This thesis presents the first large-scale assessment of past, present and future impacts of climate change on river temperatures in Switzerland. Water temperature is a crucial factor influencing, among others, the health of aquatic ecosystems, the industr ...
Current projections suggest that climate warming will be accompanied by more frequent and severe drought events. Peatlands store ca. one third of the world's soil organic carbon. Warming and drought may cause peatlands to become carbon sources through stim ...
Soil micro-organisms drive the global carbon and nutrient cycles that underlie essential ecosystem functions. Yet, we are only beginning to grasp the drivers of terrestrial microbial diversity and biogeography, which presents a substantial barrier to under ...
Shifts from coral to algal dominance are expected to increase in tropical coral reefs as a result of anthropogenic disturbances. The consequences for key ecosystem functions such as primary productivity, calcification, and nutrient recycling are poorly und ...
High-altitude catchments have a major role in the transport of organic matter to streams due to the storage of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in soils and glacier ice and the subsequent mobilization during the melting processes. Yet, stream function goes b ...
Spatial planning deals with the spatial expression of human activities in an integrated way to minimize their negative impacts on the natural and land systems. Rapid land use and land cover changes are important drivers of change of the benefits people der ...
Expansion of agriculture in forested areas poses significant threats and pressure to ecosystems and potentially the global climate. More specifically, expansion of oil palm (OP) plantations has been found to exert great impact on key ecosystem functions li ...