Projects and research

Online course on non-native trees - Education

The team of the ALPTREES project, which is co-financed by the European Union via the Interreg Alpine Space Programme, produced a free online course to give everyone the opportunity to deepen his or her knowledge about the sustainable use and management of non-native trees in the Alpine Space.

Unit for Forest Biodiversity

High Five - Project

Measures for the conservation of native tree species of the Ethiopian Highlands: Linking genetic conservation to re-establishment of species diverse forests.

Department for Forest Biodiversity & Nature Conservation

Protection Forests in the Alpine Region – Adaptation Strategies to Climate Change - Project MOSAIC

Climate change is undeniably contributing to the increase in weather- and climate-related natural disasters, affecting Alpine communities. Natural disasters are often the result of compound events, which are combinations of multiple climate- and/or weather-related hazards that contribute to societal or environmental risks.

Unit for Snow & Avalanches

A Novel EU Project Provides Forest Information for Europe’s Roadmap Towards Climate Neutrality - Project

A better monitoring of Europe’s forest will help countries mitigate and adapt to climate change.

Department for Forest Inventory

NatWALD – Identification, selection, establishment & monitoring of new natural forest reserves - Project NatWALD

Natural forest reserves (NFR) have gained political and social importance due to current challenges related to climate change and the biodiversity crisis. The aim of the NatWALD project is to expand the existing network by setting up 15 new NFRs (approx. 500 ha) with a contract period of 20 years.

Unit for Natural Forest Reserves

Research group investigates the behaviour of forest fires - Project EMERGE

Forest fires have so far been a marginal topic in Austria, but in the future an increase in such events is expected. A group of researchers is currently investigating how the behaviour of fires in forests can be better assessed.

Unit for Remote Sensing

Flowers of Parkia biglobosa Foto: Marco Schmidt, CC BY-SA 3.0

Making Chromosomes Visible - Forest genetics

Parkia biglobosa (African locust bean) or Néré is a versatile tree species in Africa. Among other things, it has been and is the subject of a series of genetic examinations and provenance trials with the aim of selecting more drought-resistant forms. Despite all types of interest in this tree species, we have only poor knowledge […]

Unit for Provenance Research & Breeding

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

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

Sexuality vs. Sexuality Asexuality: The Importance of the Reproduction Mode for the dissemination of species - Ecogeography

As part of an FWF project, Christoph Dobeš examines the importance of the reproductive system for the geographical and ecological distribution of species.

Unit for Ecological Genetics

Climate change adaptation: Opportunities and risks of non-native tree species - Nature conservation

How individual non-native tree species will perform in the Austrian forests in the future will be investigated using, among other things, climate envelope models and in-situ surveys on selected plots.