The global biodiversity crisis is one of the greatest challenges facing humanity today. How biodiversity and ecosystem functions and services are changing and adapting due to human activities and how, in relation to this, mountain areas are affected, is at the core of where our research lies.
Institute for Alpine Environment
Our interdisciplinary team of scientists is dedicated to the study of current social-ecological issues in a changing world. To this end, we research at multiple scales: from individual organisms, to ecosystems such as meadows, forests, and rivers, to entire landscapes. Our transdisciplinary approach incorporates the combination of numerous studies and a variety of different stakeholder perspectives.
We conduct research both indoors and in the field - with the field often becoming our laboratory and long-term research site (LTSER ) owing to the dense network of measurements such as temperature, drought and management gradients which these sites offer. Combining outdoor research with laboratory experiments and computer modeling we can advise policymakers, stakeholders and municipalities.
With our research on mountain ecology we aim to contribute to an increase in environmental appreciation, wiser resource use and necessary protection measures and to promote sustainable development in South Tyrol. However, we are not just limited to our region and are involved in a variety of international scientific networks: global impacts have no borders.





































