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Forschungsteam, bestehend aus 10 Personen, stehen im Wald

Soil Warming Experiment Achenkirch - Long term experiment

The project investigates how global warming affects forest soil processes. A special focus lies on soil carbon. Forest soil store huge amounts of organic carbon which could be released into the atmosphere. Decomposer microbes mineralize dead organic matter such as leave and root litter and thereby release important nutrients for plant growth. A share of […]

Department for Forest Ecology & Soil

Katharina Lapin is the new head of the Department for Forest Biodiversity and Nature Conservation - New Department

The Federal Forest Research Center (BFW) has a new Department for Forest Biodiversity and Nature Conservation starting in 2021, and its head will be the respected scientist Dr. Katharina Lapin as of February 1, 2021.

Department for Forest Biodiversity & Nature Conservation
PARAmount: Interpretation of an Expert Survey by BFW

PARAmount: Interpretation of an Expert Survey by BFW - Questionnaire

Within the framework of the project PARAmount a Communication and Decision Support Tool (CDT) was developed, as a contribution to the highly emotional discussion about natural hazard management. Basic information was collected by means of an online survey in which respondents were asked to rate the importance of individual parameters for different process types. More […]

Runoff in the mountain region

Code of Practice for the Assessment of Surface Runoff Coefficients - Compendium

The first BFW “Code of Practice for the Assessment of Surface Runoff Coefficients for Alpine Soil/Vegetation Complexes in Torrential Rain” has been published in 2004 (in German language). The Interreg-South East Europe-Project CC-WaterS offered the opportunity to integrate some new findings in experimental runoff research and to release a report in English language in 2011. […]

Unit for Torrent Processes & Hydrology
Man sitting and held a drone in his hand

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) for testing torrent and avalanche control measurers - BAUWEKA

Potentials and limitations of utilizing new technologie to study natural hazard protection areas.

Unit for Snow & Avalanches

Exploring ICT solutions for snow and avalanche assessments - Report

The motivation for this exploratory study came from the observed increasing demand for up-to-date information on snow conditions and avalanches in decision-making processes.

Unit for Snow & Avalanches
Gruppenfoto der Teilnehmenden des Instituts für Naturgefahren an der INAC-Konferenz

First Inter-Alpine Natural Hazards Conference successfully carried out - Conference INAC

The first Inter-Alpine Natural Hazards Conference (INAC) took place in Innsbruck from May 5 to 7, 2025. Over 100 experts from Austria, Germany, France, Italy, Norway and Switzerland participated in the event. They came from the fields of science, industry, infrastructure and technology.

Unit for Snow & Avalanches
Buchenwald im Herbst, mit teils verfärbten Blättern

Climate change: How forest owners are being helped - ManageBeech Project

Global warming is forcing forest owners to adapt their forests to future climatic conditions. In the course of forest conversion, the future of the forest is to be secured with new tree species or combinations. But climate fitness is not the only goal: forests should be profitable, have a high level of biodiversity and also act as a greenhouse gas sink. How to reconcile all this is the focus of the two-year ACRP research project ManageBeech.

Department for Forest Ecology & Soil
Marshrooms on a trunk

Austrian Forest Biodiversity Index - Book recommendation

The national forest biodiversity index is an aggregate of suitable indicators based on the criteria reliability, validity and objectivity. The outcomes show a relatively high score for Austrian.

Department for Forest Biodiversity & Nature Conservation
Ansicht eines Bergwaldes mit Wasserfall in Rumänien

New Green Deal project (SUPERB) aims to improve forest restoration and ecosystem services -

Science and practice from across Europe are joining forces under the leadership of the European Forest Institute to ensure the long-term development of biodiversity and ecosystem services of our forests. The Austrian Research Centre for Forests (BFW) is contributing its expertise in silviculture, genetics and conservation in regeneration and afforestation measures to this effort.

Department for Forest Growth, Silviculture & Genetics

Development of a concept for the provision of forest reproductive material in Ethiopia - Juniperus procera

Ethiopia has embarked on one of the globally most ambitious programs of forest landscape restoration (FLR) with a commitment to restore more than 20 million hectare of degraded forest landscapes within the next 20 years

Unit for Ecological Genetics
Wald mit mehreren Douglasien

Correctly assessing non-native tree species in the Alpine region - ALPTREES Project

Robinia, Douglas fir and red oak were introduced to Europe several hundred years ago and are among the 530 tree species that are non-native to Europe. The international ALPTREES project has developed a risk assessment system for this purpose and published manuals on the management of non-native tree species in forests and urban areas.

Department for Forest Biodiversity & Nature Conservation