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Lake Neusiedl, the largest lake in Austria, is especially sensitive to climate variations due to its extreme shallowness and a small catchment area. Historical records indicate that large variations of the lake area have occurred naturally (0% to >150% of present) but contemporary touristic uses of the lake require a largely constant water level. This dependence increases the regional economic vulnerability. Water balance of the lake as influenced by weather conditions was studied in detail. 79% of water input was due to precipitation, whereas more than 90% of water output was caused by evapotranspiration. Long-term observation of annual and seasonal precipitation sums, starting in 1865, revealed a slow downward trend of 15 years moving averages by 6 ± 1 mm/decade, masked by large interannual variations of the original data (s.d.: ±120 mm). Multidecadal oscillation indices (AMO, NAO, MOI) were tested against patterns of precipitation, air temperature and hydrological parameters of Lake Neusiedl. The clearest relation was observed between air temperature and North Atlantic oscillation index (p

The paper presents a transdisciplinary case study which aimed to encourage a vital regional process for building more sustainable structures and regional networks in the future. The case study looks at the industrial city of Steyr which is located in a highly dynamic region in Upper Austria and has to compete with other regional industrial centres and on the global market with internationally acting companies in the automotive sector. For finding local strategies to cope with globally induced pressures and changes several foresight techniques and transdisciplinary approaches have been applied such as interviews, photo elicitation, workshops and scenario building. The transdisciplinary case study is reflected by exploring three major research questions: first, how does transdisciplinarity work in practice, second, what are the benefits and limitations of transdisciplinary research in regional foresight processes and third, how can transdisciplinary research contribute to initiating a long-term process for building sustainable networks and structures in the region. Some answers can be given from the empirical example of Steyr. The case study shows that particularly in regions with a long industrial history and tradition and where existing paradigms cannot easily be overcome, a transdisciplinary procedure provides clear advantages over sole expert solutions. Transdisciplinarity can be the key to get through to the local actors, to develop perfectly fitting strategies for the region and to initiate joint learning and in an ideal situation a long-term change process. New ideas, structures and networks are established which are essential for improving the long-term development of a region.

Climate change amongst others is considered as a major threat to biodiversity. The aim of the present study was to assess the potential impact and regional variation of modelled climate change on selected Austrian habitats and agricultural landscapes for 20 landscape samples in the region of Upper-Austria. In order to avoid biases caused by the lack of data of species and their ecological requirements, we used a concept that addresses higher aggregated forms of biodiversity, the broader habitats. We defined their ecological envelope by applying Ellenberg's temperature and water availability values based on vegetation releves and related these with the output of a regional climate model for the time periods 1981-1990 and 2041-2050. Further we defined a sensitivity index for assessing possible responses of broader habitats to future climatic conditions. Regression analysis revealed quite strong relationships for temperature values (R 2 = 0.72, p-value < 0.01) but not for water availability. Differences in R 2 were given regarding the individual broader habitats. Water availability had higher sensitivity indices than temperature. Forests, fallow land, field margins and aquatic habitats had the best regression models, the highest sensitivity and also showed rather high naturalness values. It was concluded that more natural habitats will suffer more because of climate change. Species loss and turnover can only be mitigated by improving migration possibilities. Consequences for nature conservation planning are discussed and need to be further explored.