SEEHORNWALD (SWITZERLAND)
OPERATING INSTITUTE: Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL Birmensdorf & Institute of Agricultural Sciences, ETH Zurich.
MAIN PURPOSE: Water cycle, carbon cycle, climate.
ECOSYSTEM TYPE: Subalpine spruce forest.
EXPERIMENTAL TREATMENTS: System- and process- oriented observations of biogeochmical cycles and forest growth.
LOCALISATION: 46.799337649077714 9.83642578125
FACILITIES: This site offers a unique combination of ongoing long-term measurements of regional climate (since 1876), CO2 and H2O fluxes as well as microclimate profiles through the forest including soil climate and water status (since 1996), tree physiological records such as sap flow and continuous stem radius changes (since 1997), turbulent fluxes of CO2 and H2O by eddy covariance (since 1996), continuous atmospheric NO, NO2 and O3 concentrations (since 1991), and multiple properties of the vegetation (e.g. crown transparency, litterfall) and soil structure (since 2004). Additionally, continuous gas-exchange of twigs was measured under ambient and increased CO2 concentrations from 1997 to 2005. The very long continuous track record of most measurements makes this research site to an ideal location for investigations about (missing) links between climate change and tree physiological adaptations. It is also well suited to addressing questions about the ecosystem carbon balance in relation to soil related components and tree physiological processes (under changing environmental conditions). Davos is an ecosystem-level research site in the ICOS Research Infrastructure project, with funding for at least two years. Continuous soil respiration measurements are being conducted during the plant growing season and complement the above-ground measurements. A snow height sensor was added in winter 2012/2013. It is moved along a horizontal track to cover the spatial variability in below-canopy snow cover. A StarDot Net-Cam was added to take a picture of the singular forest in the northeast of the eddy flux tower.
CONTACT: M. SCHAUB (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
NOTE: In 2006, the Davos Seehornwald research site was incorporated into the Swiss LWF Long-Term Forest Ecology Research program of WSL and equipped according to the guide lines for intensive monitoring sites of the UN/ECE ICP Forests network.
RECENT PUBLICATIONS:
● Etzold, S., Zweifel, R., Rühr, N., Eugster, W., Buchmann, N. (2013) Long-term stem CO2 concentration measurements in Norway spruce in relation to biotic and abiotic factors. New Phytologist 197:1171-1184. DOI: 10.1111/nph.12115.
● Sidorova, O.V., Eugster, W., Etzold, S., Cherubini, P., Zielis, S., Saurer, M., Siegwolf, R., Buchmann, N (2013) Increasing relevance of spring temperatures for Norway spruce trees in Davos, Switzerland, after the 1950s. Trees.
● Churakova, O.V. (Sidorova), Eugster, W., Etzold, S., Cherubini, P., Zielis, S., Saurer, M., Siegwolf, R., Buchmann, N (2014) Increasing relevance of spring temperatures for Norway spruce trees in Davos, Switzerland, after the 1950s. Trees 28: 183–191.
