Université de Fribourg

Montanaqua: tackling water stress in the alps: water management options in the crans-montana-sierre region (valais)

Schneider, Flurina ; Bonriposi, Mariano ; Graefe, Olivier ; Herweg, Karl ; Homewood, Christine ; Huss, Matthias ; Kauzlaric, Martina ; Liniger, Hanspeter ; Rey, Emmanuel ; Reynard, Emmanuel ; Rist, Stephan ; Schädler, Bruno ; Weingartner, Rolf

In: GAIA - Ecological Perspectives for Science and Society, 2016, vol. 25, no. 3, p. 191–193

Transdisciplinary research is considered an appropriate mode of knowledge production in the search for pathways towards a more sustainable governance of natural resources. However, the co-production of new knowledge between scientists of different disciplines and nonacademic stakeholders is a challenge that requires novel research designs, methods, and approaches. The MontanAqua team has ...

Université de Fribourg

400 years of debris flow activity and triggering weather conditions: Ritigraben VS, Switzerland

Stoffel, Markus ; Lièvre, Igor ; Conus, Delphine ; Grichting, Michael A. ; Raetzo, Hugo ; Gärtner, Holger W. ; Monbaron, Michel

In: Arctic Antarctic and Alpine Research, 2005, vol. 37(3), p. 387-395

Three major rainfall events have caused considerable damage in the Valais region (Swiss Alps) since 1987. While important debris flows originating from periglacial environments were recorded during the August 1987 and September 1993 rainfall events, no debris flows occurred in October 2000. This paper aims at putting these large area events and the apparent increase in debris flow frequency into...

Université de Fribourg

Evidence of response of vegetation to environmental change on high-elevation sites in the Swiss Alps

Keller, Franciska ; Kienast, F. ; Beniston, Martin

In: Regional Environmental Change, 2000, vol. 1(2), p. 70

Climate change has in the past led to shifts in vegetation patterns; in a future, warmer climate due to enhanced greenhouse-gas concentrations, vegetation is also likely to be highly responsive to such warming. Mountain regions are considered to be particularly sensitive to such changes. In this paper we present an approach to assess the impact of climate change on long-term vegetation plots...

Université de Fribourg

Climate modeling at various spatial and temporal scales : where can dendrochronology help ?

Beniston, Martin

In: Dendrochronologia, 2002, vol. 20, no. 1, p. 117-131

This paper provides a brief overview of certain issues related to climate modeling and the role that dendrochronology can play, and has already played, in this context. Modeling is an essential approach to investigating the future evolution of the climate system in response to human activities. Tree-ring chronologies, on the other hand, have the capability of providing key parameters for...