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The effects of climate change in the Alps
Climate change will influence the indigenous vegetation in unforeseeable ways.
How strong the influence will be is difficult to predict. Unarguably mountain
environments will experience greater changes than areas at lower altitudes.
Climate change affects the biological rhythm of plants, such as first emerging
leaves, first flowering, fruiting and leaf fall. Phenological observations, such
as these, have been recorded for many years in Botanical Gardens – but never at
high altitudes.
A Research project in the Alpine Garden on the Schachen
The Alpine Garden on the Schachen belongs to a network of Alpine
and Arctic Gardens, five of which are starting a phenological observation project.
Ten indicator plants have been chosen, vegetatively propagated and will be
distributed to participating Gardens, together with an observation key. The use
of cloned material for the observations will allow a direct comparability of the
results.
This undertaking is part of the KLIMAGRAD
project, which is coordinated by the Faculty for Ecological Climatology of the
TU München (Technical University
of Munich) and sponsored by the Bavarian Ministry for Environment and Health. As
an important part of the phenology project, a weather station has been erected in
the Alpine Garden on the Schachen which will record and send weather data throughout
the year.
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