LTER-Austria White Paper „Next Generation LTER“ in Österreich : „Next Generation LTER“ in Austria: On the status and orientation of process oriented ecosystem research, biodiversity and conservation research and socio-ecological research in Austria

Wien

2010

51 S.

11 Abb., zahlr. Lit. Ang.

Monographie

978-3-901347-95-5

168566

"Long-term Ecosystem Research" (LTER) is a network in Europe linkinq 400 research sites, 100 institutions and thousands of research projects in 21 national networks. LTER-Europe conducts research into the broad range of European ecosystems that includes arctic, alpine and mediterranean locations. The central question addressed by long-term ecosystem research is: How do ecosystems respond to changes in the long-term? More precisely: How do they react on various scales (from local to continental) over decades and centuries to changes having different origins (climate, human utilisation, etc.). LTER is one of the few programmes worldwide where projects are also organised in such a way as to take account of the long-term character of most such changes: In short-term projects covering periods of 2-3 years, long-term ecological changes are barely possible or even impossible to identify and interpret. The "functioning" of our ecosystems is based upon their "services" (ecosystem services), which are generally dependent upon the respective forms of use by human society (ecosystem management). The sustainable safeguarding of essential ecosystem services during global change is a central political task. To accomplish this, an integrative, inter- and transdisciplinary approach is required, which is capable of recording the interaction between human activities and ecosystems. The long-term nature and complexity of research questions together with new technologies make a new approach in content, organizational and structural terms to LTER worldwide and in Europe necessary (European Research Area, ERA). Key projects of the European Commission have answered this requirement (ESFRI/ LifeWatch, ALTER-Net, see below). In this context, the following aspects are crucial: Infrastructures must in future be organized in such a way nationally that they satisfy European framework programs and make maximal use of their central services. Interdisciplinary and integrative approaches require the disciplinary expansion of LTER to include humanities, cultural studies and social science capacities. Although ecosystem research requires ever wider expertise does not, however, imply that LTER claims to cover all these disciplines in their entirety. The special feature here lies in their concentrated deployment in the investigation of long-term ecological and socio-ecological change in conrete localities (LTER Sites, LTSER regions and beyond). The framework conditions for ecosystem research in Austria have dramatically worsened in recent years (in terms of education, sites, project funding), while innovative forms of investment are occurring in countries such as Germany (z.B. TERENO, Biodiversity Exploratories). If Austria wishes to play a significant role in European ecosystem research with its research sites, the scientific field must be placed in a complementary position to international developments. Only thus can excellent research at appropriately equipped sites be ensured and the addressing of research questions that hold priority for Austria be guaranteed. This White Paper sees itself as making a contribution to the reorganization of the scientific field of LTER in Austria. It seeks to answer the following questions: What research themes have priority? Where do the greatest potentials lie? What framework conditions are required in order to realize these potentials? How can Austria operate most effectively within an international setting?