From long-term ecosystem monitoring to regional modelling of ecosystem function in the Kalkalpen National Park, Austria
Thomas Dirnböck, Umweltbundesamt GmbH - Environment Agency Austria, Vienna (AT)
Over the last 25 years, ecosystem monitoring at LTER Zöbelboden in the Kalkalpen National Park allowed for the detection of the major changes in ecosystem function in response to climate change, air pollution and forest management. In recent years ecosystem models, trained with the existing long-term data and initialized with spatial information on soils, land use and climate, were increasingly employed to upscale legacy effects of forest over-use in the past as well future impacts of climate change to the entire park area. The inferred conclusions about biodiversity and key ecosystem functions such as carbon sequestration and nitrogen retention will be crucial for park managers and policy makers.