from four lakes in Switzerland to study palynologically the effects of climate change on harvest yields and found that harvest yields would have increased synchronously over wide areas of central and southern Europe during periods of warm and dry climate.

186 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a large dataset on atmospheric N deposition, foliar and root d 15 N and N concentration, soil C:N, mineralization and nitrification was assembled, and a robust, regional-scale measure of the onset of N saturation in forest ecosystems was evaluated.
Abstract: N saturation induced by atmospheric N deposition can have serious consequences for forest health in many regions. In order to evaluate whether foliar d 15 N may be a robust, regional-scale measure of the onset of N saturation in forest ecosystems, we assembled a large dataset on atmospheric N deposition, foliar and root d 15 N and N concentration, soil C:N, mineralization and nitrification. The dataset included sites in northeastern North America, Colorado, Alaska, southern Chile and Europe. Local drivers of N cycling (net nitrification and mineralization, and forest floor and soil C:N) were more closely coupled with foliar d 15 N than the regional driver of N deposition. Foliar d 15 N increased non-linearly with nitrification:mineralization ratio and decreased with forest floor C:N. Foliar d 15 N was more strongly related to nitrification rates than was foliar N concentration, but concentration was more strongly correlated with N deposition. Root d 15 N was more tightly coupled to forest floor properties than was foliar d 15 N. We observed a pattern of decreasing foliar d 15 N values across the following species: American beech>yellow birch>sugar maple. Other factors that affected foliar d 15 N included species composition and climate. Relationships between foliar d 15 N and soil variables were stronger when analyzed on a species by species basis than when many species were lumped. European sites showed distinct patterns of lower foliar d 15 N, due to the importance of ammonium deposition in this region. Our results suggest that examining d 15 N values of foliage may improve understanding of how forests respond to the cascading effects of N deposition.

186 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present four basic models for linking land change with driving forces and actors, and propose guidelines for choosing among the four models for specific studies based on the main characteristics of the models and practical considerations.
Abstract: Models in land change research are often chosen arbitrarily based on practical rather than theoretical considerations. More specifically, research on land change is often based on a research framework with three crucial elements - driving forces, actors, and land change - in an ad hoc and case- specific configuration. The lack of solid and widely applicable concepts about the conceptual link between these three elements can negatively affect individual research projects and hamper communication and generalizations beyond the individual project. We present four basic models for linking land change with driving forces and actors. These models are illustrated with examples from the research literature. Based on the main characteristics of the models and practical considerations, we propose guidelines for choosing among the four models for specific studies. More generally, we want to raise awareness that land change research is especially demanding with respect to conceptual backgrounds and that conceptual considerations will help improve the scientific quality of individual studies as well as their potential contribution towards generic theories of land change.

186 citations


Authors

Showing all 1333 results

NameH-indexPapersCitations
Peter H. Verburg10746434254
Bernhard Schmid10346046419
Christian Körner10337639637
André S. H. Prévôt9051138599
Fortunat Joos8727636951
Niklaus E. Zimmermann8027739364
Robert Huber7831125131
David Frank7818618624
Jan Esper7525419280
James W. Kirchner7323821958
David B. Roy7025026241
Emmanuel Frossard6835615281
Derek Eamus6728517317
Benjamin Poulter6625522519
Ulf Büntgen6531615876
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Performance
Metrics
No. of papers from the Institution in previous years
YearPapers
2023111
2022173
2021395
2020327
2019269
2018281