ETHZ is the only federally operated university in Switzerland besides its sister Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale à Lausanne, and the only university in the country that offers an academic degree on forest and landscape sciences. The Department of Environmental Sciences at ETHZ is focusing on research dealing with the interactions between the anthroposphere, the biosphere and the atmosphere. The chair of Forest Ecology was founded in 2004 and is emphasizing research on the effects of Global Change with regard to the structure and function of forest ecosystems, particularly in mountain regions. ETH Forest Ecology is devoted to investigating natural patterns and processes in mountain forest ecosystems towards improving the management of these vital and often fragile systems in an era of multiple and often conflicting forest uses, including protection, wood production, carbon storage, diversity, and recreation. The group has a track record in ecological modeling, more recently complemented by activities focusing on the adaptive management of mountain forests in the face of changes in land use and climate. In ARANGE, ETHZ will be leading WP2 (adaptation and application of models of forest dynamics across the case study regions) and will be contributing to most other WPs. The group has been involved in several EU projects under the 5th (GLORIA-EUROPE, ATEAM) and 6th (GLOCHAMORE, ALARM) FP, and is strongly involved in three projects of the 7th FP (ACQWA, BACCARA, MOTIVE).
Web site: www.fe.ethz.ch
Persons involved:
Harald Bugmann
Prof. Dr. , holds a PhD in Forest Ecology and Systems Analysis from ETH Zurich (1994). He gathered six years of postdoc experience in Germany (PIK) and the US (NCAR/ INSTAAR) before returning to ETH in 1999 as an Assistant Professor for Mountain Forest Ecology. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 2004 and to Full Professor in 2009. He has published more than 100 peer-reviewed papers, more than 25 of which as the first author, and 8 edited monographs. His main expertise is in long-term forest dynamics from a modeling and an empirical point of view. He is the co-director of the Swiss Forest Reserve Network with inventories dating back up to 80 years.
Marco Mina
Ph.D. student with the Forest Ecology group at ETH Zürich. He studied forestry sciences, focusing in management of forest resources and timber production. His work involves developing and applying the stand level forest simulation model ForClim for multifunctional management of European forests under changing climatic and socio-economic conditions.
Che Elkin
Dr, senior researcher with the Forest Ecology group at ETH Zurich. He specializes in forest landscape dynamics and the impacts that disturbances and management practices have on forest derived ecosystem services.
