Changes. Biodiversity and climate effect survey in Berchtesgaden

Our biodiversity and climate impact research in the Berchtesgaden National Park aims to explore and understand changes in communities of organisms along the altitudinal gradient as well as along the habitat gradient in relation to climate change. Embedded in a large-scale research project carried out by the National Park Administration together with the Technical University of Munich, E.C.O. was entrusted with vegetation monitoring.

The total of 350 study sites covered both the managed grassland areas (exclusively alpine pastures in the National Park) and natural open land above the timberline as well as the unmanaged forests inside the National Park.

The survey areas covered an altitudinal gradient from Königssee Lake to the alpine zone at Mount Watzmann and offered the mapping personnel a scenically outstanding workplace for this physically as well as technically very demanding work.