maintainer: Anita Risch

en: invertebrates ecosystem-multifunctionality ecosystem-functions ecosystem-coupling grassland swiss-national-park subalpine vertebrates grazing exclusion

en: Datafile

en:
ID: Plot ID composited of Fence & Treatment number (90 plots total)

Grassland: Name of the six subalpine grasslands where the exclosure setups were erected. In large grasslands (GRIM, MING, STAB), we established four hierarchical exclosure setups (two in short- and two in tall-grass vegetation), whereas in the small grasslands (BOTS, DADA, MARG) only one setup was erected per vegetation type. BOTS = Val dal Botsch, GRIM = Grimmels, MING = Val Mingér, STAB = Alp Stabelchod, DADA = Stabelchod da daint, MARG = Margunet

Fence: Number of exclosure setup (1 - 18). Note that uneven numbers (1,3,5,7,9,11,13,15,17) represent setups established on short-grass vegetation, even numbers (2,4,6,8,10,12,14,16,18) setups established in tall-grass vegetation
Vegetation	Vegetation type, 1 = short-grass vegetation, 2 = tall-grass vegetation; (9 replicate fences on each vegetation type)
Treatment	Progressive animal exclusion, numbers indicate which animals had access to the plot: 1 = Large/medium/small mammals, and invertebrates have access ("L/M/S/I"), 2 = Medium/small mammals, and invertebrates have access (“M/S/I”), 3 = Small mammals and invertebrates have access (“S/I”), 4 = Invertebrates have access (“I”), 5 = No animals have access (“None”)

Bulkden:	Fine fraction soil bulk density (g cm-3)

Soil.moist	: Soil moisture (%)

Soil.org.C: Rhizosphere soil C content (%)

pH: Soil pH

Nema.PC1: First principal component (PC1) of principal component analysis (PCA) of the soil nematode community composition

Nema.PC2: Second principal component (PC2) of principal component analysis (PCA) of the soil nematode community composition

Micro.PC1: 	First principal component (PC1) of principal component analysis (PCA) of the soil microbial community composition

Micro.PC2: Second principal component (PC2) of principal component analysis (PCA) of the soil microbial community composition

Abv.Inv.PC1: First principal component (PC1) of principal component analysis (PCA) of the aboveground-dwelling invertebrate community composition

Abv.Inv.PC2: Second principal component (PC2) of principal component analysis (PCA) of the aboveground-dwelling invertebrate community composition

Arthr.PC1: First principal component (PC1) of principal component analysis (PCA) of the soil arthropod community composition

Arthr.PC2: Second principal component (PC2) of principal component analysis (PCA) of the soil arthropod community composition

Plant.PC1: First principal component (PC1) of principal component analysis (PCA) of the plant community composition

Plant.PC2: Second principal component (PC2) of principal component analysis (PCA) of the plant community composition

Root.biomass: Root biomass (g m-2)

Micro.biomass	: Microbial biomass carbon (mg kg-1)

Plant.richness: Plant species richness

Plant.N: Plant tissue nitrogen content (%)

Soil.N.min: Soil net nitrogen mineralisation (kg ha-1 season)

Soil.resp: Soil carbon dioxide emissions (soil respiration; g m-2 h-1)

en:
This dataset contains all data on which the following publication below is based.

Paper Citation:
 > Risch AC, Ochoa-Hueso R, van der Putten WH, Bump JK, Busse MD, Frey B, Gwiazdowicz DJ, Page-Dumroese DS, Vandegehuchte ML, Zimmermann S, Schütz M. Size-dependent loss of aboveground animals differentially affects grassland ecosystem coupling and functions. 2018. Nature Communications 9: 3684. [doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-06105-4](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-06105-4).

Please cite this paper together with the citation for the datafile.

#Methods
Study sites
The experimental exclosure setups were installed within the SNP (IUCN category Ia preserve; Dudley 2008), in south-eastern Switzerland. The park covers 172 km2 of forests and subalpine and alpine grasslands along with scattered rock outcrops and scree slopes. The entire area has been protected from human impact (no hunting, fishing, camping or off-trail hiking) since 1914. Large, fairly homogenous patches of short- and tall-grass vegetation, which originate from different historical management and grazing regimes, cover the park’s subalpine grasslands entirely. Short-grass vegetation developed in areas where cattle used to rest (nutrient input) prior to the park’s foundation (14th century to 1914) (Schütz and others 2003, 2006) and is dominated by lawn grass species such as Festuca rubra L., Briza media L. and Agrostis capillaris L. (Schütz and others 2003, 2006). Today, this vegetation type is intensively grazed by diverse vertebrate and invertebrate communities that inhabit the park and consume up to 60% of the available biomass (Risch and others 2013). Tall-grass vegetation developed where cattle formerly grazed, but did not rest, and is dominated by rather nutrient-poor tussocks of Carex sempervirens Vill. and Nardus stricta L. (Schütz and others 2003, 2006). This vegetation type receives considerably less grazing, with only roughly 20% of the biomass consumed (Risch and others 2013). Consequently, the two vegetation types together represent a long-term trajectory of changes in grazing regimes. Underlying bedrock of all grasslands is dolomite, which renders these grasslands rather poor in nutrients regardless of former and current land-use regimes.
Experimental design
To progressively exclude aboveground vertebrate and invertebrate animals, we established 18 size-selective exclosure setups (nine in short-grass, nine in tall-grass vegetation) distributed over six subalpine grasslands across the SNP (Risch and others 2013, 2015). Elevation differences of exclosure locations did not exceed 350 m (between 1975 and 2300 m a.s.l.). The exclosures were established immediately after snowmelt in spring 2009 and were left in place for five consecutive growing seasons (until end of 2013). They were, however, temporarily dismantled every fall (late October after first snowfall) to protect them from avalanches. They were re-established in the same location every spring immediately after snowmelt. Each size-selective exclosure setup consisted of five plots (2 x 3 m) that progressively excluded aboveground vertebrates and invertebrates from large to small. The plots are labelled according to the guilds that had access to them “L/M/S/I”, “M/S/I”, “S/I”, “I”, “None”; L = large mammals, M = medium mammals, S = small mammals, I = invertebrates, None = no animals had access. As we only had permission to have the experimental setup in place for five consecutive growing seasons, the experiment had to be completely dismantled in the late fall of 2013 and all material removed from the SNP.
Our exclosure design was aimed at excluding mammalian herbivores, but naturally also excluded the few medium and small mammalian predators, as well as the entire aboveground invertebrate food web. A total of 26 large to small mammal species can be found in the SNP, but large apex predators are missing (wolf, bear, lynx) . Reptiles, amphibians and birds are scarce to absent in the subalpine grasslands under study. Only two reptile species occur in the park and they are confined to rocky areas that warm up enough for them to survive. One frog species spawns in an isolated pond far from our grasslands. Only three bird species occasionally feed on the subalpine grasslands. Using game cameras (Moultrie 6MP Game Spy I-60 Infrared Digital Game Camera, Moultrie Feeders, Alabaster, AL, USA), we did observe that the medium- and small-sized mammals (marmot/hares and mice) were not afraid to enter the fences and feed on their designated plots. We never spotted reptiles, amphibians or birds on camera. We distinguished between 59 higher aboveground-dwelling invertebrate taxa that our size-selective exclosures excluded (see also methods for aboveground-dwelling invertebrates below).
The “L/M/S/I” plot (not fenced) was located at least 5 m from the 2.1 m tall and 7 x 9 m large main electrical fence that enclosed the other four plots. The bottom wire of this fence was mounted at 0.5 m height and was not electrified to enable safe access for medium and small mammals, while fencing out the large ones. Within each main fence, we randomly established four 2 x 3 m plots separated by 1-m wide walkways from one another and from the main fence line: 1) the “M/S/I” plots were unfenced, allowing access to all but the large mammals; 2) the “S/I” plots (10 x 10 cm electrical mesh fence) excluded all medium-sized mammals. Note that the bottom 10 cm of this fence remained non-electrified to enable safe access for small mammals; 3) the “I” plots (2 x 2 cm metal mesh fence) excluded all mammals. We double-folded the mesh at the bottom 50 cm to reduce the mesh size to smaller than 1 x 1 cm openings; and 4) the “None” plots were surrounded by a 1 m tall mosquito net (1.5 x 2 mm) to exclude all animals. The top of the plot was covered with a mosquito-meshed wooden frame mounted to the corner posts (roof). We treated these plots a few times with biocompatible insecticide (Clean kill original, Eco Belle GmbH, Waldshut-Tiengen, Germany) to remove insects that might have entered during data collection or that hatched from the soil, but amounts were negligible and did not impact soil moisture conditions within these plots.
To assess whether the design of the “None” exclosure (mesh and roof) affected the response variables within the plots and, therefore, influenced the results, we established an additional six “micro-climate control” exclosures (one in each of the six grasslands) (Risch and others 2013, 2015). These exclosures were built as the “None” exclosures but were open at the bottom (20 cm) of the 3-m side of the fence facing away from the prevailing wind direction to allow invertebrates to enter. A 20-cm high and 3-m long strip of metal mesh was used to block access to small mammals. Thus, this construction allowed a comparable micro-climate to the “None” plots, but also a comparable feeding pressure by invertebrates to the “I” plots. We compared various properties within these exclosures against one another to assess if our construction altered the conditions in the “None” plots. We showed that differences in plant (e.g., vegetation height, aboveground biomass) and soil properties (e.g., soil temperature, moisture) found between the “I” and the “None” treatments were not due to the construction of the “None” exclosure, but a function of animal exclusions, although the amount of UV light reaching the plant canopy was significantly reduced (Risch and others 2013).
Aboveground invertebrate sampling
Aboveground invertebrates were sampled with two different methods to capture both ground- and plant-dwelling organisms: 1) we randomly placed two pitfall traps (67 mm in diameter, covered with a roof) filled with 20% propylene glycol in one 1 x 1 m subplot of the 2 x 3 m treatment plots in spring 2013 (May) and emptied them every two weeks until late September 2013 (Vandegehuchte and others 2017b, 2018). A pitfall trap consisted of a plastic cylinder (13 cm depth, 6.75 cm diameter). Within each cylinder we placed a 100 ml plastic vial with outer diameter 6.70 cm and on top of the cylinder we placed a plastic funnel to guide the invertebrates into the vials. Each trap was cover with a cone-shaped and transparent plastic roof to protect the trap from rain (Vandegehuchte and others 2017b, 2018). Note that in the “None” plots only one trap was placed as control to check for effectiveness of the exclosure. 2) We vacuumed all invertebrates from a 60 x 60 cm area on another 1 x 1 m subplot with a suction sampler (Vortis, Burkhard manufacturing CO, Ltd., Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, UK) every month from June to September 2013 (Vandegehuchte and others 2017b, 2018). For this purpose, we quickly placed a square plastic frame (60 x 60 x 40 cm) with a closable mosquito mesh sleeve attached to the top edge into the plot from the outside. The suction sample was then inserted into through the sleeve and operated for 45 s to collect the invertebrates (Vandegehuchte and others 2017b, 2018).
We sorted the ≈100 000 individuals collected with both methods by hand and identified each individual morphologically to the lowest taxonomic level feasible (59 taxa, including orders, suborders, subfamilies, families; phylum for Mollusca). These taxa belonged to the following feeding types: 19 herbivores, 16 detritivores, 9 predators, 8 mixed feeders, 5 omnivores and 2 non-classified feeders (or not feeding as adults) (Vandegehuchte and others 2017b). We summed the numbers from the two pitfall traps and the suction sampling over the course of the 2013 season to represent the aboveground invertebrate abundance and community composition of a plot. Note: we did not specifically attempt to catch flying invertebrates with e.g., sticky traps, thus a few flying insects may have been missed with our vacuum sampling approach.
Sampling of plant properties
The vascular plant species composition was assessed at peak biomass every summer (July) by estimating the frequency of occurrence of each species with the pin count method in each plot (Frank and McNaughton 1990). A total of 172 taxa occurred within our 90 plots and we calculated plant species richness for each plot separately. We used the 2013 data in this study. Plant quality was assessed every year in July and September; here we use plant quality at the end of the experiment (September 2013). Two 10 x 100 cm wide strips of vegetation per plot were clipped, combined, dried at 65°C, and ground (Pulverisette 16, Fritsch, Idar-Oberstein, Germany) to pass through a 0.5 mm sieve. Twenty randomly selected samples across all treatments were analysed for N (Leco TruSpec Analyser, Leco, St. Joseph, Michigan, USA) (Vandegehuchte and others 2015). Nitrogen concentrations of the other samples were then estimated from models established for the experiment and the entire SNP relating Fourier transform-near infrared reflectance (FT-NIR) spectra to the measured values of N using a multi-purpose FT-NIR spectrometer (Bruker Optics, Fällanden, Switzerland) (Vandegehuchte and others 2015). Root biomass was sampled every fall by collecting five 2.2 cm diameter x 10 cm deep soil samples (Giddings Machine Company, Windsor, CO, USA) per plot (450 samples year-1). The samples were dried at 30 °C and roots were sorted from the sample by hand. We sorted each sample for 1 h which allowed to retrieve over 90% of all roots present in the samples (Risch and others 2013). The roots were then dried at 65 °C for 48 and weighed to the nearest mg. We averaged the values per plot and used the 2013 data only in this study.
Sampling of edaphic communities
In 2009, 2010, and 2011 we collected three composited soil samples (5 cm diameter x 10 cm depth; AMS Samplers, American Falls, ID, USA) and assessed bacterial community structure using T-RFLP profiling (Liu and others 1997; Blackwood and others 2003; Hodel and others 2014). We detected a total of 89 operational taxonomic units (OTUs). These values are in accordance with other studies reporting OTU richness (Wirthner and others 2011; Zumsteg and others 2012; Meola and others 2014) using T-RFLP profiling, a method that detects the most abundant, and thus likely, the most relevant, taxa. We averaged the data over the three years of collections for our calculations. Microbial biomass carbon (MBC) was determined with the substrate-induced method (Anderson and Domsch 1978) every fall (September) between 2009 and 2013 by collecting three mineral soil samples (5 cm diameter × 10 cm mineral soil core, AMS Samplers, American Falls, ID, USA). The three samples were combined (90 samples for each sampling year), immediately put on ice, taken to the laboratory, passed through a 2-mm sieve and stored at 4°C. Again, we only used the 2013 data in this study.
Soil samples (5 cm diameter x 10 cm depth) to extract soil arthropods were collected in June, July, and August 2011 with a soil corer lined with a plastic sleeve to ensure an undisturbed sample (total of 270 samples). The plastic line core was immediately sealed on both ends using cling film and put into a cooler. All plots were sampled within three days and the extraction of arthropods started the evening of the sampling day using a high-gradient Tullgren funnel apparatus (Crossley and Blair 1991; Vandegehuchte and others 2015). Samples were kept in the extractor for four days and the soil arthropods were collected in 95% ethanol. All individuals were counted and each individual was identified morphologically to the lowest level feasible [76 taxa, including orders, suborders, subfamilies, families (Protura, Thysanoptera, Aphidina, Psylina, Coleoptera, Brachycera, Nematocera, Auchenorryncha, Heteroptera, Formicidae); sub-phylum for Myriapoda, for Acari and Collembola also including morpho-species). Note that we also included larval stages (nine of the 76 taxa) (Vandegehuchte and others 2015). All data were summed over the season. A detailed species list for mites and collembolans is published (Vandegehuchte and others 2017a) [https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0118679.s001]. Earthworms are rare in the SNP and therefore were not included. We collected eight random 2.2 cm diameter x 10 cm deep soil cores from each plot in September 2013 to determine the soil nematode community composition. The samples were mixed and the nematodes were extracted from 100 ml of fresh soil using Oostenbrink elutriators (Oostenbrink 1960). All nematodes in a 1 ml of the 10 ml extract were counted, a minimum of 150 individuals sample-1 were identified to genus or family level using (Bongers 1988), the numbers of all nematodes were extrapolated to the entire sample and expressed for a 100 g dry sample. In total we identified 63 genus or family levels (Vandegehuchte and others 2015). The list of all the nematodes found is published (Vandegehuchte and others 2015) [http://www.oikosjournal.org/appendix/oik-03341] or DOI: [doi: 10.1111/oik.03341].
We are aware that sampling soil microbes from 2009 to 2011 and soil arthropods in 2011 was not ideal, but we are positive that this does not bias the results. Most of the parameters measured in our experiment either already showed a treatment response after the first growing season (e.g., plant biomass) or did not respond over the entire time experiment (e.g., microbial biomass C). The microbial community composition (2009 – 2011) was highly influenced by inter-annual differences in temperature and precipitation, but did not differ between treatments or vegetation types (Hodel and others 2014). We therefore felt comfortable using the 2009 through 2011 data for describing the soil microbial community in our experimental treatments. Similarly, we are positive that our soil arthropod data are representative. We did assess soil arthropods in August 2012 and found no differences to the August 2011 data. However, we did not feel comfortable combining the 2011 June, July, August data with only August data for 2012 for our analyses.
Sampling of soil properties
We collected three soil samples (5 cm diameter x 10 cm depth) in each plot in September 2013 after removing the vegetation. First, we collected the top layer of mineral soil rich in organic matter, the surface organic layer or rhizosphere, typically 1 to 3 cm in depth with a soil corer (AMS Samples, American Falls, Idaho, USA). Second, we collected a 10 cm mineral soil core beneath this surface layer. The cores for each layer were composited, dried at 65 °C for 48 h and fine-ground to pass a 0.5 mm screen. We then analysed all samples for total C using a Leco TruSpec Analyser (Leco, St. Joseph, Michigan, USA). Mineral soil pH was measured potentiometrically in 1:2 soil:CaCl2 solution with an equilibration time of 30 min.
Soil net N mineralisation was assessed during the 2013 growing season (Risch and others 2015). For this purpose, we randomly collected a 5 cm diameter x10 cm deep soil sample with a soil corer (AMS Samples, American Falls, Idaho, USA) after clipping the vegetation in June 2013. After weighing and sieving (4 mm mesh) the soil, we extracted a 20 g subsample in 1 mol l-1 KCl for 1.5 h on an end-over-end shaker and thereafter filtered it through ashless folded filter paper (DF 5895 150, ALBET LabScience, Hahnenmühle FineArt GmbH, Dassel, Germany). From these filtrates NO3- concentrations were measured colorimetrically (Norman and Stucki 1981) and NH4+with flow injection analysis (FIAS 300, Perkin Elmer, Waltham Massachusetts, USA) (Risch and others 2015). We dried the rest of the sample 105 °C to constant mass to determine fine,fraction bulk density. A second soil sample was collected within each plot in June 2013 with a corer lined with a 5 x 13 cm aluminium cylinder. The corer was driven 11.5 cm deep into the soil so that the top 1.5 cm of the cylinder remained empty. Into this space we placed a polyester bag (250 µm) filled an ion-exchanger resin to capture the incoming N. The bag was filled with a 1:1 mixture of acidic and alkaline exchanger resin (ion-exchanger I KA/ion exchanger IIIAA, Merck AG, Darmstadt, Germany). We then removed 1.5 cm soil at the bottom of the cylinder and placed a second resin exchanger bag into this space to capture the N leached from the soil column. To assure that the exchange resin was saturated with H+ and Cl- prior to filling the bags, the mixture was stirred with 1.2 ml l-1 HCl for 1 h and then rinsed with demineralized water until the electrical conductivity of the water reached 5 µm cm-1. The cylinder with the resin bags in place was reinserted into the soil with the top flush to the soil surface and incubated for three months. We recollected the cylinders in September 2013. Each resin bag and 20 g of sieved soil (4 mm mesh) from each cylinder were then separately extracted with KCl and NO3- and NH4+ concentrations were measured. Nitrate and NH4+ concentrations of all samples were then converted to a content basis by multiplying their values with fine fraction bulk density. Net N mineralisation was thereafter calculated as the difference between the N content of the samples collected at the end of the three-month incubation (including the N extracted from the bottom resin bag) and the N content at the beginning of the incubation (Risch and others 2015).
Soil CO2 emissions were measured every two weeks between 0900 and 1700 hrs from early May through late September 2013 with a PP-Systems SRC-1 soil respiration chamber (15 cm high, 10 cm diameter; closed circuit) attached to a PP-Systems EGM-4 infrared gas analyser (PP-Systems, Amesbury, MA, USA) on two locations per plot (Risch and others 2013). The chamber was placed on randomly placed, permanently installed PVC collars (10 cm diameter) driven 5 cm into the soil at the beginning of the study (Risch and others 2013). Freshly germinated plants growing within the collars were removed prior to each measurement to avoid measuring plant respiration or photosynthesis. The two measurements collected per plot and sampling date were averaged.
Soil moisture (with time domain reflectometry; Field-Scout TDR-100, Spectrum Technologies, Plainfield, Illionois, USA) and temperature (with a waterproof digital pocket thermometer; Barnstead International, Dubuque, Iowa, USA) were measured at five random locations per plot every two weeks during the growing seasons during the experiment for the 0 to 10 cm depth (Risch and others 2013, 2015). As soil moisture and soil temperature were highly negatively correlated (Risch and others 2013), we only used soil moisture for this study. We used plot-level averages of all values available to capture soil moisture variability during the five years of the experiment. The results remained unchanged when we only used soil moisture from the 2013 growing season.
Numeral calculations and statistical analyses
Ecosystem coupling. We conducted principal component analyses (PCAs; unscaled) at the complete dataset level using the abundances of each taxonomical entity to describe each of the five different communities used in this study: aboveground-dwelling invertebrates, vascular plants, soil microorganisms, soil arthropods and soil nematodes. We retained the first two components (PCA axis 1 and PCA axis 2) of each analysis as we found them to adequately represent the temporal and spatial variability of our 90 treatment plots in previous studies55,67. Together they explained a total of 71.70% of the variation for aboveground invertebrates, 44.36% for plants, 44.85% for soil microorganisms, 61.85% for soil arthropods and 77.19% for soil nematodes. In addition, we used soil pH and soil organic C content as a proxy for soil chemical properties, soil bulk density as a proxy for soil physical properties and soil moisture (negatively correlated with soil temperature) as a proxy for soil micro-climatic conditions for an overall total of fourteen constituents.
We calculated ecosystem coupling9 for each exclosure treatment within each vegetation type (i.e., 2  5 treatment combinations in total) as an integrated measure of pairwise ecological interactions between ecosystem constituents representing ecological communities and the soil abiotic environment. These ecological interactions are defined by non-parametric Spearman rank correlation analyses between two constituents, excluding interactions involving two abiotic constituents (e.g., soil pH vs. soil moisture) and interactions between the first (PC1) and second (PC2) component of each community type, as these are orthogonal by definition. Interactions between abiotic constituents were excluded from the analyses because the focus of our study was on communities and how they interact with one another and their surrounding environment; therefore, including abiotic-abiotic interactions was not of interest here. Given that the effectiveness of our experimental design resulted in that no community composition data of aboveground-dwelling invertebrates was available for the “None” plots (all animals excluded), only thirteen instead of fourteen constituents were included in the ecosystem coupling calculations for this treatment. The complete absence of aboveground invertebrates represents the most extreme case of disturbance between aboveground animal communities and the rest of the ecosystem constituents. This may have resulted in a slight overestimation of ecosystem coupling for these plots.
	Average ecosystem coupling was calculated as follows:
Ecosystem coupling=
where Xi is the absolute Coupling was calculated value of the Spearman’s rho coefficient of the ith correlation for each treatment within each vegetation type (i.e., based on nine replicates each), considering and n is the number of pairwise comparisons considered (n = a total of 80; interactions (56 in the case of the “None” treatment). We considered a total of 40 biotic-biotic interactions (i.e., concerning two community-level principal components such as plants and microbes; 24 in the case of the “None” treatment) and 40 abiotic-biotic (i.e., concerning one community-level principal component and one abiotic factor, e.g., plant community and soil properties; 32 in the case of the “None” treatment).	Coupling was calculated for each treatment within each vegetation type (i.e., based on nine replicates each), considering a total of 80 interactions (56 in the case of the “None” treatment). We considered a total of 40 biotic-biotic interactions (i.e., concerning two community-level principal components such as plants and microbes; 24 in the case of the “None” treatment) and 40 abiotic-biotic (i.e., concerning one community-level principal component and one abiotic factor, e.g., plant community and soil properties; 32 in the case of the “None” treatment).
To establish whether constituents were significantly and positively coupled within treatments (i.e., the average of their correlation coefficients were greater than in a null model where correlation only happens by chance), we calculated one-tailed p-values based on permutation tests with 999 permutations.

We considered six ecosystem functions and process rates commonly used to assess ecosystem functioning (Meyer and others 2015; Manning and others 2018). Plant N content represents a measure of forage quality, while plant richness has been shown to stabilise biomass production, thus allowing the system to respond to changes in herbivory. Soil net N mineralisation, soil respiration, root biomass, and microbial biomass represent fluxes or stocks of energy. For all functions and processes higher values represent higher functioning (Manning and others 2018). All these variables were measured in the last year of the experiment (2013). We then quantified ecosystem multifunctionality using the multiple threshold approach (Byrnes and others 2014; Manning and others 2018), which considers the number of functions that are above a certain threshold, over a series of threshold values (typically 10-99%) that are defined based on the maximum value of each function. We weighted all our functions equally for these calculations (Manning and others 2018). The number of functions in a plot with values higher than a given threshold value for the respective function is summed up. The sum represents ecosystem multifunctionality for that plot. Given that choosing any particular threshold as a measure of ecosystem multifunctionality is arbitrary, we calculated the average of thresholds from 10-90% (in 10% intervals) as a more integrated representation of ecosystem multifunctionality.
We used Pearson correlations to explore the relationships between ecosystem coupling (all interactions, biotic-biotic interactions, abiotic-biotic interactions involving above- and belowground constituents, and all interactions, biotic-biotic interactions, abiotic-biotic interactions involving belowground constituents only) and ecosystem multifunctionality by calculating the slopes of all relationships between ecosystem coupling and multifunctionality for all thresholds between 10 and 99%. We also related ecosystem coupling with the average of multifunctionality at thresholds between 30-80% as explained before and considered this correlation as a robust indication of the type of association between these two variables. In addition, we explored the relationships between ecosystem coupling (all interactions, biotic-biotic interactions, abiotic-biotic interactions involving above- and belowground constituents, and all interactions, biotic-biotic interactions, abiotic-biotic interactions involving belowground constituents only) and individual ecosystem functions. The effects of exclosures and vegetation type on individual functions and multifunctionality were evaluated using linear mixed effects models ('lme' function of the nlme package), with exclosure and vegetation type as fixed effects and fence as a random factor. All statistical analyses and numerical calculations were done in R version 3.4.0 (R Core Team 2016).

#References

- Anderson J, Domsch K. 1978. A physiological method for the quantitative measurement of microbial biomass in soil. Soil Biol Biochem 10:215–21.
- Blackwood CB, Marsh T, Kim S-H, Paul EA. 2003. Terminal Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism Data Analysis for Quantitative Comparison of Microbial Communities. Appl Environ Microbiol 69:926–32. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC143601/
- Bongers T. 1988. De nematoden von Nederland. Schoorl, The Netherlands: Pirola
- Byrnes JEK, Gamfeldt L, Isbell F, Lefcheck JS, Griffin JN, Hector A, Cardinale BJ, Hooper DU, Dee LE, Duffy JE. 2014. Investigating the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem multifunctionality: Challenges and solutions. Methods Ecol Evol 5:111–24.
- Crossley DAJ, Blair JM. 1991. A high-efficiency low-technology Tulgren-type extractor for soil microarthopods. Agric Ecosyst Environ 34:187–92.
- Dudley N. 2008. Guidelines for applying protected area managment categories. Gland: IUCN
- Frank DA, McNaughton SJ. 1990. Aboveground biomass estimation with the canopy intercept method: A plant growth form caveat. Oikos 57:57–60.
- Haynes AG, Schütz M, Buchmann N, Page-Dumroese DS, Busse MD, Risch AC. 2014. Linkages between grazing history and herbivore exclusion on decomposition rates in mineral soils of subalpine grasslands. Plant Soil 374.
- Hodel M, Schütz M, Vandegehuchte ML, Frey B, Albrecht M, Busse MD, Risch AC. 2014. Does the aboveground herbivore assemblage influence soil bacterial community composition and richness in subalpine grasslands? Microb Ecol 68:584–95.
- Liu WT, Marsh TL, Cheng H, Forney LJ. 1997. Characterization of microbial diversity by determining terminal restriction fragment length polymorphisms of genes encoding 16S rRNA. Appl Environ Microbiol 63:4516–22. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC168770/
- Manning P, van der Plas F, Soliveres S, Allan E, Maestre FT, Mace G, Whittingham MJ, Fischer M. 2018. Redefining ecosystem multifunctionality. Nat Ecol Evol 2:427–36. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-017-0461-7
- Meola M, Lazzaro A, Zeyer J. 2014. Diversity, resistance and resilience of the bacterial communities at two alpine glacier forefields after a reciprocal soil transplantation. Environ Microbiol 16:1918–34. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1462-2920.12435
- Meyer ST, Koch C, Weisser WW. 2015. Towards a standardized Rapid Ecosystem Function Assessment (REFA). Trends Ecol Evol 30:390–7. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169534715000968
- Norman R., Stucki JW. 1981. The determination of nitrate and nitrite in soil extracts by ultraviolet spectrophotometry. Soil Sci Soc Am J 45:347–53.
- Ochoa-Hueso R. 2016. Non-linear disruption of ecological interactions in response to nitrogen deposition. Ecology 87:2802–2814.
- Oostenbrink M. 1960. Estimating nematode populations by some selected methods. In: Sasser NJ, Jenkins WR, editors. Nematology. Chapel Hill, NC, USA: University of North Carolina Press. pp 85–101.
- R Core Team. 2016. R: A language and environment for statistical computing. Vienna, Austria: R Foundation for Statistical Computing
- Risch AC, Haynes AG, Busse MD, Filli F, Schütz M. 2013. The response of soil CO2 fluxes to progressively excluding vertebrate and invertebrate herbivores depends on ecosystem type. Ecosystems 16:1192–202.
- Risch AC, Schütz M, Vandegehuchte ML, Van Der Putten WH, Duyts H, Raschein U, Gwiazdowicz DJ, Busse MD, Page-Dumroese DS, Zimmermann S. 2015. Aboveground vertebrate and invertebrate herbivore impact on net N mineralization in subalpine grasslands. Ecology 96:3312–22.
- Schütz M, Risch AC, Achermann G, Thiel-Egenter C, Page-Dumroese DS, Jurgensen MF, Edwards PJ. 2006. Phosphorus translocation by red deer on a subalpine grassland in the Central European Alps. Ecosystems 9:624–633.
- Schütz M, Risch AC, Leuzinger E, Krüsi BO, Achermann G. 2003. Impact of herbivory by red deer (Cervus elaphus L.) on patterns and processes in subalpine grasslands in the Swiss National Park. For Ecol Manage 181:177–88.
- Vandegehuchte ML, van der Putten WH, Duyts H, Schütz M, Risch AC. 2017a. Aboveground mammal and invertebrate exclusions cause consistent changes in soil food webs of two subalpine grassland types, but mechanisms are system-speciﬁc. Oikos 126:212–23.
- Vandegehuchte ML, Raschein U, Schütz M, Gwiazdowicz DJ, Risch AC. 2015. Indirect short- and long-term effects of aboveground invertebrate and vertebrate herbivores on soil microarthropod communities. PLoS One 10:e0118679.
- Vandegehuchte ML, Schütz M, de Schaetzen F, Risch AC. 2017b. Mammal-induced trophic cascades in invertebrate food webs are modulated by grazing intensity in subalpine grassland. J Anim Ecol 86:1434–46.
- Vandegehuchte ML, Trivellone V, Schütz M, Firn J, de Schaetzen F, Risch AC. 2018. Mammalian herbivores affect leafhoppers associated with specific plant functional types at different timescales. Funct Ecol 32:545–55.
- Wirthner S, Frey B, Busse MD, Schütz M, Risch AC. 2011. Effects of wild boar (Sus scrofa L.) rooting on the bacterial community structure in mixed-hardwood forest soils in Switzerland. Eur J Soil Biol 47:296–302. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ejsobi.2011.07.003
- Zumsteg A, Luster J, Göransson H, Smittenberg RH, Brunner I, Bernasconi SM, Zeyer J, Frey B. 2012. Bacterial, Archaeal and Fungal Succession in the Forefield of a Receding Glacier. Microb Ecol 63:552–64. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-011-9991-8

ecosystem-coupling

display_name: ecosystem-coupling

ecosystem-functions

display_name: ecosystem-functions

ecosystem-multifunctionality

display_name: ecosystem-multifunctionality

exclusion

display_name: exclusion

grassland

display_name: grassland

grazing

display_name: grazing

invertebrates

display_name: invertebrates

subalpine

display_name: subalpine

swiss-national-park

display_name: swiss-national-park

vertebrates

display_name: vertebrates

en: EnviDat is the WSL data portal providing unified and managed access to environmental monitoring and research data. The portal has the capability to host and publish data sets. Through the sharing of unique and high-value data sets worldwide, EnviDat fosters research and contributes to advancing environmental science.

en: Ecosystem coupling and multifunctionality - exclosure experiment


maintainer: EnviDat Support

en: snow-water-equivalent snow gcos snow-profile snow-height

state: active

type: dataset

en: STATION METADATA

media_type: text/plain

format: TXT

mimetype: text/plain

en: DATA ACCESS

media_type: CSV

format: CSV

en: Snowprofile from 11 observer sites in Switzerland compiled for the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS). Height of snow (cm) and snow water equivalent (mm) are recorded every 2 weeks since the 1947 (depending on station). Attached metadata file gives details of each station.

gcos

display_name: gcos

snow

display_name: snow

snow-height

display_name: snow-height

snow-profile

display_name: snow-profile

snow-water-equivalent

display_name: snow-water-equivalent

education

fr: Education, science

de: Bildung, Wissenschaft

en: Education and science

it: Formazione e scienza

envidat

fr: EnviDat: le portail de données environnementales

de: EnviDat: das Umwelt-Datenportal

en: EnviDat: the Environmental Data Portal

it: EnviDat: il portale dei dati ambientali

fr: EnviDat est le portail de données du WSL; il offre un accès uniformisé et réglementé aux données de surveillance et de recherche en matière d’environnement. Ce portail est capable d’héberger et de publier des ensembles de données précieuses et uniques, qui sont partagées aux quatre coins de la planète. Ce faisant, EnviDat favorise la recherche et contribue à l’avancement des sciences environnementales.

de: EnviDat ist das Datenportal der WSL für einen einheitlichen und verwalteten Zugang zu Umweltdaten aus Monitoring- und Forschungsprojekten. Auf dem Portal können Datensätze gehostet und veröffentlicht werden. Durch die weltweite Bereitstellung einzigartiger und wertvoller Datensätze leistet EnviDat einen Beitrag zur Forschung im Bereich der Umweltwissenschaften.

it: EnviDat è il portale dati del WSL che fornisce un accesso unificato e gestito ai dati di monitoraggio ambientale e di ricerca. Il portale ha la capacità di ospitare e pubblicare serie di dati preziosi e unici che vengono condivisi in tutto il mondo. Così facendo, EnviDat promuove la ricerca e contribuisce al progresso della scienza ambientale.

political_level: other

wsl

capacity: public

type: organization

approval_status: approved

key: guid

key: uri

value: Envidat Harvester

en: GCOS SWE data from 11 stations in Switzerland


maintainer: Vanessa Burg

en: switzerland biogas manure bioenergy review

en: Biogas from animal manure in Switzerland: energy potential, technology development and resource mobilization

media_type: PDF

en: Aim of this white paper is to provide decision-makers, administrations and stakeholders with the most current research findings in order to promote the optimal use of bioenergy from manure in the Swiss energy transition. For this purpose, the results of the Swiss competence center for bioenergy research - SCCER BIOSWEET - are summarized and presented in a broader context. If nothing else is mentioned, the results refer to Switzerland and in case of the feedstock to the domestic biomass potentials.

format: PDF

bioenergy

display_name: bioenergy

biogas

display_name: biogas

manure

display_name: manure

review

display_name: review

switzerland

display_name: switzerland


envidat-supports-open-science

maintainer: Ionut Iosifescu Enescu

title_for_slug: envidat-supports-open-science

en: juypter-notebooks envidat research-data-management open-science wsl

en: Article as PDF

media_type: application/pdf

mimetype: application/pdf

en:
The article "EnviDat Supports Open Science" originally appeared in WSLintern No. 3 (2020), page 14-15 and it is republished here with permission from the WSLintern editorial team. It contains guidelines for WSL scientists about the main issues behind Open Science and how to pragmatically approach the complexities of doing Open Science with EnviDat’s support.

License: This article is released by WSL and the EnviDat team to the public domain under a Creative Commons 4.0 CC0 "No Rights Reserved" international license. You can reuse the information contained herein in any way you want, for any purposes and without restrictions.

envidat

display_name: envidat

juypter-notebooks

display_name: juypter-notebooks

open-science

display_name: open-science

research-data-management

display_name: research-data-management

wsl

display_name: wsl

en: EnviDat Supports Open Science


maintainer: Roksolana Petrovska

en: regeneration fagus lar mortality-rate dominance shade-tolerance acer

media_type: r script (flat-ascii text)

en: The R-script of survival analysis for accelerated failure time model

format: SERVICE

en: Mortality of regeneration

en: Acer platanoides, Acer pseudoplatanus and Fagus sylvatica living and dead juveniles (0-500 cm in height) grown in the deep shade of a prime beech-dominated forest.

en:
 One individual per species, vitality class (low and high) and height class (eight classes: 0–10, 11–20, 21–35, 36–60, 61–90, 91–130, 131–200 and 201–500 cm) was randomly selected and harvested in each of the six plots. This resulted in a sample of 82, 80 and 89 living individuals of A. platanoides, A. pseudoplatanus and F. sylvatica, respectively.

 Additionally stems of dead Acer spp. and F. sylvatica trees that had died within the last three years (2015–2018) were randomly harvested, matching the height classes of the harvested living trees wherever possible. In total, 179 dead young trees (60 A. platanoides, 72 A. pseudoplatanus and 47 F. sylvatica) were collected.

 Variables:
* species_code: a_pla - Acer platanoides, a_pse - Acer pseudoplatanus, f_syl - Fagus sylvatica
* species: as above
* dummy: 0 - living individual, 1 - dead individual
* LAR_cm2_g: leaf area ratio or ratio of leaf area to total plant biomass, [cm2/g]
* tree_age: in years
* avg_ring_micron: average width of the last 5 rings in tree life excluding the last ring
* dry_mass_g: aboveground and belowground biomass
* DLI: direct light index (measured only under living individuals)
* BLI: diffuse light index (measured only under living individuals)
* GLI: global light index

acer

display_name: acer

dominance

display_name: dominance

fagus

display_name: fagus

lar

display_name: lar

mortality-rate

display_name: mortality-rate

regeneration

display_name: regeneration

shade-tolerance

display_name: shade-tolerance

en: Mortality of regeneration: Acer spp. and Fagus sylvatica


en: decision-making ecosystem-protection hydropower gis integral-water-management

media_type: SHP

format: SHP

en: Indicators

media_type: text/markdown

en: The indicators capture supporting ecosystem functions.

en:
 A spatial dataset and tool to simultaneously assess hydropower potential and ecological potential of the Swiss river network (Version 2016)

 Introduction
The steadily growing demand for energy and the simultaneous pursuit of decarbonisation are increasing interest in the expansion of renewable energies worldwide. In Switzerland, various funding projects have been launched to promote technologies in the field of renewable energies and their application as quickly as possible. With the introduction of a funding instrument in 2009, the number of projects submitted to produce renewable energies increased rapidly. The applications for small hydropower plants (≤ 10 MW) were correspondingly numerous. However, the assessment of the environmental impact and its comparison with hydropower importance is still not standardized.
To provide a basis for decision-making, a methodology was developed to determine the overall hydropower potential of a region. A detailed assessment of each river reach, and the systematic and holistic assessment of small hydropower projects at a regional scale are combined here. The assessment of a river reach is conducted at the river space (i.e., the river and adjacent areas) and at the surrounding landscape level. The HYDROpot_integral methodology was developed as part of Carol Hemund's dissertation (2012) at the University of Bern. It allows the evaluation of river reaches holistically, regarding ecological, social, economic and cultural criteria. As a second part of the overall project, the theoretical hydropower (or hydraulic) potential was calculated for the entire river network, which complemnets the spatial assessment. In particular, it is possible to classify river reaches into those that are more suitable for hydropower production (=”use”) and those that are more suitable for protection.

 Material and method
The HYDROpot_Integral method was developed and tested on the basis of cantonal and national data (Hirschi et al. 2013). The method relies on 73 geodata sets. This holistic assessment is the key element of the entire assessment procedure. Its aim is to quantify the importance of the ecosystem functions in terms of services. The river network (GWN07) is divided into reaches of about 450m and for each reach two study units are defined. The river space (RS) records the ecosystem functions of the water body and the nearby riparian area. The length of the RS is 315 m on average in Switzerland and a maximum of 450 m, whereas the width is based on the FOEN definition (BWG 2001: 18f) and varies between 7-107 m. The surrounding landscape (SLS) is the second survey unit that records the ecosystem functions of the surrounding area over a range of 21 m to 321 m. The SLS is calculated over three times the RS width. The length of the SLS is identical to the length of the RS. The ecosystem functions are divided into three types: regulating (service A), cultural (service B) and provisioning (service C) functions. Accordingly, the assessment of the functions is divided into three parts and three values are assigned to each river reach. The more functions there are and the greater their performance, the higher these values are and the more important the corresponding functions are. Hence, these values quantify the importance of the ecosystem functions and the ecological, cultural and economic ecosystem services of each river reach. The concatenation of ecosystem services results in a value (ABC) that can occur in 125 different versions due to the chosen five-level value scale; i.e. each digit of the three-digit number sequence can be assigned a value between 1 and 5. Each of the 125 combinations, and thus each river reach, has its own characteristics determined by the assessments of the three function types. To record the suitability, the combinations are ranked according to their ecological, cultural and economic ecosystem services. These rules mean that the combination that is most suitable for hydropower production at minimum cost in terms of ecological and cultural ecosystem services and has a high economic potential is ranked first; rank 125 indicates the highest ecological and cultural ecosystem services and the lowest economic services and is therefore most suitable for protection. A river reach that is excluded from hydropower use due to legislation, a so-called priority reach, is given rank 126 from the outset and specially marked. A more detailed description of the methods can be found in Hirschi et al. 2013 [Link]. The dataset presented here presents the latest state of the HYDROpot_integral methodology applied at the national level. Only national data that is easily accessible was used in the preparation of the dataset. The cantonal data, such as renaturation and revitalization, would have to be requested by each canton individually and was excluded here. The nationwide value synthesis was made with R.
A list of data sources can be found here [link to text file]
A list of all parameters can be downloaded here [link to PDF and text files]

 Dataset description
Data is presented as a single shapefile. It contains the river network and all assessment results obtained with HYDROpot_Integral.

 Changes in the methodology compared to the original method (Hirschi et. al 2013)

 * RS_A11 Ecomorphology: recorded for the whole of Switzerland and zero values equated with NA;
individual cantons such as Zug and St. Gallen have no mapped values according to the modular
concept of the federal government, Valais and Graubünden only the main valleys, Ticino and Fribourg not
completely (BAFU 2009).
 * RS_A14 Renaturation and revitalization data: not centrally available at the time of data collection.
centrally available, therefore values in GR were equated with NA.
 * RS_A15 Dilution ratio at wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) for discharges: Zero values
equal to NA.
 * RS_A20 Water flow: use WASTA (2013) with hydroelectric power plants (> 300 kW) under
Federal control and dams serving hydroelectricity (Dam, as of 2013).
 * RS_C05 Synoptic hazard maps: are cantonally managed at the time of data collection,
Values in GR are marked with a 5 so that the systematics in the decision tree is not affected.
is affected.
 * Water quality (RS_A15, RS_A16, RS_A17, RS_A18, RS_A19): for the evaluation of the function type.
A Nature, it is important whether the median of the five values is less than or equal to 3 in total. This
evaluation is based on the decision tree for evaluating GR (Hirschi et al. 2013:22).
Therefore, an evaluation of the station data is made where critical and possible river segments
with poor quality (median less than 3) exist. Only two longer and one short
sections in Switzerland receive a lower median than 3 for water quality.
 * SLS_B06 Visibility: For 99 percent of the river segments (30,733 of 31,062) in the canton of
Bern (2015 reduced version), the landscape area is considered to be visible. Due to this high number
of sections, a large number of viewpoints in the layer of Swisstopo and
the computation time and computability in ArcGIS, the landscape area is classified as generally viewable
(equal to 1).
16 Method
Additional indicators were added (see Appendix B.2):
 * SLS_A21 Dissection
 * SLS_A22 Forest areas
 * SLS_B03 Hiking trails
 * SLS_B10 Residential and vacation homes
 * SLS_B11 Tourist infrastructure
 * SLS_C01 Landfill
 * SLS_C03 Infrastructure
 * SLS_C05 Industry
 * SLS_C06 Agricultural land
Not to be added, although present to some extent:
 * SLS_B06 Cultural assets of national importance: here, too, the calculability of the visibility analysis is
for the whole of Switzerland is limited
 * SLS_A15 Legally binding protection and land use planning: the individual river sections are not
clearly designated, i.e. no geodata exist
The following data are also not supplemented, as they are cantonal data:
 * SLS_A10 Cantonal nature reserves
 * SLS_A16 Forest reserves
 * SLS_A17 Cantonal inventories and contractually protected areas

decision-making

display_name: decision-making

ecosystem-protection

display_name: ecosystem-protection

gis

display_name: gis

hydropower

display_name: hydropower

integral-water-management

display_name: integral-water-management

envidat

en: EnviDat is the WSL data portal providing unified and managed access to environmental monitoring and research data. The portal has the capability to host and publish data sets. Through the sharing of unique and high-value data sets worldwide, EnviDat fosters research and contributes to advancing environmental science.


maintainer: Matthias Haeni

en: precipitation par meteo swiss-forest-lab temperature wind-speed climate-change relative-humidity meteorology long-term

en: Forest station data (ALB)

media_type: text/csv

mimetype: text/csv

en: Data plot of the forest station (ALB)

en: Data overview for air temperature, relative humidity, precipitation, PAR, wind speed.

en: Site aerial photo (Alpthal)

media_type: image/jpeg

en: Site aerial photo from the Alpthal forest station. Source: Google. 2016. Site aerial photo from the Alpthal forest station. Retrieved November 11, 2016, from https://www.google.ch/maps

mimetype: image/jpeg

en: High quality meteorological data are needed for long-term forest ecosystem research, particularly in the light of global change. The long-term data series published here comprises almost 20 years of measurements for one meteorological station in Alpthal in Switzerland which is located within a natural coniferous forest (ALB) with Norway spruce (_Picea abies_; 180-230 yrs) as dominant tree species. The meteorological time series are presented in hourly time resolution of air temperature, relative humidity, precipitation, photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) and wind speed. Alpthal is part of the Long-term Forest Ecosystem Research Programme (LWF) established and maintained by the Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL.

climate-change

display_name: climate-change

long-term

display_name: long-term

meteo

display_name: meteo

meteorology

display_name: meteorology

par

display_name: par

precipitation

display_name: precipitation

relative-humidity

display_name: relative-humidity

swiss-forest-lab

display_name: swiss-forest-lab

temperature

display_name: temperature

wind-speed

display_name: wind-speed

education

en: Education and science

en: EnviDat: the Environmental Data Portal

en: Alpthal, Switzerland: Long-term forest meteorological data from the Long-term Forest Ecosystem Research Programme (LWF), from 1997 onwards


en: studibach alptal time-series switzerland groundwater

en:
Groundwater time series of the monitoring network in the Studibach (C7) catchment, Alptal, Switzerland published in
Rinderer M., van Meerveld I, McGlynn B. (2019): From points to patterns – Assessing runoff source area dynamics and hydrological connectivity using time series clustering. Water Resources Research, doi: 2018WR023886R

en: Groundwater time series between 2010 and 2014 of the distributed monitoring system in the Studibach (C7), Alptal, Switzerland. Data published in Rinderer M., van Meerveld I, McGlynn B. (2019): From points to patterns – Assessing runoff source area dynamics and hydrological connectivity using time series clustering. Water Resources Research, doi: 2018WR023886R

alptal

display_name: alptal

groundwater

display_name: groundwater

studibach

display_name: studibach

switzerland

display_name: switzerland

time-series

display_name: time-series

en: Groundwater time series Studibach (Rinderer et al., 2019, WRR)


maintainer: Joan Casanelles Abella

en: poznan hylaeus-communis trap-nest zurich osmia-cornuta chelostoma-florisomne plant-pollinator-interactions paris dna-metabarcoding antwerp urban-ecology tartu osmia-bicornis cavity-nesting-bees

en: Explanation data variables

en: Larval food composition

en: Urbanization poses threats and opportunities for the biodiversity of wild bees. A main gap relates to the food preferences of wild bees in urban ecosystems, which usually harbour large numbers of plant species, particularly at the larval stage. This data sets describes the larval food of four wild bee species (i.e. Chelostoma florisomne, Hylaeus communis, Osmica bicornis and Osmia cornuta) and three genera (i.e. Chelostoma sp., Hylaeus sp, and Osmia sp.) common in urban areas in five different European cities (i.e. Antwerp, Paris, Poznan, Tartu and Zurich). This data results from a European-level study aimed at understanding the effects of urbanization on biodiversity across different cities and citiscapes, and a Swiss project aimed at understanding the effects of urban ecosystems in wild bee feeding behaviour. Wild bees were sampled using standardized trap-nests in 80 sites (32 in Zurich and 12 in each of the remaining cities), selected following a double gradient of available habitat at local and landscape scales. Larval pollen was obtained from the bee nests and identified using DNA metabarconding. The data provides the plant composition at the species or genus level of the different bee nests of the studied species in the studied sites of the five European cities. For Hylaeus communis, this is the first study in reporting larval food composition.

antwerp

display_name: antwerp

cavity-nesting-bees

display_name: cavity-nesting-bees

chelostoma-florisomne

display_name: chelostoma-florisomne

dna-metabarcoding

display_name: dna-metabarcoding

hylaeus-communis

display_name: hylaeus-communis

osmia-bicornis

display_name: osmia-bicornis

osmia-cornuta

display_name: osmia-cornuta

paris

display_name: paris

plant-pollinator-interactions

display_name: plant-pollinator-interactions

poznan

display_name: poznan

tartu

display_name: tartu

trap-nest

display_name: trap-nest

urban-ecology

display_name: urban-ecology

zurich

display_name: zurich

en: Larval food composition of four wild bee species in five European cities


en: core research-data-management raster geodata gridded-data video-encoding sentinel-2 time-series

en: CORE Dataset (80 GB)

media_type: CORE

en: View publication in the Digital Object Repository at WSL (DORA)

media_type: HTML

format: HTML

media_type: .sh

en:
Shell script to reproduce the CORE format. You can 1) download and unzip the file, 2) make the script executable and 3) run it.
Disclaimer: only provided for peer review. Proper software for working with CORE will become available in time on https://github.com/EnviDat/?q=core (both Web/JS for Frontend and Python for Backend).

en:
Shell script to extract data from the CORE format. You can 1) download and unzip the file, 2) make the script executable and 3) run it.
Disclaimer: only provided for peer review. Proper software will become available in time on https://github.com/EnviDat/?q=core (both Web/JS for Frontend and Python for Backend).

en:
DISCLAIMER: CORE is still in development. Interested parties are warmly invited to join common development, to comment, discuss, find bugs, etc.

Acknowledgement: The CORE format was proudly inspired by the Cloud Optimized GeoTIFF ([COG](https://www.cogeo.org/)) format, by considering how to leverage the ability of clients issuing HTTP GET range requests for a time-series of remote sensing and aerial imagery (instead of just one image).

License: The Cloud Optimized Raster Encoding (CORE) specifications are released to the public domain under a Creative Commons 1.0 CC0 "No Rights Reserved" international license. You can reuse the information contained herein in any way you want, for any purposes and without restrictions.

-----------------------

Summary:
The Cloud Optimized Raster Encoding (CORE) format is being developed for the efficient storage and management of gridded data by applying video encoding algorithms. It is mainly designed for the exchange and preservation of large time series data in environmental data repositories, while in the same time enabling more efficient workflows on the cloud. It can be applied to any large number of similar (in pixel size and image dimensions) raster data layers. CORE is not designed to replace COG but to work together with COG for a collection of many layers (e.g. by offering a fast preview of layers when switching between layers of a time series).

WARNING: Currently only applicable to RGB/Byte imagery. The final CORE specifications may probably be very different from what is written herein or CORE may not ever become productive due to a myriad of reasons (see also 'Major issues to be solved').

With this early public sharing of the format we explicitly support the Open Science agenda, which implies "shifting from the standard practices of publishing research results in scientific publications towards sharing and using all available knowledge at an earlier stage in the research process" (quote from: European Commission, Directorate General for Research and Innovation, 2016. Open innovation, open science, open to the world).

CORE Specifications:

1) a MP4 or WebM video digital multimedia container format (or any future video container playable as HTML video in major browsers)

2) a free to use or open video compression codec such as H.264, VP9, or AV1 (or any future video codec that is open sourced or free to use for end users)

Note: H.264 is currently recommended because of the wide usage with support in all major browsers, fast encoding due to acceleration in hardware (which is currently not the case for AV1 or VP9) and the fact that MPEG LA has allowed the free use for streaming video that is free to the end users. However, please note that H.264 is restricted by patents and its use in proprietary or commercial software requires the payment of royalties to [MPEG LA](https://www.mpegla.com/programs/avc-h-264/). However, when AV1 matures and accelerated hardware encoding becomes available, AV1 is expected to offer 30% to 50% smaller file size in comparison with H.264, while retaining the [same quality](https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/Encode/AV1).

3) the encoding frame rate should be of one frame per second (fps) with each layer segmented in internal tiles, similar to COG, ordered by the main use case when accessing the data: either layer contiguous or tile contiguous;

Note: The internal tile arrangement should support an easy navigation inside the CORE video format, depending on the use case.

4) a CORE file is optimised for streaming with the moov atom at the beginning of the file (e.g. with -movflags faststart) and optional additional optimisations depending on the codec used (e.g. -tune fastdecode -tune zerolatency for H.264)

5) metadata tags inside the moov atom for describing and using geographic image data (that are preferably compatible with the [OGC GeoTIFF standard](https://www.ogc.org/standards/geotiff) or any future standard accepted by the geospatial community) as well as list of original file names corresponding to each CORE layer

6) it needs to encode similar source rasters (such as time series of rasters with the same extent and resolution, or different tiles of the same product; each input raster should be having the same image and pixel size)

7) it provides a mechanism for addressing and requesting overviews (lower resolution data) for a fast display in web browser depending on the map scale (currently external overviews)

Major issues to be solved:

- Internal overviews (similar to COG), by chaining lower resolution videos in the same MP4 container for fast access to overviews first); Currently, overviews are kept as separate files, as external overviews.

- Metadata encoding (how to best encode spatial extent, layer names, and so on, for each of the layer inside the series, which may have a different geographical extent, etc...; Known issues: adding too many tags with FFmpeg which are not part of the standard MP4 moov atom; metadata tags have a limited string length.

- Applicability beyond RGB/Byte datasets; defining a standard way of converting cell values from Int16/UInt16/UInt32/Int32/Float32/Float64/ data types into multi-band Byte values (and reconstructing them back to the original data type within acceptable thresholds)

Example

Notice: The provided CORE (.mp4) examples contain modified Copernicus Sentinel data [2018-2021].

For generating the CORE examples provided, 50 original Sentinel 2 (S-2) TCI data images from an area located inside Switzerland were downloaded from www.copernicus.eu, and then transformed into CORE format using ffmpeg with H.264 encoding using the [x264 library](https://www.videolan.org/developers/x264.html).

For full reproducibility, we provide the original data set and results, as well scripts for data encoding and extraction (see resources).

core

display_name: core

geodata

display_name: geodata

gridded-data

display_name: gridded-data

raster

display_name: raster

research-data-management

display_name: research-data-management

video-encoding

display_name: video-encoding

envidat

en: EnviDat is the WSL data portal providing unified and managed access to environmental monitoring and research data. The portal has the capability to host and publish data sets. Through the sharing of unique and high-value data sets worldwide, EnviDat fosters research and contributes to advancing environmental science.


maintainer: Dirk Nikolaus Karger

en: free-climate-data climate temperature climate-change precipitation bioclim climate-layers climatology

en: CHELSA Technical Documentation

en: Technical documentation document including the variable names, units, scaling, offset, and background.

en: CHELSA V1.2 (deprecated)

media_type: geotiff

en: CHELSA Version 1.2 based on ERA-Interim forcings and CMIP5

format: GeoTIFF

en: CHELSA V2.1 (current)

en: CHELSA Version 2.1 based on ERA5 forcings and CMIP6

en:
High-resolution information on climatic conditions is essential to many applications in environmental and ecological sciences. Here we present the CHELSA (Climatologies at high resolution for the earth’s land surface areas) data of downscaled temperature and precipitation to a high resolution of 30 arc sec. The temperature algorithm is based on statistical downscaling of atmospheric temperatures. The precipitation algorithm incorporates orographic predictors including wind fields, valley exposition, and boundary layer height, with a subsequent bias correction.

CHELSA data published in EnviDat includes the deprecated version 1.2 (originally published under 10.5061/dryad.kd1d4). Please use the current 2.1 version.

Paper Citation:
 > _Karger DN. et al. Climatologies at high resolution for the earth’s land surface areas, Scientific Data, 4, 170122 (2017) [doi: 10.1038/sdata.2017.122](https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2017.122)._

bioclim

display_name: bioclim

climate

display_name: climate

climate-change

display_name: climate-change

climate-layers

display_name: climate-layers

climatology

display_name: climatology

free-climate-data

display_name: free-climate-data

precipitation

display_name: precipitation

temperature

display_name: temperature

education

en: Education and science

en: EnviDat: the Environmental Data Portal


maintainer: Rebecca Mott

en: snow-patch dischmex patchy-snow-covers eddy-covariance-measurements turbulent-sensible-heat-fluxes

media_type: application/zip

en: Eddy-covariance measurement with an ultrasonic anemometer (R.M. Young Company) in 3.3 m.

format: ZIP

mimetype: application/zip

en: Eddy-covariance measurement with an ultrasonic anemometer (CSAT3, Campbell Scientific Inc.) in 3.2 m on a daily basis.

en: Gletschboden setup

media_type: image/png

en: Background map based on data © 2014/2016 swisstopo (JD100042)

format: PNG

mimetype: image/png

en: Eddy-covariance measurement with an ultrasonic anemometer (R.M. Young Company) in 3.5 m.

en: Eddy-covariance measurement with an ultrasonic anemometer (CSAT3, Campbell Scientific Inc.) in 1.7 m on a daily basis.

en: Eddy-covariance measurement with an ultrasonic anemometer (DA-600, Kaijo-Denki) in 0.3 m on a daily basis.

en: Eddy-covariance measurement with an ultrasonic anemometer (R.M. Young Company) in 0.7 m.

en: Eddy-covariance measurement with an ultrasonic anemometer (CSAT3, Campbell Scientific, Inc.) in 2.6 m.

en: Eddy-covariance measurement with an ultrasonic anemometer (CSAT3, Campbell Scientific, Inc.) in 2.2 m.

en: Output explanation

format: XLS

en:
This dataset contains eddy-covariance measurements in the ablation period of 2014-2016. Measurements were taken from two turbulence towers over a long-lasting snow patch, which are 5 m apart from each other (2014 and 2015). The turbulence towers were equipped with two YOUNG ultrasonic anemometers mounted 0.7 m (in 2014) and 3.3 m (in 2015) above snow-free ground, two ultrasonic anemometers (CSAT3, Campbell Scientific, Inc.) mounted at 2.6 m (in 2014) and 2.2 m (in 2015) above snow-free ground and one anemometer (DA-600, Kaijo Denki) mounted at 0.3 m above snow surface.

The measurement setup changed in 2016 and includes a measurement above the snow-free ground in upwind direction (Swiss coordinates: 790191/176689). The measurement tower is equipped with one ultrasonic anemometer (CSAT3, Campbell Scientific, Inc.) in 3.3 m above the snow-free ground. Additionally, one measurement tower is installed above the long-Lasting snow patch and equipped with the same setup as 2015.

Turbulence data were sampled at a frequency of 20 Hz. The processing of the data to quality controlled fluxes has been done with the Biomicrometeorology flux software (Thomas et al., 2009). The program applies plausibility tests and a despiking test after Vickers and Mahrt (1997) on the measured data. The routine further applies a time-lag correction and considers the deployment (e.g. the sonic azimuth). A frequency response correction (Moore, 1986) is done and a three-dimensional rotation is performed. Finally, quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) flags after Foken et al., (2004) are issued and fast Fourier transform power and co-spectra are calculated. The change in snow height is considered in the post-processing for every measurement day. The turbulence data were averaged to 30 minute intervals.

dischmex

display_name: dischmex

eddy-covariance-measurements

display_name: eddy-covariance-measurements

patchy-snow-covers

display_name: patchy-snow-covers

snow-patch

display_name: snow-patch

turbulent-sensible-heat-fluxes

display_name: turbulent-sensible-heat-fluxes

en: DISCHMEX - Impact of extreme land-surface heterogeneity on micrometeorology over spring snow-cover


maintainer: Benjamin Reuter

en: avalanche-problem-type weissfluhjoch avalanche-danger avalanche avalanche-activity snow-cover-modeling snowpack snow-instability crocus snow

en: 2015-2016 Seismic avalanche acitivity catalogue

media_type: .csv

en:
Avalanches were indentified in seismic data recorded by two seismic arrays, one deployed at Wannengrat (2,500 m) and another one deployed in the Dischma valley (2,000 m).
The data cover the period from 01.01.2016 - 30.04.2016 and are presented in Figure 7 in Reuter et al. (2021).

en: 2015-2016 Avalanche problem types from Crocus

en:
Avalanche problem types were derived from a snow cover simulation with the model Crocus for the winter season 2015-2016 at the Weissfluhjoch study plot, Davos, CH.
The data cover the period 01.01.2016-30.04.2016. The binary indicator (0,1) tells whether an avalanche problem type was identified in the snow cover simulation (1) or not (0).
The data are presented in Figure 7 in Reuter et al. (2021).

en: 1999-2017 Avalanche problem types from Crocus

en:
Avalanche problem types were derived from snow cover simulations with the model Crocus at the Weissfluhjoch study plot, Davos, CH.
The data cover the winter seasons between 1999-2017 and include the simulated annual frequencies of new snow, wind slab, persistent weak layer, aging-persistent weak layer and wet snow problem types.
The data are presented in Figure 8 in Reuter et al. (2021).

en: 2015-2016 Avalanche problem types from SNOWPACK

en:
Avalanche problem types were derived from a snow cover simulation with the model SNOWAPCK for the winter season 2015-2016 at the Weissfluhjoch study plot, Davos, CH.
The data cover the period 01.01.2016-30.04.2016. The binary indicator (0,1) tells whether an avalanche problem type was identified in the snow cover simulation (1) or not (0).
The data are presented in Figure 7 in Reuter et al. (2021).

en: 1999-2017 Avalanche problem types from SNOWPACK

en:
Avalanche problem types were derived from snow cover simulations with the model SNOWPACK at the Weissfluhjoch study plot, Davos, CH.
The data cover the winter seasons between 1999-2017 and include the simulated annual frequencies of new snow, wind slab, persistent weak layer, aging-persistent weak layer and wet snow problem types.
The data are shown in Figure 8 in Reuter et al. (2021).

en:
Avalanche problem types were derived from snow cover simulations with the models Crocus and SNOWPACK at the Weissfluhjoch study plot, Davos, CH. The data include annual frequencies of avalanche problem types for the seasons 1999-2017 and daily presence of avalanche problem types for the period 01.01.2016 - 30.04.2016.
Avalanche activity was derived from two seismic sensor arrays deployed no further than 15 km from Weissfluhjoch, Davos, CH. The data cover the period 01.01.2016 - 30.04.2016.

avalanche

display_name: avalanche

avalanche-activity

display_name: avalanche-activity

avalanche-danger

display_name: avalanche-danger

avalanche-problem-type

display_name: avalanche-problem-type

crocus

display_name: crocus

snow

display_name: snow

snow-cover-modeling

display_name: snow-cover-modeling

snow-instability

display_name: snow-instability

snowpack

display_name: snowpack

weissfluhjoch

display_name: weissfluhjoch

envidat

en: EnviDat is the WSL data portal providing unified and managed access to environmental monitoring and research data. The portal has the capability to host and publish data sets. Through the sharing of unique and high-value data sets worldwide, EnviDat fosters research and contributes to advancing environmental science.

en: Simulated avalanche problem types and seismic avalanche activity around Weissfluhjoch


maintainer: Frank Techel

en: avalanche-forecast warning-regions snow european-alps danger-level

en: Forecast avalanche danger level

en: contains the highest forecast danger level (dangerLevelMax) for each day and warning region

en: shape file warning regions Alps

en:
This dataset contains the data used in the publication by Techel et al., 2018 _Spatial consistency and bias in avalanche forecasts - a case study in the European Alps_ (Nat Haz Earth Syst Sci).
For details on the data please refer to this publication.
The dataset contains the following:
- shape files for the warning regions in the Alps
- highest forecast danger level for each warning region and day

avalanche-forecast

display_name: avalanche-forecast

danger-level

display_name: danger-level

european-alps

display_name: european-alps

warning-regions

display_name: warning-regions

education

en: Education and science

en: EnviDat: the Environmental Data Portal

en: Forecast avalanche danger level European Alps 2011 - 2015


greenland-shrubs-and-microclimate

maintainer: Nathalie Chardon

title_for_slug: greenland-shrubs-and-microclimate

en: arctic climate sdm field-data validation accessible-shrub-forest

en: Kangerluarsunnguaq

en:
 Collected August 2020 (PI: Nathalie Isabelle Chardon)

These data collected August 2020 (PI: Nathalie Isabelle Chardon). Please contact N. I. Chardon (nathalie.chardon_at_gmail.com) for individual quadrat (i.e. 1 m x 1 m) data, which are averaged at the 90 m spatial grid here.

 COLUMN ABBREVIATIONS

 Metadata for 90 m spatial grid

id: sampling zone and unique 90 m grid identifier

long: WGS84 longitude

lat: WGS84 latitude

x_stere: longitude in Polar Stereographic (EPSG 4326)

y_stere: latitude in Polar Stereographic (EPSG 4326)

date: sampling day.month.year

 Species presence [1] or absence [0] at grid level

alcr: _Alnus crispa_

bena: _Betula nana_

dila: _Diapensia lapponica_

emni: _Empetrum nigrum_

hahy: _Harimanella hypoides_

lopr: _Loiseleuria procumbens_

oxpa: _Oxycoccus palustre_

phca: _Phyllodoce caerulea_

rhod: _Rhododendron_ sp.

saar: _Salix arctica_

sagl: _Salix glauca_

sahe: _Salix herbacea_

vaul: _Vaccinium uliginosum_

drin: _Dryas integrifolia_

thpr: _Thymus praecox_

 Habitat characteristics [% cover]

shrub: all shrub species

gram: graminoids

forb: forbs

bryo: bryophytes

lich: lichens

litt: litter

bare: bare ground

stone: stones (> 2 cm)

org: organic crust

 Shrub species height (maximum vegetative height) [mm] and cover (estimated in 1x1 m quadrat) [%]

alcr_c: _Alnus crispa_ cover

alcr_h: _Alnus crispa_ height

bena_c: _Betula nana_ cover

bena_h: _Betula nana_ height

dila_c: _Diapensia lapponica_ cover

dila_h: _Diapensia lapponica_ height

emni_c: _Empetrum nigrum_ cover

emni_h: _Empetrum nigrum_ height

hahy_c: _Harimanella hypoides_ cover

hahy_h: _Harimanella hypoides_ height

lopr_c: _Loiseleuria procumbens_ cover

lopr_h: _Loiseleuria procumbens_ height

oxpa_c: _Oxycoccus palustre_ cover

oxpa_h: _Oxycoccus palustre_ height

phca_c: _Phyllodoce caerulea_ cover

phca_height: _Phyllodoce caerulea_ height

rhod_c: _Rhododendron_ sp. cover

rhod_h: _Rhododendron_ sp. height

saar_c: _Salix arctica_ cover

saar_h: _Salix arctica_ height

sagl_c: _Salix glauca_ cover

sagl_h: _Salix glauca_ height

sahe_c: _Salix herbacea_ cover

sahe_h: _Salix herbacea_ height

vaul_c: _Vaccinium uliginosum_ cover

vaul_h: _Vaccinium uliginosum_ height

drin_c: _Dryas integrifolia_ cover

drin_h: _Dryas integrifolia_ height

 Community characteristics

rich_pa: shrub species richness at grid level

rich: shrub species richness averaged across 3 1x1 m sampling quadrats per grid

shan: Shannon diversity (‘vegan’ package; Oksanen et al. 2019)

comp_bena: shrub competition on _Betula nana_ (i.e. summed cover of non-_B. nana_ species) [% cover]

comp_sagl: shrub competition on _Salix glauca_ (i.e. summed cover of non-_S. glauca_ species) [% cover]

ht_cwm: maximum shrub canopy height (i.e. community weighted mean by abundance of maximum shrub height) [mm]

 Topography and terrain wetness (calculated from)

tcws: Tasseled Cap Wetness component (Sentinal images)

slope: slope angle (MEaSUREs Greenland Ice Mapping Project Digital Elevation Model v. 1; Howat et al., 2014, 2015) [º]

twi: SAGA wetness index (MEaSUREs Greenland Ice Mapping Project Digital Elevation Model v. 1; Howat et al., 2014, 2015)

asp: aspect (MEaSUREs Greenland Ice Mapping Project Digital Elevation Model v. 1; Howat et al., 2014, 2015) [º]

 Downscaled climate (time series 1984 – 2013)

insoljja: average June-August insolation [MJ cm-2 yr-1]

precipmam: cumulative March-May precipitation [mm]

tempcont: yearly maximum – minimum temperature [ºC]

tempmin: yearly minimum temperature [ºC]

precipjja: cumulative June-August precipitation [mm]

tempjja: average maximum June-August temperature [ºC]

tempmax: yearly maximum temperature [ºC]

en: Nuup Kangerlua

en:
 Collected July-August 2011-2013 (PI: Jacob Nabe-Nielsen)

These data collected July-August 2011-2013 (PI: Jacob Nabe-Nielsen). Please contact J. Nabe-Nielsen (jnn_at_ecos.au.dk) to request access to data on all surveyed shrub species. Available here are only data used in Chardon et al. 2022.

 COLUMN ABBREVIATIONS

 Metadata for 90 m spatial grid

year: sampling year

alt: average altitude of grid as recorded during field surveys [m]

long: WGS84 longitude

lat: WGS84 latitude

x_stere: longitude in Polar Stereographic (EPSG 4326)

y_stere: latitude in Polar Stereographic (EPSG 4326)

 Species presence [1] or absence [0] at grid level

pa_bena: _Betula nana_

pa_sagl: _Salix glauca_

 Shrub species cover (calculated from pin hits in 0.7 x 0.7 m frame, based on total of 25 hits) [%]

cov_bena: _Betula nana_ cover

cov_sagl: _Salix glauca_ cover

 Downscaled climate (time series 1984 – 2013)

tempjja: average maximum June-August temperature [ºC]

tempmax: yearly maximum temperature [ºC]

tempmin: yearly minimum temperature [ºC]

tempcont: yearly maximum – minimum temperature [ºC]

precipmam: cumulative March-May precipitation [mm]

precipjja: cumulative June-August precipitation [mm]

insoljja: average June-August insolation [MJ cm-2 yr-1]

 Topography and terrain wetness (calculated from)

twi: SAGA wetness index (MEaSUREs Greenland Ice Mapping Project Digital Elevation Model v. 1; Howat et al., 2014, 2015)

slope: slope angle (MEaSUREs Greenland Ice Mapping Project Digital Elevation Model v. 1; Howat et al., 2014, 2015) [º]

asp: aspect (MEaSUREs Greenland Ice Mapping Project Digital Elevation Model v. 1; Howat et al., 2014, 2015) [º]

tcws: Tasseled Cap Wetness component (Sentinal images)

 Community characteristics

rich: shrub species richness averaged across pin-point frames per grid

shan: Shannon diversity (‘vegan’ package; Oksanen et al. 2019)

comp_bena: shrub competition on Betula nana (i.e. summed cover of non-_B. nana_ species) [% cover]

comp_sagl: shrub competition on Salix glauca (i.e. summed cover of non-_S. glauca_ species) [% cover]

en: GitLab Repository

media_type: .zip

en: Zip drive of GitLab repository contents (https://gitlab.com/nathaliechardon/gl_microclim).

en:
 Study Aim

We collected these data to alternatively train and validate high resolution (~ 90 m) Species Distribution Models (SDMs) and Species Abundance Models (SAMs) for _Betula nana_ L. (dwarf birch, Betulaceae) and _Salix glauca_ L. (grey willow, Salicaceae) in Southwest Greenland to assess how well such models can predict local-scale patterns.

 Data Description

Individual (presence-absence, abundance, maximum vegetative height) and community (species composition, maximum canopy height) shrub data for two fjords near Nuuk, Southwest Greenland. Also provided are corresponding downscaled climate data as well as calculated topographic and terrain wetness indicator variables.

 Nuup Kangerlua (Godthåbsfjord)

_Betula nana_ and _Salix glauca_ presence-absence, abundance, community species richness

 Kangerluarsunnguaq (Kobbefjord)

Shrub presence-absence, abundance, maximum vegetative height, community composition, maximum shrub canopy height

 Methods

 Field survey in Nuup Kangerlua

We conducted a stratified systematic plant survey along the length of Nuup Kangerlua (NK) fjord in Soutwesth Greenland (Fig. 1 in Chardon et al. 2022; following Nabe-Nielsen et al., 2017). At five distinct sites, we sampled along elevational gradients to collect data on presences, absences, abundance, and species composition of all woody species using a 0.7 x 0.7 m pin-point frame (Fig. 1e in Chardon et al. 2022). For model training, we converted these pin-point data to percent cover estimates based on the number of pins dropped (n = 25 per plot) and averaged them across the 119 spatio-climatic grids (see next section) corresponding to the plot locations (for details see Appendix S2 in Chardon et al. 2022).

 Field survey in Kangerluarsunnguaq

We conducted a random stratified plant survey in Kangerluarsunnguaq (K) fjord in Southwest Greenland. We used a preliminary Species Abundance Model trained with summed pin counts of _Betula nana_ in NK fjord (see Fig. S1.3 in Chardon et al. 2022) to stratify the ~ 27 x 17 km fjord landscape into low, medium, and high abundances classes. We randomly selected 90 x 90 m spatio-climatic grids to survey in each class for a total of 200 grids, ensuring that they were accessible by foot or boat (for details see Appendix S2 in Chardon et al. 2022). Within each grid, we sampled within three 1 m2 quadrats arranged in a randomly rotated equilateral triangle centered on the mid-point of the cell. We used a gridded sampling quadrat with 1% delineations (Fig. 1h in Chardon et al. 2022) to record woody species presences, absences, and composition, estimated percent cover, and measured maximum shrub species vegetatitve height. At every plot, we also visually scanned the area in a 20 m radius from the plot and recorded the presence of any additional shrub species to estimate grid-level species richness. As in NK fjord, we averaged these data at the grid level (for details see Appendix S2 in Chardon et al. 2022).

 Biotic variables

We calculated biotic microscale variables from the plant survey data collected in NK and K fjords. We calculated shrub species richness, diversity, and competition (i.e. sum of non-B. nana or non-S. glauca pin hits or percent cover). In K fjord, we also calculated canopy height as the community weighted mean (by abundance) of maximum vegetative shrub height.

 Climate variables

We computed high resolution temperature, precipitation, and insolation for local scale data for the study area by statistically downscaling climate time series (1982 - 2013) from the monthly CHELSA data (Karger et al. 2017). We downscaled these data from 30 arc sec (~ 400 m at the latitude of our study) to our target grid size of ~ 90 m with geographic weighted regression and using the MEaSUREs Greenland Ice Mapping Project (GIMP) Digital Elevation Model (DEM) v. 1 (Howat et al., 2014, 2015). We then calculated 30-year averages of the climate parameters: average summer (June – August) maximum temperature, yearly maximum temperature, yearly minimum temperature, temperature continentality (yearly max. - min. temperatures), cumulative Spring (March – May) precipitation, cumulative summer precipitation, and average summer incident solar radiation (henceforth, insolation) (for calculation details see Appendices S2, S3 in Chardon et al. 2022 and Appendix S2 in von Oppen et al. 2021).

 Topography and terrain wetness indicator variables

We calculated several topographic and terrain wetness indices at a local scale. We derived slope, aspect, and the SAGA wetness index (hereafter TWI; Boehner et al., 2002; Boehner and Selige, 2006) from the GIMP DEM. TWI is a measure of how ‘wet’ an area is, based on water drainage from the surrounding landscape. We also calculated the tasseled cap wetness component (hereafter TCW, Crist and Cicone 1984) from satellite images (for details see Appendices S2, S3 in Chardon et al. 2022) as an alternative measure of wetness.

 Computer code

Attached as zip file and available on GitLab (https://gitlab.com/nathaliechardon/gl_microclim)

 Third-party data

Data used to calculate climate, topography, and terrain wetness indicator variables are publicly available (see Appendix S2 in Chardon et al. 2022 for all data references).

accessible-shrub-forest

display_name: accessible-shrub-forest

arctic

display_name: arctic

climate

display_name: climate

field-data

display_name: field-data

sdm

display_name: sdm

validation

display_name: validation

en: Greenland shrubs and microclimate


en: snow 18o stable-water-isotope advection metamorphism

en: Read-me

media_type: text/plain

en: A short description of the data contained in the zipped-file. Recommended for reading before downloading the dataset.

en: Data files and read-me

en: raw data and micro-CT data available from contacts

en:
Stable water isotopes (δ18O) obtained from snow and ice samples of polar regions are used to reconstruct past climate variability, but heat and mass transport processes can affect the isotopic composition. Here we present an experimental study on the effect on the snow isotopic composition by airflow through a snow pack in controlled laboratory conditions. The influence of isothermal and controlled temperature gradient conditions on the δ18O content in the snow and interstitial water vapor is elucidated. The observed disequilibrium between snow and vapor isotopes led to exchange of isotopes between snow and vapor under non-equilibrium processes, significantly changing the δ18O content of the snow. The type of metamorphism of the snow had a significant influence on this process.
Ebner, P. P., Steen-Larsen, H. C., Stenni, B., Schneebeli, M., and Steinfeld, A.: Experimental observation of transient δ18O interaction between snow and advective airflow under various temperature gradient conditions, The Cryosphere Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2017-16, accepted, 2017.

advection

display_name: advection

metamorphism

display_name: metamorphism

stable-water-isotope

display_name: stable-water-isotope

envidat

en: EnviDat is the WSL data portal providing unified and managed access to environmental monitoring and research data. The portal has the capability to host and publish data sets. Through the sharing of unique and high-value data sets worldwide, EnviDat fosters research and contributes to advancing environmental science.

en: Experiments on stable water isotopes,  snow metamorphism, and advection


en: electrodermal-activity sense-of-place landscape place-attachment urban-ecology

en: 05. Visuals

media_type: ZIP

en: 03. Publication Ready Data

en: 01. EDA Processed Data

en: 00. EDA Raw Data

en: 02. Questionnaire Data

en: 04. Scripts

en: This repository contains data on EDA measurements of visitors with different cultural backgrounds in virtual urban park settings. The parks are a Persian garden (Shiraz, Iran) and a historical park in Zurich, Switzerland. The cultural background of the visitors is Persian and Central European. The repository contains raw data from EDA, processed time series and statistical procedures.

electrodermal-activity

display_name: electrodermal-activity

landscape

display_name: landscape

place-attachment

display_name: place-attachment

sense-of-place

display_name: sense-of-place

urban-ecology

display_name: urban-ecology

education

en: Education and science

en: EnviDat: the Environmental Data Portal

en: Electrodermal Activity (EDA) of Bi-cultural Visitors In Virtual Park Settings


lwf-tea-bag-sites

maintainer: Marcus Schaub

title_for_slug: lwf-tea-bag-sites

en: decomposition forest carbon modeling litter green-tea roiboos tea-bag verification

en: Site Information

en: Descriptive information on sites

en:
Decomposition of plant litter is a key process for the transfer of carbon and nutrients in ecosystems. Carbon contained in the decaying biomass is released to the atmosphere as respired CO2, and may contribute to global warming. Litterbag studies have been used to improve our knowledge of the drivers of litter decomposition, but they lack comparability because litter quality is plant species-specific. The use of commercial tea bags as a standard substrate was suggested in order to harmonize studies, where green tea and rooibos represent more labile and more recalcitrant C compounds as surrogates of local litter.
The tea bag approach was implemented on eight sites of the Swiss long-term Forest Ecosystem Research (LWF) network (https://www.wsl.ch/LWF). This allowed us to take advantage from the existing infrastructure and data from a previous litterbag study with local litter. In Beatenberg and Schaenis, additional elevation transects were established (1200-1800 m and 540-1150 m, respectively) to examine particularly the effect of temperature on decomposition. In Pfynwald (https://www.wsl.ch/de/ueber-die-wsl/versuchsanlagen-und-labors/flaechen-im-wald/pfynwald.html) and Salgesch, infrastructure of running projects was used to examine the effect of drought and understory removal, respectively. In Novaggio, tea bags were incubated in summer and winter to study the effect of seasonality particularly precipitation. Tea bags are collected after 3, 12, 24, and 36 months; for the two time-shifted experiments additionally after 6 and 9 months.
The study has two primary objectives. Firstly, it contributes to TeaComposition initiative (http://teacomposition.org/) which aims at investigating long-term litter decomposition and its key drivers at present as well as under different future climate scenarios using a common protocol and standard litter (tea) across nine terrestrial biomes. Secondly, the data are used to further develop decomposition models such as Yasso (http://en.ilmatieteenlaitos.fi/yasso) which is used by several countries, including Switzerland to estimate the annual carbon fluxes in dead wood, litter, and soil for reporting in National Greenhouse Gas Inventories under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol.

carbon

display_name: carbon

decomposition

display_name: decomposition

forest

display_name: forest

green-tea

display_name: green-tea

litter

display_name: litter

modeling

display_name: modeling

roiboos

display_name: roiboos

tea-bag

display_name: tea-bag

verification

display_name: verification

en: LWF-Tea bag sites


en: shortwave-radiation snow albedo photovoltaic winter-energy-production

en: Data Forward Scattering

en: GROUNDEYE model for multiple forward scattering in snow-covered terrain. Meteorological and topographical input data set for the Meierhofertäli near Davos, Switzerland, September 2017 - August 2018. Output data for September 2017 - August 2018 at hourly resolution and every pixel. Post-processing scripts for plotting and analysis.

en:
 Overview
We present GROUNDEYE, a new model of radiative transfer over mountainous terrain, which considers for the first time the forward scattering properties of snow.
Embedded in the surface process model Alpine3D, the new terrain radiation model GROUNDEYE receives interpolated real weather data with diffuse and direct broadband shortwave radiation for each pixel as well as a spatially variable plane albedo from the module SNOWPACK.

 Format
The GROUNDEYE model is written in c++, as is the entire environment of Alpine3d. The input and output data sets are .xlsx or .txt format, pre- and postprocessing including the generation of all figures is in .R format.

 Structure
In Data_Forward_Scattering.zip you will find all necessary data and model details to
reproduce the results of the JGR publication "How forward-scattering snow and terrain change the Alpine radiation balance with application to solar panels"

 - 	Model Input Data contains the meteorological and topographic input data sets, the BRDF, and preprocessing scripts.
 - Model Code contains the full model Alpine3d including the radiative transfer module GROUNDEYE.
 - Model Output Data contains the results of the simulation of terrain irradiance and irradiance of solar panels; hourly resolution, 1. Sptember 2017 - 31. August 2018.
 - Measurements Solar Testsite contains information and measurements of the solar testsite at the Totalp near Davos, Switzerland.
 - Postprocessing contains all R-Scripts used for the analysis and
plotting of the corresponding data.

In each of these folders you will find detailed information in
the file 'About this Folder.txt'.

albedo

display_name: albedo

photovoltaic

display_name: photovoltaic

shortwave-radiation

display_name: shortwave-radiation

snow

display_name: snow

winter-energy-production

display_name: winter-energy-production

envidat

en: EnviDat is the WSL data portal providing unified and managed access to environmental monitoring and research data. The portal has the capability to host and publish data sets. Through the sharing of unique and high-value data sets worldwide, EnviDat fosters research and contributes to advancing environmental science.

en: Data, Code Link and Metadata on Forward Scattering of Snow at Totalp


en: afforestation mountain-forest stillberg foresty treeline-ecosystems davos

en: Site photo

media_type: JPEG

en: Documentation

media_type: application/msword

mimetype: application/msword

en: Dataset V1

media_type: GDB

en: This dataset has been depricated in favour of an updated version.

format: GDB

en:
#Background Information

A history of many centuries of seasonal livestock grazing of alpine pastures has significantly depressed the treeline in many European mountain ranges. Therefore, observations of treeline patterns are more likely to be obscured by historical land use than in regions with less human influence and might not provide relevant information about environmental factors that influence mortality and growth patterns at the natural high-elevation limit of tree existence. To overcome this, we used a large afforestation experiment in the Swiss Alps, "Stillberg", to address the following questions:

Can trees survive above the current treeline in the European Alps? Are environmental factors that influence spatial patterns of mortality the same as those that influence height growth? Does the relative importance of these environmental variables change over the first 40 years after planting as seedlings?

#Dataset
The 5 ha Stillberg long-term afforestation research area is located near Davos (Central Alps, Switzerland). The bottom of the afforestation is approximately at the current treeline and it covers an altitudinal gradient of more than 150 m (2075 to 2230 m a.s.l.; see picture above). Approximately 92'000 seedlings of three treeline species (Larix decidua, Pinus mugo ssp. uncinata and Pinus cembra) were systematically planted in 1975, and mortality and height growth were closely monitored during the following 40 years.

Publications
Barbeito, I., Dawes, M. A., Rixen, C., Senn, J. and Bebi, P. (2012), Factors driving mortality and growth at treeline: a 30-year experiment of 92 000 conifers. Ecology, 93: 389–401. http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/11-0384.1

afforestation

display_name: afforestation

davos

display_name: davos

foresty

display_name: foresty

mountain-forest

display_name: mountain-forest

stillberg

display_name: stillberg

treeline-ecosystems

display_name: treeline-ecosystems

en: Long-term treeline research dataset at Stillberg, Davos


en: aridity ground-temperature sdms precipitation soil frost-change-velocity

media_type: TIFF

en: Mean diurnal range modified from CHELSA

format: TIFF

media_type: tif

en: Precipitation seasonality from CHELSA

en: Mean annual temperature modified from CHELSA

en: Precipitation of driest quarter modified from CHELSA

en: Soil clay content modified from SoilGrids

en: Soil organic carbon content modified from SoilGrids

en: Frost change frequency modified from CHELSA

en: Soil pH modified from SoilGrids

en: The dataset contains seven environmental layers (average annual temperature, aridity [annual precipitation divided by annual potential evapotranspiration], frost change frequency, precipitation in the driest quarter, mean diurnal temperature range, and precipitation seasonality) modified from CHELSA (https://chelsa-climate.org/) and three soil layers (soil organic matter content, pH water, and clay content) modified from SoilGrids (https://soilgrids.org/).

aridity

display_name: aridity

frost-change-velocity

display_name: frost-change-velocity

ground-temperature

display_name: ground-temperature

precipitation

display_name: precipitation

sdms

display_name: sdms

soil

display_name: soil

education

en: Education and science

envidat

en: EnviDat: the Environmental Data Portal

en: Environmental layers for SDM simulations (GDPlants)