Research

Forest regeneration is a key issue in adaptive forest management. In several districts in the province of Carinthia 90 pairs of regeneration plots, one fenced, one unfenced, had been installed some years ago to monitor the regeneration success on areas in protective forests disturbed by storm and bark beetle infestations. The current project implements a measurement of the plots including analysis of browsing impact. Conclusions on wildlife management can then be drawn from the results.

The project aims to improve forest resilience in the municipalities of Bad Fischau-Brunn and Willendorf. The Fischauer Vorberge hills lie south of Vienna and are characterised by black pine forests, which are coming under increasing pressure from climate change and pest infestations. The forests border residential areas and are subject to a variety of ownership structures and land-use patterns. The project aims to develop a strategy to improve forest resilience and preserve forest ecosystem services in the municipalities. It involves assessing the current state of the forests, analysing climatic and site-specific conditions, evaluating forest ecosystem services, and identifying forest fire risk hotspots. A key component is the participatory involvement of stakeholders (forest owners, hunters, residents living near forests, public institutions) to identify their goals and expectations through workshops. Based on the results, management plans will be developed that include sustainable measures to improve forest health and reduce forest disturbances, particularly forest fires. The aim is to promote biodiversity and safeguard forest ecosystem services in the long term. The results will be compiled in the form of management plans and recommendations for action, with the involvement of the research activities of students’s.

The proposed project aims to analyse the new patterns of climatic extreme events (drought, floods, heat waves, e.g.) and design/develop the necessary tools for agriculture in the Danube region in order to be able to properly adapt and respond to such challenges. This will be done by developing and implementing a Danube transnational e-platform that will integrate climatic/water resources / agriculture database, maps, knowledge, tools, modelling, good practices for water management, for reducing drought in order to be prepared and adapt to climate change in the vulnerable areas for crops (winter wheat and maize) in the Danube Region. Through cooperation between country partners a standardised monitoring system for the phenological status of selected agricultural crops throughout the Danube Region will be established, serving as a basis to evaluate the crop specific water balances and yields. The TRANSFER Danube project aims to raise the awareness of policy makers and the private agricultural sector to the possible consequences of climate change on agricultural production. The beneficiaries of the project and the groups targeted by it are local and regional decision-makers in the field of environmental protection and agriculture, also people in the field of agricultural policies and farmers. The activities of the project will generate support for trans-disciplinary bilateral cooperation on partner institutions in the Danube area to tackle the challenges set by climate change in agriculture. The proposed activities and outputs will enhance the impact of agricultural and climate research in a wider community by promoting different types of tools, response strategies, knowledge transfer, circulation and access to the Danube transnational e-platform. The results of the project can be adapted to the Danube Region.