The ExpeER call for Transnational Access (TA) proposals provides a unique opportunity for research teams and individuals to access some of Europe's major research infrastructures focused on ecosystem research. Each month, we will focus on one or two of these sites.

Focus on the Zöbelboden observational site (Austria)

Zöbelboden facilities

The Zöbelboden was established in 1992 as the only Integrated Monitoring station in Austria under the UN Convention on long-range transboundary air pollution (CLRTAP). In 2006, it became part of LTER Austria. It covers a small forested catchment (90 ha) of a karstic mountain range (500 to 950 m above sea level) in the Kalkalpen national park. The Zöbelboden represents one of the best known karst catchments in Europe with long-term data series of the major components of its ecosystems. Sampling of chemical specimen is done by local staff. Chemical analyses are carried out by the laboratory of the Umweltbundesamt in Vienna. All data and metadata from monitoring and research projects are stored in a semantically structured database.
• More information available here.
• Moovie "Monitoring & Forschung - 20 Jahre Zöbelboden"

• What are the new developments since the beginning of ExpeER?
"Since the beginning of ExpeER, the Zöbelboden site has seen new developments:
- Establishment of a carbon budget for an intact and a disturbed forest stand including all major pools and fluxes.
- Measurement of N2O in an intact and a disturbed forest stand.
- We equipped the intensive plots and the runoff weirs for high resolution water sampling (a few hours) of heavy rain events. This includes the precipitation, the humus and soil lysimeters and the runoff weirs.
- Measurement of soil and catchment scale dynamics of dissolved carbon and nitrogen during heavy rain events using high resolution sampling (three hours) and analysis."

• Why should you visit the Zöbelboden site?
"We offer transnational access to the site for a broad range of potential studies. One possibility is to use our infrastructure of the intensive measurement plots for small scale studies (plant-soil interactions, flux studies, etc.), another to take advantage of the existing data, precipitation and runoff stations for a focus on catchment scale processes. We hold a 20 year data series on numerous parameters (climate, air pollution, forest stand, soil, biodiversity) that are ready to use for statistical analyses, multi-site comparison and modeling efforts."

Recent publications

Hartmann, A., M. Kralik, F. Humer, J. Lange & M. Weiler, W. (2012). Identification of a karst system’s intrinsic hydrodynamic parameters: upscaling from single springs to the whole aquifer. Environmental Earth Sciences 65: 2377-2389.

Holmberg, M., Vuorenmaaa, J., Posch, M., Forsius, M., Lundin, L., Kleemola, S., Augustaitis, A., Beudert, B., de Wit, H.A., Dirnböck, T., Evans, C.D., Frey, C.D., Grandin, U., Indriksone, I., Krám, P., Pompei, E., Schulte-Bisping, H., Srybny, A., Vána, M. 2012. Relationship between critical load exceedances and empirical impact indicators at Integrated Monitoring sites across Europe. Ecological Indicators 24: 256–265.

Jost, G., Dirnböck, T., Grabner, M.-T. & Mirtl, M. 2011. Nitrogen leaching of two forest ecosystems in a Karst watershed. Water Air and Soil Pollution 218: 633–649.

Römermann, M.B., Gray, A., Vanbergen, A.J., Bergès, L., Bohner, A., Brooker, R.W., De Bruyn, L., De Cinti, B., Dirnböck, T., Grandin, U., Hester, A.J., Kanka, R., Klotz, S., Loucougaray, G., Lundin, L., Matteucci, G., Mézáros, I., Oláh, V. & Preda, E., Prévosto, B., Pykälä, J., Schmidt, W., Taylor, M.E., Vadineanu, A., Waldmann, T. & Stadler, J. 2011. Functional traits and local environment predict vegetation responses to disturbance: a pan-European multi-site experiment. Journal of Ecology 99: 777-787.

Diwold, K., Dullinger, S., Dirnböck, T. 2010. Effect of nitrogen availability on forest understorey cover and its consequences for tree regeneration in the Austrian limestone Alps - Plant Ecology 209: 11-22.

Kobler, J., Fitz, J.F., Dirnböck, T., Mirtl, M. 2010. Soil type affects migration pattern of airborne Pb and Cd under a spruce-beech forest of the UN-ECE Integrated Monitoring site Zöbelboden, Austria. Environmental Pollution 158: 849-854.