Global Change Abstracts The Swiss Contribution - SCNAT

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their specific habitat preferences could change
the characterization factors values specific for
each land use type. Those mobile species groups
support ecosystem functions, because they provide
functional links between habitats in the
landscape. Conclusions. The use of generic characterization
factors in Life Cycle Impact Assessment
of land use, which we have developed, can
improve the basis for decision-making in industry
and other organizations. It can best be applied for
marginal land use decisions. However, if the goal
and scope of an LCA requires it this generic assessment
can be complemented with a site-dependent
assessment. Recommendations and Perspectives.
We recommend utilizing the developed characterization
factors for land use in Central Europe
and as a reference methodology for other regions.
In order to assess the impacts of land use in other
regions it would be necessary to sample empirical
data on species diversity and to develop region
specific characterization factors on a worldwide
basis in LCA. This is because species diversity and
the impact of land use on it can very much differ
from region to region.
International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment,
2008, V13, N1, JAN, pp 32-48.
08.1-137
The use of ‘altitude’ in ecological research
Körner C
Switzerland
Ecology , Biodiversity , Plant Sciences
Altitudinal gradients are among the most powerful
‘natural experiments’ for testing ecological and
evolutionary responses of biota to geophysical influences,
such as low temperature. However, there
are two categories of environmental changes with
altitude: those physically tied to meters above sea
level, such as atmospheric pressure, temperature
and clear-sky turbidity; and those that are not generally
altitude specific, such as moisture, hours of
sunshine, wind, season length, geology and even
human land use. The confounding of the first category
by the latter has introduced confusion in
the scientific literature on altitude phenomena.
Trends in Ecology Evolution, 2007, V22, N11, NOV,
pp 569-574.
08.1-138
Creative use of mountain biodiversity databases:
The Kazbegi research agenda of GMBA-
DIVERSITAS
Körner C, Donoghue M, Fabbro T, Hauser C,
Nogues Bravo D, Kalin Arroyo M T, Soberon J,
Speers L, Spehn E M, Sun H, Tribsch A, Tykarski P,
Zbinden N
Global Change Abstracts – The Swiss Contribution | Terrestrial Ecosystems
Switzerland, USA, Germany, Denmark, Chile,
Peoples R China, Austria, Poland
Biodiversity , Ecology
Geo-referenced archive databases on mountain
organisms are very promising tools for achieving
a better understanding of mountain biodiversity
and predicting its changes. The Global Mountain
Biodiversity Assessment (GMBA) of DIVERSITAS, in
cooperation with the Global Biodiversity Information
Facility, encourages a global effort to mine
biodiversity databases on mountain organisms.
The wide range of climatic conditions and topographies
across the world’s mountains offers an
unparalleled opportunity for developing and testing
biodiversity theory. The power of openly accessible,
interconnected electronic databases for scientific
biodiversity research, which by far exceeds
the original intent of archiving for mainly taxonomic
purposes, has been illustrated. There is an
urgent need to increase the amount and quality
of geo-referenced data on mountain biodiversity
provided online, in order to meet the challenges
of global change in mountains.
Mountain Research and Development, 2007, V27,
N3, AUG, pp 276-281.
08.1-139
Mobility of black carbon in drained peatland
soils
Leifeld J, Fenner S, Müller M
Switzerland
Agriculture, Soil Sciences , Ecology , Geochemistry
& Geophysics
Amount, stability, and distribution of black carbon
(BC) were studied at four sites of a large peatland
(“Witzwil”) formerly used as a disposal for
combustion residues from households to derive
BC displacement rates in the profile. Possible artefacts
from thermal oxidation with Differential
Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) on BC quantification
of C-rich deposits were inferred by choosing
three sites from a second peatland with no
historical record of waste disposal as a reference
(“Seebodenalp”). All sites were under grassland at
time of sampling, but were partially cropped in
the past at Witzwil. Mean BC contents in topsoils
of Witzwil ranged from 10.7 to 91.5 (0-30 cm) and
from 0.44 to 51.3 (30-140 cm) mg BC g(-1) soil, corresponding
to BC/OC ratios of 0.04 to 0.3 (topsoil)
and 0.02 to 0.18 (deeper soil). At three sites of Seebodenalp,
BC was below the detection limit of 0.4
mg g(-1) organic soil, indicating negligible formation
of BC during thermal oxidation of peat. C-13
NMR spectra corroborated the high BC contents at
Witzwil. The data support a considerable vertical
transport of BC given that soils were ploughed not