| |  Prof. Dr. Georg Grabherr is head of the Department of Conservation Biology,
Vegetation and Landscape Ecology within the Institute of Ecology and Conservation Biology.
The main research tasks of the Department of Conservation Biology, Vegetation and Landscape
Ecology are: high mountain ecology and climate impact research, analysis and description of
vegetation, landscape ecology, development of new methods in vegetation ecology, biodiversity
assessment and conservation, bioindication.
The working group for high mountain ecology and climate impact research at the Department of
Conservation Biology, Vegetation and Landscape Ecology has been concerned with climate impact
research in high mountain regions as a contribution to the International Geosphere-Biosphere
Programme (IGBP) for more than 10 years. This research provided the empirically determined
evidence that mountain plants are migrating upwards. This is most likely a response to the ongoing
climate warming since the 19th century.
Currently, the working group is concerned with two main
research focuses:
1) the study of migration processes of mountain plants with respect to temperature
changes by using extensive field data and modelling techniques and
2) the implementation of a global
observation system (GLORIA) for climate change-induced impacts on high mountain biodiversity and
ecosystem structure.
As the pilot project of this initiative, GLORIA-Europe (The Global Observation
Research Initiative in Alpine Environments: The European dimension) was funded in the 5th FP. The
project, co-ordinated by Prof. Grabherr and his group, includes 22 European partner groups and is
currentyl in its final phase.
In addition, the working group is involved in the following international projects and research
programmes concerned with mountain biota:
a) ALPNET, an ESF-funded project on alpine
biodiversity in the European mountain systems;
b) the Global Mountain Biodiversity Assessment
(GMBA) a newly emerging initiative of DIVERSITAS;
c) the Arctic-Alpine Terrestrial Ecosystems
Research Initiative (ARTERI), a concerted action of the EU;
d) the IGBP Mountain Research
Initiative.
RESEARCH TEAM:
Georg Grabherr, Michael Gottfried
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