Die Sessions der SUSALPS Konferenz 2018
Session 1 “Soil organic matter dynamics in mountainous grassland soils”
Chair: Martin Wiesmeier, Noelia Garcio-Franco, Ingrid Kögel-Knabner
Mountainous grassland soils support environmental key functions and are regional hotspots of carbon and nitrogen storage. Climate change along with changes of the grassland management is likely to alter the carbon and nitrogen balance of these soils. However, information on soil organic matter dynamics in mountainous grassland soils and their drivers as well as on the sensitivity of specific soil organic matter fractions and aggregation towards climate change is scarce. Therefore, the identification of main drivers of soil organic matter dynamics in mountainous grassland soils together with the development of climate-smart management strategies are key scientific and socio-economic challenges.
Keynote: Christopher Poeplau (Johann Heinrich von Thünen Institute)
Session 2 “Microbiomes as driver for nutrient cycles in soil”
Chair: Michael Schloter
Microbes can be considered as major drivers for soil quality and the multi-functionality of soils. Microbes catalyse nutrient turnover, trigger plant growth, degrade xenobiotics and contribute to reduced soil erosion. However, both climate change and increase in land use intensity strongly influence both structure and function of soil microbiomes, with so far unknown consequences for the multi-functionality of soils. Additionally, recent studies have indicated that global change induces a loss in diversity in soil, which may impact functional redundancy and stability of soil ecosystems. In the frame of this session, we want to discuss most recent results on the impact of global change on microbiomes of grassland ecosystems and define appropriate mitigation strategies, which help to stabilize the microbiome.
Keynote: Tessa Camenzind (FU Berlin)
Session 3 “Plant diversity and productivity of montane and alpine grasslands in a warmer future”
Chair: Anke Jentsch
The vegetation structure of sub-alpine grasslands is the interface between ecosystem processes and societal needs of an economically important habitat. Understanding how this structure will respond and shift to future climate warming scenarios is of great interest for enhancing our scientific understanding of pattern and process and for planning future management. Vegetation dynamics incorporate bottom-up processes such as soil nutrient availability and nutrient cycling, top-down processes such as grazing and drought, and plant-plant interactions such as competition for limited resources, recruitment and invasion. Understanding and adapting to the multifunctionality of these systems is aided by experiments that manipulate climate scenarios and biodiversity. These have included in situ approaches, artificial mesocosm studies and translocations of intact plant-soil units to warmer regions. This session focuses on the insights gained from such experiments on vegetation dynamics and the implications for managers.
Keynote: Hans de Boeck (University of Antwerp)
Session 4 “Biogeochemical cycles of grasslands”
Chair: Ralf Kiese
Accurate quantification of ecosystem carbon, nitrogen and water fluxes over sites and regions is essential for understanding the feedbacks between the terrestrial biosphere and the atmosphere (e.g. greenhouse gas emissions) and hydrosphere (e.g. nutrient leaching) in the context of global change and policy-making. In the last decades, considerable progress has been made in modelling yields, water, C and N turnover and fluxes and associated ecosystem services of soil–crop systems, including grassland ecosystems. By the process-based representation of key plant and soil processes such models are also considered useful tools for optimizing the usage of water resources and estimating C and N losses along atmospheric and hydrological pathways at field to regional scale. Thus, in this session we seek for contributions on biogeochemical model applications for quantifying and assessing grassland yields, C/ N and water fluxes, as well as optimization potentials under current and future land management and climate conditions on various scales.
Keynote: Marcel Van Oijen (Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Edinburgh)
Session 5 “Monitoring grassland properties and management with remote sensing”
Chair: Anne Schucknecht
Remote sensing technologies offer the possibility to derive spatially explicit information on grassland properties (e.g., biomass, LAI, height, etc.) and management (e.g. cutting frequency) for different spatial scales. The obtained information can be used to monitor vegetation development/ dynamics as well as land use changes. Furthermore, results of remote sensing analyses can serve as input for models and decision support tools, therefore supporting the sustainable management of grassland. We invite contributions that utilize UAV- and satellite-based imagery to i) estimate different vegetation parameters of grasslands, ii) monitor grassland management events or iii) monitor land use change with respect to grasslands. Studies on biomass, vegetation height, and leaf N-content estimation, on cutting and fertilization detection as well as on shrub encroachment are especially welcome.
Keynote: Felix Greifeneder (EURAC)
Session 6 “Socio-economy of grassland ecosystem services”
Chair: Thomas Köllner, Thomas Schmitt, Patrick Poppenborg, Andrea Früh-Müller, Maria Hänsel
Grasslands in agricultural landscapes provide valuable ecosystem services (ES) for the economy and society, yet they are under pressure due to conversion and intensification as well as due to climate change. To partly address this, policies and ordinances regulate the grassland management. The open question is how effective current policies are to safeguard both farm and societal benefits of ES at the same time. For this socio-economic session we therefore invite contributions on costs and benefits of grasslands' multiple ES, decision-making of grassland managers in response to policies as well as spatially explicit assessments/scenarios of grassland ES on the landscape scale.
Keynote: Uta Schirpke (EURAC)
Session 7 “Zukunft der Almenwirtschaft” (Die Session findet auf Deutsch statt)
Chair: Michael Dannenmann
Almen sind ein besonders wertvoller, aber auch bedrohter Teil der Kulturlandschaft in den Alpen. Die meisten Almen wurden bereits vor Jahrhunderten unter enormem Aufwand angelegt, schließlich über viele Generationen genutzt und prägen das heutige Gesicht der Alpen. Vor allem seit den 1950er Jahren wurden jedoch zahlreiche Almen durch veränderte sozio-ökonomische Rahmenbedingungen aufgelassen. Langfristig können Almen jedoch nur durch eine geeignete Bewirtschaftung erhalten werden. Diese Session widmet sich der Zukunft der Almwirtschaft im Alpenraum. Beiträge über politische und sozio-ökonomische Rahmenbedingungen der Almwirtschaft, über Alm-Revitalisierung, Almbewirtschaftung im Klimawandel, Naturschutz sowie der Auswirkung von Almbewirtschaftung auf Bodenfunktionen und Ökosystem-Service-Leistungen sind willkommen.
Keynote: Susanne Aigner (Umweltbüro GmbH)
Session 8 “Von der Forschung in die Anwendung" (Die Session findet auf Deutsch statt. Beiträge in Englisch sind jedoch möglich)
Chair: Katrin Schneider
Die Bewirtschaftung von Grünland in alpinen und voralpinen Regionen stellt Landwirte vor vielfältige Herausforderungen. Die klimatischen und landschaftlichen Gegebenheiten erfordern oftmals angepasste und spezifische Bewirtschaftungsformen und –maßnahmen. Zusätzlich müssen Landwirte angemessen auf sich verändernde Bedingungen reagieren können, um den Betrieb nachhaltig zu bewirtschaften. Dazu gehört beispielsweise die Anpassung an den fortschreitenden Klimawandel, der Umgang mit unerwünschten Arten und die Reaktion auf neue gesetzliche oder marktwirtschaftliche Rahmenbedingungen. Die Session ist dem Wissensaustausch zwischen Forschung und landwirtschaftlicher Praxis gewidmet. Praxisrelevante Entwicklungen für die Grünlandwirtschaft, etwa Systeme zur Entscheidungsunterstützung, neue Testverfahren für den Einsatz im Stall und auf dem Feld (z.B. zur Nährstoff), oder Geräte und Software zur Beobachtung und Auswertung können vorgestellt werden und ihre Praxistauglichkeit mit den Teilnehmern diskutiert werden. Gleichzeitig soll in der Session der Entwicklungsbedarf für Messgeräte und computerbasierte Anwendungen ermittelt werden. Beiträge aus Forschung, Entwicklung und aus der landwirtschaftlichen Praxis sind willkommen.
Keynote: Giovanni Peratoner (Versuchszentrum Laimburg)