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Forest ecosystems provide a wide variety of ecosystem services to society. In harsh mountain environments, the regulating services of forests are of particular importance. Managing mountain forests for regulating services is a cost- and labor intensive endeavor. Yet, also unmanaged forests regulate the environment. In the context of evidence-based decision making it is thus important to scrutinize if current management recommendations improve the supply of regulating ecosystem services over unmanaged development trajectories. A further issue complicating decision making in the context of regulating ecosystem services is their high sensitivity to climate change. Climate-mediated increases in natural disturbances, for instance, could strongly reduce the supply of regulating services from forests in the future. Given the profound environmental changes expected for the coming decades it remains unclear whether forest management will still be able to significantly control the future trajectories of mountain forest development, or whether the management effect will be superseded by a much stronger climate and disturbance effect. Here, our objectives were (i) to quantify the future regulating service supply from a 6456 ha landscape in the Stubai valley in Tyrol, Austria, and (ii) to assess the relative importance of management, climate, and natural disturbances on the future supply of regulating ecosystem services. We focused our analysis on climate regulation, water regulation, and erosion regulation, and used the landscape simulation model iLand to quantify their development under different climate scenarios and management strategies. Our results show that unmanaged forests are efficient in providing regulating ecosystem services. Both climate regulation and erosion regulation were higher in unmanaged systems compared to managed systems, while water regulation was slightly enhanced by management. Overall, direct effects of climate change had a stronger influence on the future supply of regulating services than management and natural disturbances. The ability of management to control ecosystem service supply decreased sharply with the severity of future climate change. This finding highlights that forest management could be severely stymied in the future if climate change continues to proceed at its current rate. An improved quantitative understanding of the drivers of future ecosystem service supply is needed to more effectively combine targeted management efforts and natural ecosystem dynamics towards sustaining the benefits society derives from forests in a rapidly changing world.

Mountain farming sustains human well-being by providing various ecosystem services (ES). In the last decades, socio-economic developments have led to worldwide changes in land-use/cover (LULC), but the related effects on ES have not been fully explored. This study aimed at assessing the impacts of the transformation of agricultural land on ES in the European Alps. We mapped 19 ES within the agriculturally used areas in the year 2000 and analyzed LULC changes by 2018. We compared eight regions with a similar development, regarding social–ecological characteristics, to outline contrasting trends. Our results indicate that the ES decreased most strongly in regions with a massive abandonment of mountain grassland, while ES in the ‘traditional agricultural region’ remained the most stable. In regions with an intensification of agriculture, together with urban sprawl, ES had the lowest values. Across all regions, a shift from ES that are typically associated with mountain farming towards forest-related ES occurred, due to forest regrowth. By relating differing trends in ES to social–ecological developments, we can discuss our findings regarding new landscapes and farming systems across the European Alps. Our quantitative and spatially explicit findings provide a valuable basis for policy development, from the regional to the international/EU level, and for adopting sustainable management strategies.

The demand for cultural ecosystem services (CES) is increasing, and aesthetic values contribute substantially to attract visitors to mountain regions, enhancing the socio-economic well-being. While most studies focused on the assessment of aesthetic values under current conditions, this study aimed to evaluate the historic development of aesthetic values from the perspective of today by analysing changes in the actual supply of this CES along roads and paths in Solden in the Otztal valley (Austria) since the beginning of tourism. We first mapped roads and paths for five time steps over the last 150 years to then estimate aesthetic values along these infrastructures, using a spatially explicit modelling approach. Furthermore, we compared spatial patterns of visitation preferences derived from social media data with predicted aesthetic values. Our results indicate that an increased access to areas of high aesthetic values was related to general increases in the supply of aesthetic values until 1950. Although the accessibility to high-elevation areas continued to increase until 2017, aesthetic values generally decreased due to landscape changes induced by the shift from mainly agricultural to touristic use. The abandonment of alpine pastures occurred mainly above the forest belt, which coincides with high levels of photo density, as most pictures were taken around mountain huts and on mountain peaks. If carefully planned and managed, mountain regions may actively enhance aesthetic experiences and foster the touristic use by providing good infrastructure, but land use policies and landscape management should support agricultural activities to maintain high levels of aesthetic values.

Globally, mountain areas are facing numerous social, economic, and ecological challenges. The interplay of natural and social factors makes them complex social-ecological systems. To investigate a mountain setting in the Austrian Alps, we developed the resilient livelihood framework (RLF), relying on the sustainable livelihood framework and integrating the community resilience and ecosystem services concepts. This novel RLF highlights the basic function of natural capital for economic, social, cultural, and political capital and displays the social valorization and demand of single-ecosystem services. The RLF serves to examine the social-ecological complexities with a set of drivers, capitals, livelihood strategies, and outcomes of two remote mountain villages, Obergurgl and Vent in the Upper Ötztal Valley (Tyrol, Austria). Here, qualitative and quantitative descriptions enable comprehensive insights into the complex interplay of the social and ecological spheres of both communities. Its output has been densified and calculated with a modified Shannon-Wiener Index that revealed a higher social-ecological resilience for the village of Vent than Obergurgl. The study bridges various disciplines and contributes to the theoretical and practical advancement of a resilience framework through the application to a case study site by combining ecological and sociological approaches. The application study can serve as a pilot for similar applications in remote mountain areas to support the decision making of local managers and stakeholders.

Context Landscape ecology early on developed the awareness that central objects of investigation are not stable over time and therefore the historical dimension must be included, or at least considered. Objectives This paper considers the importance of history in landscape ecology in terms of its impact on patterns and processes and proposes to complement these with the notion of pathways in order to provide a comprehensive analysis of landscape change. Methods We develop a conceptual framework distinguishing between legacy effects, which include pattern and processes, and path dependence, with a focus of development pathways and we illustrate these perspectives by empirical examples. Results Combined short- to long-lasting imprints and legacies of historical patterns and processes reveal how present patterns and processes are in various ways influenced by legacies of the past. The focus on inherent dynamics of development pathways sheds light on the process of change itself, and its trajectories, and reveals the role of event chains and institutional reproduction. Conclusions Understanding patterns, processes, and pathways over time, allows a more complete analysis of landscape change, and forms the base to preserve vital ecosystem services of both human-made and natural landscapes for the future.

The European Alps are known as the 'water towers of Europe'. However, climatic and socioeconomic changes influence both water supply and demand, increasing the need to manage this limited and valuable resource properly to avoid user conflicts and water scarcity. Two major challenges emerge when assessing water scarcity in the Alps: Firstly, mountainous regions are very heterogeneous regarding water availability and demand over space and time, and therefore water scarcity assessments need to be done at low temporal and spatial scales. Secondly, the tight coupling of the natural and the social sphere necessitate an integrative approach considering dynamics and interactions of the social-ecological system. Hence, we applied the agent-based water supply and demand model Aqua.MORE, which is designed for catchment scale and sub-daily temporal resolution, to a case study site in the Italian Alps. In the model, the water supply, the local water managers and water users are represented by interacting model agents. We estimated the water supply by refining the annual runoff data provided by the InVEST water yield model for within-year variations. Local stakeholders contributed to the development of quantitative and spatially-explicit scenarios for land use and tourism evolution. To evaluate water supply and demand dynamics, we assessed six scenarios for the period of 2015 to 2050: three different socio-economic policy pathways, both alone and in combination with a climate change scenario. In all six scenarios, the water demand:supply (D:S) ratio continuously rises from 2015 to 2050.The highest D:S ratio values are prognosed at the beginning of the irrigation period in May. In all scenarios considering climatic changes, the D:S ratio exceeds 20% for several days, indicating potential water scarcity. The simulation results reinforce the importance of analysing water balances at a high temporal resolution and can support management processes and stakeholder dialogues for sustainable watershed management.

Snow gliding is a key factor for snow-glide avalanche formation and soil erosion. This study considers atmospheric and snow variables, vegetation characteristics, and soil properties and determines their relevance for snow gliding at a test site (Wildkogel, Upper Pinzgau, Austria) during winter 2014/2015. The time-dependent data were collected at a high temporal resolution. In addition to conventional sensors, a “snow melt analyzer” was used. The analysis shows that the soil temperature 10 cm below the surface, the phytomass of mosses, the liquid water content in the snowpack, and the static friction coefficient of the glide shoes had significant influence on snow gliding during the whole winter. In the first period (October to January) the soil moisture at the surface and 1.5 cm below the surface and the length of the slope uphill of the glide shoes affected the snow gliding, too. In the second period (February to May) the soil temperature at the surface, the soil moisture 10 cm below the surface, and the slope angle had additional influence on snow gliding. The role of the vegetation in the snow-glide process is determined by the influence on the static friction coefficient caused by its composition and characteristics and by moss-rich and short-stemmed canopies being seemingly more interconnected with the snowpack. In addition to the soil and snow properties, the topography and the vegetation characteristics, further investigations may be focused on the freezing and melting processes in the uppermost soil layers and at the soil surface.

The slow downhill motion of snow on the ground, referred to as snow gliding, impairs afforestation, increases the predisposition for landslides, fosters winter soil erosion, and coincides with the occurrence of glide-snow avalanches. This study identifies areas with a high chance for severe snow gliding for an area covering >20,000 km2 in the Central and Eastern Alps. The Spatial Snow-Glide Model (SSGM) was used to map potential snow gliding areas (i.e. snow gliding distances). The results revealed 56% of the investigated area to be potential snow gliding areas. Nearly 2000 km2 (17%) were prone to snow gliding distances of >112 cm per winter period, indicating a high vulnerability for both glide cracks and glide-snow avalanches. Taking the inter-annual variability of winter precipitation into account, which turned out to be highest in the usually drier southern part, another 5690 km2 were found to have a high risk for snow gliding damages. For planning purposes of on-site mitigation measures the Guidelines to Identify Snow-Glide Areas (GISGA) were validated to corroborate the sequential application of SSGM and GISGA for comprehensive assessment of snow gliding at landscape scale. We conclude that the application of SSGM and GISGA provides an appropriate evaluation framework for regional stakeholders to implement adequate steps to prevent critical snow gliding.

Land use and spatial patterns which reflect social-ecological legacies control ecosystem service (ES) supply. Yet, temporal changes in ES bundles associated with land use change are little studied. We developed original metrics to quantify synchronous historical variations in spatial patterns of land use and ES supply capacity, and demonstrated their use for two mountain grassland landscapes. Consistent with other European mountains, land use dynamics from the nineteenth century until the mid-twentieth century resulted in increased landscape heterogeneity, followed by homogenisation. In the persistently grassy landscape of Lautaret in France, landscape multifunctionality—the provision of multiple ES—coincided with greatest landscape heterogeneity and within-patch diversity in ecosystem services in the 1950–1970s. In the more complex Austrian landscape, where since the nineteenth century intensive production has concentrated in the valley and steep slopes have been abandoned, grassland landscape-level multifunctionality and spatial heterogeneity across grasslands have decreased. Increasing spatial heterogeneity across grasslands until the 1970s was paralleled at both sites by increasing fine-grained spatial variability for individual ES, but subsequent landscape simplification has promoted coarse-grained ES patterns This novel analysis of landscape-scale turnover highlighted how spatial patterns for individual ES scale to multiple grassland ES, depending on the nature of land use spatial variability. Under current socio-economic trends, sustaining or re-establishing fine-grained landscapes is often not feasible, thus future landscape planning and policies might focus on managing landscape and regional-scale multifunctionality. Also, the trends towards decreasing cultural ES and increasing regulating ES suggest a contradiction with current social demand and regional policies.

Land use and land cover patterns are shaped by the interplay of human and ecological processes. Thus, heterogeneous cultural landscapes have developed, delivering multiple ecosystem services. To guarantee human well-being, the development of land use types has to be evaluated. Scenario development and land use and land cover change models are well-known tools for assessing future landscape changes. However, as social and ecological systems are inextricably linked, land use-related management decisions are difficult to identify. The concept of social-ecological resilience can thereby provide a framework for understanding complex interlinkages on multiple scales and from different disciplines. In our study site (Stubai Valley, Tyrol/Austria), we applied a sequence of steps including the characterization of the social-ecological system and identification of key drivers that influence farmers’ management decisions. We then developed three scenarios, i.e., “trend”, “positive” and “negative” future development of farming conditions and assessed respective future land use changes. Results indicate that within the “trend” and “positive” scenarios pluri-activity (various sources of income) prevents considerable changes in land use and land cover and promotes the resilience of farming systems. Contrarily, reductions in subsidies and changes in consumer behavior are the most important key drivers in the negative scenario and lead to distinct abandonment of grassland, predominantly in the sub-alpine zone of our study site. Our conceptual approach, i.e., the combination of social and ecological methods and the integration of local stakeholders’ knowledge into spatial scenario analysis, resulted in highly detailed and spatially explicit results that can provide a basis for further community development recommendations.

Although the ecosystem services provided by mountain grasslands have been demonstrated to be highly vulnerable to environmental and management changes in the past, it remains unclear how they will be affected in the face of a combination of further land-use/cover changes and accelerating climate change. Moreover, the resilience of ecosystem services has not been sufficiently analysed under future scenarios. This study aimed to assess future impacts on multiple mountain grassland ecosystem services and their resilience. For a study area in the Central Alps (Stubai Valley, Austria), six ecosystem services were quantified using plant trait-based models for current and future conditions (in 2050 and 2100) considering three socio-economic scenarios. Under all scenarios, the greatest changes in ecosystem services were related to the natural reforestation of abandoned grassland, causing a shift from grassland to forest services. Although the high resilience potential of most ecosystem services will be maintained in the future, climate change seems to have negative impacts, especially on the resilience of forage production. Thus, decision makers and farmers will be faced with the higher vulnerability of ecosystem services of mountain grassland. Future policies should consider both socio-economic and environmental dynamics to manage valuable ecosystem services.

Ecosystems provide a variety of ecosystem services (ES), which act as key linkages between social and ecological systems. ES respond spatially and temporally to abiotic and biotic variation, and to management. Thus, resistant and resilient ES provision is expected to remain within a stable range when facing disturbances. In this study, generic indicators to evaluate resistance, potential resilience and capacity for transformation of ES provision are developed and their relevance demonstrated for a mountain grassland system. Indicators are based on plant trait composition (i.e. functional composition) and abiotic parameters determining ES provision at community, meta-community and landscape scales. First the resistance of an ES is indicated by its normal operating range characterized by observed values under current conditions. Second its resilience is assessed by its potential operating range − under hypotheses of reassembly from the community’s species pool. Third its transformation potential is assessed for reassembly at meta-community and landscape scales. Using a state-and-transition model, possible management-related transitions between mountain grassland states were identified, and indicators calculated for two provisioning and two regulating ES. Overall, resilience properties varied across individual ES, supporting a focus on resilience of specific ES. The resilience potential of the two provisioning services was greater than for the two regulating services, both being linked to functional complementarity within communities. We also found high transformation potential reflecting functional redundancy among communities within each meta-community, and across meta-communities in the landscape. Presented indicators are promising for the projection of future ES provision and the identification of management options under environmental change.

Land use and climate change are both strong drivers of landscape transformation. Using a representative valley of the Central Alps (Stubai Valley, Tyrol, Austria) we assess (1) the historical and likely future spatial patterns of land use/land cover (LULC), (2) the influence of temperature increase on the LULC distribution, and (3) the speed at which these changes will occur. Based on the historical landscape development and spatially explicit models, the effects of various land use and climate scenarios were modelled. Employing a pan-Alpine model, we were able to detect the temporal trajectory of spatial reforestation. The results show that land-use changes that already occurred during the last decades are responsible for the main future LULC changes (by secondary succession). Only an extreme land abandonment scenario and extreme climate scenarios (5 K temperature increase) would bring about similar changes in LULC distribution and expansion of the forested areas. While alpine grasslands, alpine pioneer formation and glaciers would shrink drastically, especially deciduous forests would spread. To a considerable degree, such changes might take place over the next 300 years. By contrast, the increase in forest areas triggered by temperature changes would be slower and longer termed (up to 700–800 years). The effects and intensity of land-use change in the investigated valley, that is comparable to many regions in the Alps, will be at least equally severe and responsible for transformation of the landscape as those of a projected temperature increase.

Agricultural land abandonment and transformation of the rural mountain landscapes have been of widespread occurrence in the European mountains. Such changes have strongly affected agricultural land, particularly traditionally used grasslands, which are hotspots of biological and cultural diversity in Alpine countries. We investigated the land use/cover changes and drivers of those changes between 1990 and 2010 in the Austrian and Italian bi-national region of Tyrol. We focus on grasslands as they covered around 94% of the utilized agricultural area since 1990. We mapped changes in grassland areas and assessed the socio-economic and biophysical factors associated with those changes using statistical modelling. Both sub-regions of Tyrol experienced changes in grasslands, but national and local scale factors mediated the impact of regional integration on land use decisions. Marginal grasslands decreased more rapidly in Austria's than in Italy's Tyrol, mostly in high elevation areas. High-management intensity grasslands slightly expanded in Austrian Tyrol, while in Italy's South Tyrol their conversion to other land uses such as permanent crops was more frequent. In the whole Tyrol region, grasslands of high management intensity expanded mostly in municipalities with a larger population, greater livestock density, smaller farms, more remote location, and fewer municipal grasslands and natural parks. Our findings suggest that grasslands conversion is a geographically heterogeneous process. Notwithstanding the de-agrarisation of the Tyrolean landscapes that took place in some Alpine areas, an expansion of grasslands was observed in others. These changes have ecological and social implications.

In the last 100 years, climate warming has been affecting the European Alps faster and more severely than globally observed temperature patterns. Temperature changes are known to affect soil properties and microbial community structures, and land-use change in Europe is an expected socio-economic consequence of climate change. However, few studies have simultaneously investigated how land-use and climate-related changes shape microbial (prokaryotic and fungal) communities in this region. Therefore, here we have investigated sites within a Long-Term Socio-Ecological Research (LTSER) area in South-Tyrol (Italian Alps), characterizing soil properties and microbial communities and diversities. We investigated three important land-use types (forests, hay meadows, and pastures) at 1500 m above sea level (a.s.l.), as well as an elevational gradient (1000, 1500, and 2000 m a.s.l.) of pastures. Results showed that land-use did not lead to distinct differences in soil properties, even though the land-uses have been consistent over recent decades (30–160 years). Nevertheless, the meadow sites showed increased soil pH, soil water content, and organic matter content compared with the forest and pasture sites. As a result, the fungal soil microbiome correlated significantly with land-use and fungal diversity increased on the meadow sites, whereas prokaryotic communities were less affected by land-use and did not show significant changes in diversity patterns. Along increasing elevation, the most pronounced changes were a decrease in soil pH, and an increase in organic matter content. The influence of elevation was clearly reflected in the structures of the prokaryotic and fungal communities, with significantly lower diversities and decreased species richness at the highest studied elevation. Indicator taxa for the different land-uses and elevations were established. Russulaceae and Flavobacteriaceae were biomarker families for forests, several Mortierella spp. and Microlunatus sp. were identified as indicator species for meadows and Herpotrichiellaceae spp. and Bacillaceae spp. for pastures. For pastures, increasing elevation led to increased occurrence of Acidobacteria Gp1, Gp2 and Spartobacteria and the fungal genera Hygrocybe and Clavaria, all typical inhabitants of nutrient-poor grasslands. Changes in soil pH across the elevation gradient and according to land-use were shown to play a major role, but we would like to emphasize the complex interplay between pH, organic matter, temperature, and water content. The increased prokaryotic and/or fungal diversity observed on low-elevated pastures and meadows, respectively, is assumed to be not only an association with the changed soil pH but is likely indicative of a disturbed system or a soil site facing repeated disturbances (e.g., temperature, drought, and fertilization). Within the present study, we were able to show that elevation had a strong effect on prokaryotic and fungal communities whereas changes in land-use mainly affected fungi. Thus, the present study contributes to better predict the response of microorganisms to temperature-related future changes in the Central European Alps and could support decisions in upcoming soil management strategies.

Measuring winter solid and liquid precipitation with high temporal resolution in remote or higher elevation regions is a challenging task because of undercatch and power supply issues. However, the number of micro-meteorological stations and ultrasonic height sensors in mountain regions is steadily increasing. To gain more benefit from such stations, a new simple approach for EStimating SOlid and LIquid Precipitation (ESOLIP) is presented. The method consists of three main steps: (1) definition of precipitation events using micro-meteorological data, (2) quantification of solid and liquid precipitation using wet-bulb temperature and filtered snow height and (3) calculation of fresh snow density. ESOLIP performance was validated using data from a heated rain gauge, snow pillow and daily manual observations both for single precipitation events and over three winter seasons. Results proved ESOLIP as an effective approach for precipitation quantification, where snow height observations and basic meteo...

This study presents an adaptation of the double-ring infiltrometer (DRI) device, which allows several infiltration experiments to be conducted at the same location. Hence, it becomes possible to use the DRI method to investigate infiltration behaviour under different initial soil moisture conditions. The main feature is the splitting of the inner ring into two parts. While the lower part remains in the soil throughout the investigation period, the upper part is attached to the lower one just before the infiltration experiment. This method was applied to eight test sites in an Alpine catchment, covering different land-use/cover types. The results demonstrated the applicability of the adapted system and showed correlations between total water infiltration and initial soil moisture conditions on pastures, independent of the underlying soil type. In contrast, no correlation was found at forest sites or wetlands. Thus, the study emphasizes the importance of paying special attention to the impact of ini...

Multifunctional landscapes optimise the benefits for stakeholders by providing multiple demanded ecosystem services (ESs) within the same area. Although previous studies have indicated human-induced trajectories of landscape pattern and ESs supply in the European Alps, relationships between these aspects and the implications for landscape multifunctionality are little studied. In this case study in the Austrian Alps, we revealed significant changes in landscape pattern, a significant decline in provisioning ESs and an increase in cultural and regulating ESs between 1860 and 2015. Overall, multifunctionality (i.e., the sum of ESs) decreased from 1860 to the middle of the twentieth century and increased afterwards. These changes in multifunctionality can be explained by climate- and human-induced changes in landscape composition, particularly by an increase in the diversity of land use/land cover (LULC) types and a decrease in glacier and unused grassland areas. Landscape composition has been altered by inhabitants as economic focus shifted from agriculture to tourism. Our findings improve the understanding of interlinkages between changes in socioeconomic characteristics, LULC, landscape patterns and multiple ESs. Moreover, we indicate the importance of low-intensity agricultural activities and landscape protection to enhance multifunctionality in tourism-oriented land use systems.

The application of ecosystem services (ES) models that rely on primary biophysical data is considered as most promising to generate accurate maps for decision making. However, to effectively apply these modelling approaches for ES mapping, representative functional spatial units with distinct socio-ecological characteristics are needed, which allow the upscaling of measured variables from the plot level to the landscape scale. In this study, we propose a theoretical framework for delineating functional spatial units based on abiotic and management variables. We apply this framework for an alpine grassland site and identify functional spatial units (here referred as to grassland trajectories) based on abiotic (elevation, slope, aspect) and management variables (fertilised or unfertilised) for three time steps (2015, 1953 and 1861). We test, via discriminant analyses, whether these grassland trajectories reflect variations in plant and soil traits. Our results indicate that the combination of topographical and management variables leads to significantly better classification results compared to land use/land cover (LULC) or topography alone. The best result could be obtained when information of past and present LULC was included, i.e. 51% of grassland trajectories were correctly classified. We finally use these grassland trajectories to map five ES (forage production and forage quality, carbon storage, water quality and soil fertility) based on trait-based models to exemplify the operational suitability of grassland trajectories to upscale plot-level data to the landscape scale. Current ES provision varies greatly for the different grassland trajectories, revealing the combined effects of abiotic and biotic drivers.

Future climate change scenarios predict more frequent and intense droughts for Alpine grasslands, primarily driven by altered precipitation regimes and increased evapotranspiration. The grassland community is expected to adjust to decreasing soil moisture and increasing potential evapotranspiration, optimising water use according to the individual strategies and competitive interactions between the present species. Here, we show the reaction of an intensive Alpine grassland to drought and heat at community and plant functional group levels by using small high-precision lysimeters, as well as how the community adapts by a shift from legumes to grasses after a severe drought. Drought and heating experiments revealed a decrease in evapotranspiration as well as in biomass production only at the highest drought intensity (i.e. soil water potential reaching the permanent wilting point). At plant functional group level, an upscaling from leaf porometer measurements revealed a similar decrease of transpiration for legumes and grasses, but differences between them in the rewetting phase. Legumes were strongly affected by drought and showed a low regrowth during the recovery, while grasses enhanced transpiration and even exceeded biomass productivity of the moist treatment. This imbalance between functional groups caused a shift from legumes to grasses in the grassland community. We conclude that drought-induced community re-assemblage of Alpine grasslands enhances water use efficiency.

Measuring precipitation in mountain areas is a demanding task, but essential for hydrological and environmental themes. Especially in small Alpine catchments with short hydrological response, precipitation data with high temporal resolution are required for a better understanding of the hydrological cycle. Since most climate/meteorological stations are situated at the easily accessible bottom of valleys, and the few heated rain gauges installed at higher elevation sites are problematic in winter conditions, an accurate quantification of winter (snow) precipitation at high elevations remains difficult. However, there are an increasing number of micro-meteorological stations and snow height sensors at high elevation locations in Alpine catchments. To benefit from data of such stations, an improved approach to estimate solid and liquid precipitation (ESOLIP) is proposed. ESOLIP allows gathering hourly precipitation data throughout the year by using unheated rain gauge data, careful filtering of snow height sensors as well as standard meteorological data (air temperature, relative humidity, global shortwave radiation, wind speed). ESOLIP was validated at a well-equipped test site in Stubai Valley (Tyrol, Austria), comparing results to winter precipitation measured with a snow pillow and a heated rain gauge. The snow height filtering routine and indicators for possible precipitation were tested at a field site in Matsch Valley (South Tyrol, Italy). Results show a good match with measured data because variable snow density is taken into account, which is important when working with freshly fallen snow. Furthermore, the results show the need for accurate filtering of the noise of the snow height signal and they confirm the unreliability of heated rain gauges for estimating winter precipitation. The described improved precipitation estimate ESOLIP at sub-daily time resolution is helpful for precipitation analysis and for several hydrological applications like monitoring systems and rainfall-runoff models.

Water is of uttermost importance for human well-being and a central resource in sustainable development. Many simulation models for sustainable water management, however, lack explanatory and predictive power because the two-way dynamic feedbacks between human and water systems are neglected. With Agent-based Modelling of Resources (Aqua.MORE, here, of the resource water), we present a platform that can support understanding, interpretation and scenario development of resource flows in coupled human&ndash, water systems at the catchment scale. Aqua.MORE simulates the water resources in a demand and supply system, whereby water fluxes and socioeconomic actors are represented by individual agents that mutually interact and cause complex feedback loops. First, we describe the key steps for developing an agent-based model (ABM) of water demand and supply, using the platform Aqua.MORE. Second, we illustrate the modelling process by application in an idealized Alpine valley, characterized by touristic and agricultural water demand sectors. Here, the implementation and analysis of scenarios highlights the possibilities of Aqua.MORE (1) to easily deploy case study-specific agents and characterize them, (2) to evaluate feedbacks between water demand and supply and (3) to compare the effects of different agent behavior or water use strategies. Thereby, we corroborate the potential of Aqua.MORE as a decision-support tool for sustainable watershed management.

Simulating heavy rain events to analyze potential surface runoff and related soil erosion is a well-established approach in alpine ecology and hydrology. In steep and inaccessible terrain with highly variable relief and vegetation, as occurs in mountainous regions, the rain simulators used to date are often not adapted to the abovementioned characteristics. This study reviews heavy rainfall simulators and presents a consequentially developed rain simulator that covers an area of 10 m 2 . The results of simulated heavy rainfall events (100 mm h − 1 ) demonstrated the sprinkling equipment used here to be a useful tool, delivering robust results when studying surface runoff at small scales in a heterogeneous terrain. A comparison to rainfall simulation on a 50 m 2 plot revealed no significant differences, which demonstrates the equipment used at the scale of 10 m 2 to be above a “minimum area” for rainfall simulation. Finally, the impacts of plot size on runoff behavior are discussed to provide useful information using a rainfall simulator in the field. The presented rainfall simulator turned out to be a valuable tool for obtaining more detailed information on the surface runoff of small patterned landscapes (i.e., in both natural and managed grass and dwarf-shrublands) by delivering results comparable to those of larger-scale rain simulators (covering 50 or 100 m 2 ).

Urban areas are known to have a local climate different from that of surrounding rural landscapes and the temperature difference constitutes an urban heat island (UHI). Despite being described as ‘heating islands’, cities are not isolated from their environment. But only few studies respect the UHI as a relative measure and consider both the drivers of the temperature level of the urban area and of the surrounding landscape in their UHI assessments. A series of 124 Landsat satellite images spanning four decades were used to derive land surface temperatures (LST) of 77 urban areas (between 20 and 1600 ha) and their surroundings in the Province of South Tyrol, northern Italy. These data were used to calculate urban–rural LST differences (ΔLST UHI ) and NDVI differences (ΔNDVI) for quantifying the urban heat island effect. ΔLST UHI were recorded between 1.0 K and 8.1 K, with a mean ΔLST UHI of 4.2 K. The results show pronounced UHI effects already for small cities of less than 1 km 2 , but suggest that the urban size is of only minor importance for the ΔLST UHI magnitude in case of urban areas smaller than about 10 km 2 . Urban–rural land surface temperature difference (ΔLST UHI ) was identified to be primarily driven by ΔNDVI, together with solar irradiance and land use. Threshold values for the occurrence of ΔLST UHI extremes are provided. Implications for landscape and urban planning are presented that underpin the crucial importance of considering the surrounding landscape for quantitative assessments of UHI intensity.

For the effective management of protected areas in inhabited and cultivated areas it is indispensible to know the factors on which the acceptance of the protected area depends. This study aimed at analysing the acceptance of the local population within one of the historical national parks of Italy, the Stilfserjoch National Park (NP). This NP is particularly suited to such an investigation for a number of reasons: it presents a very complex landscape and a wide altitude range; it is characterized by strong human influence and different land management types; some of the inhabitants within the NP belong to the Italian-, others to the German-speaking ethnic group and the NP covers three Italian regions, each with its own past and cultural history. We identified determinants of influence on the basis of a representative survey. Explorative analyses with discriminant analyses as classification method revealed a subordinated role for achieving acceptance of both the attitude towards nature and the work of the National Park Administration (NPA). According to our findings, perceptions in the local population are formed in a three-step-process starting with environmental education to identifying and answering the social needs of the residents to acknowledging personal needs by minimizing disadvantages for individuals. All in all, the results show that a survey of the population carried out in the presented way can make a major contribution to focusing the work of the NPA and to minimizing activities in ‘fruitless tasks’.

For Central Europe in addition to rising temperatures an increasing variability of precipitation is predicted. This will increase the probability of drought periods in the Alps, where water supply has been sufficient in most areas so far. For Alpine grasslands, community specific imprints on drought response are merely understood. In a replicated mesocosm experiment we compared evapotranspiration and biomass productivity of two differently drought-adapted vegetation communities during two artificial drought periods divided by extreme precipitation events using high precision small lysimeters. The drought adapted vegetation type showed a high potential to utilize even scarce water resources combined with a low potential to translate atmospheric deficits into higher water conductance with biomass production staying below those measured for the non-drought-adapted type. The non-drought-adapted type, in contrast, showed high water conductance potential with strongly increasing ET rates when environmental conditions became less constraining. With high rates even at dry conditions, this community appears not to be optimized to save water and might experience drought effects earlier and probably stronger. In summary, the vegetation’s reaction two co-varying gradients of potential evapotranspiration and soil water content revealed a clear difference of vegetation development and between water-saving and water-spending strategies regarding evapotranspiration.

During the last decade, agriculture has lost its importance in many European mountain regions and tourism, which benefits from attractive landscapes, has become a major source of income. Changes in landscape patterns and elements might affect scenic beauty and therefore the socio-economic welfare of a region. Our study aimed at modeling scenic beauty by quantifying the influence of landscape elements and patterns in relationship to distance. Focusing on Alpine landscapes in South and North Tyrol, we used a photographic questionnaire showing different landscape compositions. As mountain landscapes offer long vistas, we related scenic beauty to different distance zones. Our results indicate that the near zone contributes by 64% to the valuation of scenic beauty, the middle zone by 22%, and the far zone by 14%. In contrast to artificial elements, naturalness and diversity increased scenic beauty. Significant differences between different social groups (origin, age, gender, cultural background) occurred only between the local population and tourists regarding great landscape changes. Changes towards more homogenous landscapes were perceived negatively, thus political decision makers should support the conservation of the cultural landscape.

In mountain regions, ecosystem services provision is strongly linked to land use, topography and climate, where impacts can be expected under global change. For our study site in the Austrian Alps, we examined the relationship between agricultural activities and multiple ecosystem services on landscape scale from past to future. Modelling of future land-use patterns was based on stakeholder workshops considering different socio-economic and climate scenarios. In the past, land-use intensity was reduced resulting in less forage provision but better regulating services. Future scenarios predict contrasting developments; under conditions of global change, farmers shift the focus of their activities towards tourism, but in times of global economic crisis farming becomes more important again. Developing the local economy facilitates new markets for agricultural products, but projected drought periods will cause an abandonment of farmland. While forest regeneration is valuable for regulating services, it reduces the aesthetic value. Both regulating and cultural services decrease when forage provision is optimized. To ensure multiple ecosystem service provision, agricultural management should be related to ecosystem services and included into land-use policies and agricultural incentives.

Massive land-use/cover changes (LUCC) have been observed in many regions worldwide over several decades. Modelling frameworks based on spatially explicit land-use/cover maps are particular suitable for analysing the impacts of LUCC on ecosystems and on related functions and services. Spatial allocation procedures have to meet specific characteristics of the study area and mountain regions require particular attention due to their complex topography. The aims of the study were to (1) develop SPatial Allocation procedures of LUCC (SPA-LUCC) adapted to the specific situation of mountain regions — in particular of the Alps, (2) generate land-use/cover scenario maps considering different patterns of socioeconomic development, and (3) evaluate LUCC spatially. Examining historical maps of the Stubai Valley (Austria), we identified biophysical factors as well as socioeconomic drivers. For validation, the 2003 land-use pattern was modelled based on the land-use pattern for 1973, providing an overall accuracy of 73%. Furthermore, we tested SPA-LUCC in other regions of the Alps in France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland successfully (accuracy ranged between 63% and 84%). Hence, SPA-LUCC was proven to be valid for 75% of the Alps. Likely future land-use patterns were modelled for three different socioeconomic scenarios for the Stubai Valley: (a) continuation of previous land-use changes, (b) reduction of use and (c) diversification of use. Results showed that agricultural land in particular is affected by significant changes, whereas the forest belt and near-natural grassland undergo only minor changes. Thus, SPA-LUCC lays the foundation for evaluating future landscape dynamics in the Alps. To provide practitioners with a user-friendly instrument, SPA-LUCC was elaborated as an ArcGIS®-toolbox.

Thermal infrared (TIR) cameras perfectly bridge the gap between (i) on-site measurements of land surface temperature (LST) providing high temporal resolution at the cost of low spatial coverage and (ii) remotely sensed data from satellites that provide high spatial coverage at relatively low spatio-temporal resolution. While LST data from satellite (LSTsat) and airborne platforms are routinely corrected for atmospheric effects, such corrections are barely applied for LST from ground-based TIR imagery (using TIR cameras; LSTcam). We show the consequences of neglecting atmospheric effects on LSTcam of different vegetated surfaces at landscape scale. We compare LST measured from different platforms, focusing on the comparison of LST data from on-site radiometry (LSTosr) and LSTcam using a commercially available TIR camera in the region of Bozen/Bolzano (Italy). Given a digital elevation model and measured vertical air temperature profiles, we developed a multiple linear regression model to correct LSTcam data for atmospheric influences. We could show the distinct effect of atmospheric conditions and related radiative processes along the measurement path on LSTcam, proving the necessity to correct LSTcam data on landscape scale, despite their relatively low measurement distances compared to remotely sensed data. Corrected LSTcam data revealed the dampening effect of the atmosphere, especially at high temperature differences between the atmosphere and the vegetated surface. Not correcting for these effects leads to erroneous LST estimates, in particular to an underestimation of the heterogeneity in LST, both in time and space. In the most pronounced case, we found a temperature range extension of almost 10 K.

Common systems for land-surface temperature assessments based on satellite imagery or infrared radiometers can only provide temperature snapshots with limited temporal and spatial resolution. The current study uses landscape thermograms from a thermal infrared camera for producing daily temperature cycles of mountainous land surfaces for different seasons of the year. Specifically tested are surface temperature variations between land-cover types and elevation zones, surface temperatures of abiotic structures in relation to biotic structures, land-surface temperatures in relation to air temperatures and seasonal differences of temperature ranges. The study showed strong relationships between nighttime air and surface temperatures and for land surfaces with tall vegetation. Short vegetation showed stronger relations to radiation and was less coupled to the atmosphere. The approach of measuring land surface temperatures with a thermal camera provided reliable data with high spatial and temporal resolution a...

This study analyzes the impact of droughts, compared with average climatic conditions, on the supporting ecosystem service water provision in sub‐watersheds in managed alpine grasslands in two climatically different regions of the Alps, Lautaret (French Alps) and Stubai (Austrian Alps). Soil moisture was modelled in the range of 0–0.3 m. At both sites, current patterns showed that the mean seasonal soil moisture was (1) near field capacity for grasslands with low management intensity and (2) below field capacity for grasslands with higher land‐use intensity. Soil moisture was significantly reduced by drought at both sites, with lower reductions at the drier Lautaret site. At the sub‐watershed scale, soil moisture spatial heterogeneity was reduced by drought. Under drought conditions, the evapotranspiration to precipitation ratios at Stubai was slightly higher than those at Lautaret, indicating a dominant ‘water spending’ strategy of plant communities. Regarding catchment water balance, deep seepage was reduced by drought at Stubai more strongly than at Lautaret. Hence, the observed ‘water spending’ strategy at Stubai might have negative consequences for downstream water users. Assessing the water provision service for alpine grasslands provided evidence that, under drought conditions, evapotranspiration was influenced not only by abiotic factors but also by the water‐use strategy of established vegetation. These results highlight the importance of ‘water‐use’ strategies in existing plant communities as predictors of the impacts of drought on water provision services and related ecosystem services at both the field and catchment scale. © 2015 The Authors. Ecohydrology published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

This study aims at (1) detecting the main agricultural land-use/land-cover (LULC) trends that have occurred across the Alps since the 19th century and (2) assessing how landscape-scale biodiversity is affected by spatiotemporal LULC patterns. In a representative analysis, 35 municipalities covering the principal types of environmental, agro-economic and political conditions in the Alps were investigated. Based on historical maps and aerial photographs the LULC trends were determined using a hierarchical cluster analysis. Data on the plant species richness of the occurring LULC classes were derived from phytosociological literature. Finally, land-cover and floristic data were used to calculate indicators for the three aspects of α-, β- and γ-diversity. Five main LULC trends could be found. Areas with grassland farming either experienced (1) the abandonment of grassland or (2) continuous grassland use. Areas with mixed agriculture either underwent (3) a specialisation in grassland farming, (4) a specialisation in vine and fruit cultures or (5) the continuous use of arable fields. Vine and fruit farming along with land abandonment and urban sprawl had the most negative impact on all aspects of landscape-scale biodiversity.

Summary Better understanding of surface runoff quantity for distinct hydrological units becomes increasingly important as many rainfall–runoff models use static surface runoff coefficients and neglect key factors affecting ecohydrological dynamics, e.g. land cover and land use. Especially in small-scale alpine catchments, surface runoff and its contribution to mountain torrent runoff is frequently underestimated. In our study, the seasonal variability of surface runoff on abandoned areas and pastures in the alpine catchment ‘Kaserstattalm’ (Stubai Valley, Austria, Eastern Alps) was analyzed using a rain simulator along with soil water content ( SWC ) and soil water tension ( SWT ) measurements. Additionally, seasonal variability of soil physical and soil hydraulic properties were assessed. Analyzing more than 30 rainfall simulations on 10 m 2 plots at a rate of 90 mm h −1 (equivalent to convective precipitation events with 100 years return period) revealed a mean surface runoff coefficient of 0.01 on abandoned areas and 0.18 on pastures. Regarding seasonal variability, relevant surface runoff was limited to pastures in autumn with a maximum runoff coefficient of 0.25. The field capacity ( Fc ) of all soils was found to be stable throughout the season. However, for pastures, cattle trampling led to a significant increase of dry bulk density ( BD ) of up to +0.33 g cm −3 ( p ⩽ 0.01) in the top 0.1 m of the soil which is attributed to a compaction of macropores. Although measured infiltration rates decreased by more than 60%, BD could ‘recover’ during the winter season presumably due to freezing-and-thawing cycles and bioturbation processes decreasing soil compaction. This study highlights that impacts of land-use changes on soil physical properties make surface runoff difficult to model. Moreover, dynamic and interactive behaviour of soil parameters have to be considered in order to make realistic assessments and accurate predictions of surface runoff rates. Finally, land-use effects on runoff formation in general and significance at catchment scale are discussed.

Snow forces impede afforestation in the subalpine region; in particular juvenescent trees can be damaged by extraction from the ground. Such forces are mainly triggered by intense snow gliding which is a frequent phenomenon on slopes with a smooth ground surface. In this article we have investigated the effects of snow gliding processes on forest plants. The study area was situated on a south-facing slope (altitude 1900 m, inclination 30°) in the Stubai valley, Tyrol, Austria. The site is characterized by a smooth ground surface (stagnation depth of about 10 m) and high glide rates leading to a great number of damaged plants almost every winter season. The investigations included snow gliding measurements and experiments to determine those forces which are necessary to uproot juvenescent trees from the ground. The experiments were carried out on Swiss stone pine and larch trees with a height of 0.6–0.9 m (diameter 0.02 and 0.045 m). Our measurements revealed glide rates of up to 46.5 mm d−1 and forces between 1000 and 3500 N as sufficient to uproot juvenescent trees. The downslope force was determined by the applicable snow pressure equations and compared with the results of our experiments. The investigations show that the calculated values are in close agreement with those measured on the plants. Provided that an impact of 50% of the measured forces will no longer result in damage to the trees (extraction or breakage), we calculated that the stagnation depth has to be reduced to about 1.5 m.

Long-term trends including depopulation and shifts in agricultural policies and management have led to large-scale land-use changes throughout the European Alps which are likely to affect the size of carbon (C) stocks of the respective land-use types. This article analyzes landscape-scale changes of C-stocks present in the vegetation in relation to historical land use (1865), current land use (2003), and three contrasting scenarios of future land use (2020) in the Stubai Valley, Austria. Results show that more than 47% of the total valley area and more than 90% of the usable agricultural area have undergone a change in land use during the last approximately 140 years. Changes of land use were seen to peak between 1954 and 1973 and slow down there after. Phytomass and C-stocks in 1865 amounted to 63.1 Mg ha−1 and 30.8 Mg C ha−1, and increased until 2003 to 75.8 Mg ha−1 and 37.2 Mg C ha−1, respectively. Evaluations along an altitudinal gradient indicate the highest C gain to be in the sub-Alpine belt (more than doubling of the C-stock) due to the abandonment of pastures and hay meadows. All future scenarios project only a minor increase in phytomass (0.3–2.8 Mg ha−1) and C-stocks (0.2–1.4 Mg C ha−1) because major elements of the landscape (forests, rocks, screes) will be either largely unaffected or are unimportant in their spatial extent (built environment).

Snow gliding is a key component leading to natural hazards, i.e. avalanches and erosions, and due to ongoing global changes has become a topic of major concern. Spatial information on snow gliding is important for management purposes, but, to date, lack of knowledge about key drivers for the snow-glide process hindered the development of a spatial snow-glide model (SSGM). We report the most important drivers for snow gliding derived from analyzing snow-glide distances taken over five winter periods in two climatically different study areas by ordinary least-squares regression. Six variables (forest stand, slope angle, winter precipitation, surface roughness, slope aspect west, slope aspect east) were revealed as key drivers and enabled us for the first time to establish a SSGM. Both model development ( R 2 = 0.838) and model validation ( R 2 = 0.823) exhibit outstanding accuracy of prediction. Hence, the SSGM was used to model snow-glide maps for both study areas: the ‘Kaserstattalm’ (Stubai Valley, North Tyrol, Austria) and the drier and warmer area of the ‘Waltner Mahder’ (Passeier Valley, South Tyrol, Italy). The reliability of these maps was validated by intersection with mapped erosions attributed to snow gliding. Therewith, such potential snow-glide maps have management relevance and are useful and necessary for risk assessment as well as to raise awareness about snow gliding to the land owners and regional managers.

Pre-rain-event soil moisture (preSM) plays a crucial role when evaluating runoff formation during heavy rainfall. Using sprinkling experiments and numerical modeling, this study investigates the impact of preSM on runoff formation at the small hillslope scale (≤100 m2). Sprinkling experiments were conducted on three sites in the Austrian Alps and observed hydrological behavior was simulated by using the hillslope model HILLFLOW. For each site, runoff was modeled with different preSM scenarios, covering the whole soil moisture range between permanent wilting point and saturation. Depending on the dominant runoff processes, the results showed impacts of preSM on both the maximum runoff and the total runoff. A predominant threshold was observed near field capacity (35 and 32% by volume). In general, the results clearly showed that the consideration of preSM is a prerequisite to reproduce runoff formation and total runoff amounts accurately. Field capacity turned out to be a good indicator (threshold...

Snow processes might be one important driver of soil erosion in Alpine grasslands and thus the unknown variable when erosion modelling is attempted. The aim of this study is to assess the importance of snow gliding as a soil erosion agent for four different land use/land cover types in a subalpine area in Switzerland. We used three different approaches to estimate soil erosion rates: sediment yield measurements in snow glide depositions, the fallout radionuclide 137Cs and modelling with the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE). RUSLE permits the evaluation of soil loss by water erosion, the 137Cs method integrates soil loss due to all erosion agents involved, and the measurement of snow glide deposition sediment yield can be directly related to snow-glide-induced erosion. Further, cumulative snow glide distance was measured for the sites in the winter of 2009/2010 and modelled for the surrounding area and long-term average winter precipitation (1959–2010) with the spatial snow glide model (SSGM). Measured snow glide distance confirmed the presence of snow gliding and ranged from 2 to 189 cm, with lower values on the north-facing slopes. We observed a reduction of snow glide distance with increasing surface roughness of the vegetation, which is an important information with respect to conservation planning and expected and ongoing land use changes in the Alps. Snow glide erosion estimated from the snow glide depositions was highly variable with values ranging from 0.03 to 22.9 t ha−1 yr−1 in the winter of 2012/2013. For sites affected by snow glide deposition, a mean erosion rate of 8.4 t ha−1 yr−1 was found. The difference in long-term erosion rates determined with RUSLE and 137Cs confirms the constant influence of snow-glide-induced erosion, since a large difference (lower proportion of water erosion compared to total net erosion) was observed for sites with high snow glide rates and vice versa. Moreover, the difference between RUSLE and 137Cs erosion rates was related to the measured snow glide distance (R2 = 0.64; p < 0.005) and to the snow deposition sediment yields (R2 = 0.39; p = 0.13). The SSGM reproduced the relative difference of the measured snow glide values under different land uses and land cover types. The resulting map highlighted the relevance of snow gliding for large parts of the investigated area. Based on these results, we conclude that snow gliding appears to be a crucial and non-negligible process impacting soil erosion patterns and magnitude in subalpine areas with similar topographic and climatic conditions.