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Entwicklung von Rebklonen mit besserer Klimaanpassung

Leistungsfähiges Pflanzgut mit guter Boden- und Klimaanpassung bildet die Grundlage der einer umweltgerechten Pflanzenproduktion. Dies trifft in gleicher Weise auf den Weinbau zu. Neben der Globalisierung der Märkte gehört sicherlich die Klimaveränderung zu den größten Herausforderungen der Gegenwart. Das größte Problem sind in zunehmendem Maß eine wärmere Witterung kombiniert mit Starkregenereignisse während der Traubenreifung und die dadurch ausgelöste Traubenfäule. Wegen der besonderen Bedeutung von Weinlandschaften für Tourismus und Wirtschaft kommt dem Weinanbau hierbei eine besondere gesellschaftliche Bedeutung zu. Die Sicherung der Produktion von gesunden Trauben steht daher an erster Stelle. Ein lockerer Traubenaufbau durch längere Beerenstielchen und/oder kleinere Beeren sowie festere Beerenschale können den Fäulnisbefall stark reduzieren. Sie sind damit ein hervorragendes Resistenzmerkmal und können den Einsatz von Spezial-Botrytiziden erheblich vermindern. Solche Formen der apparenten Resistenz sind sehr stabil, da der Pathogen sie nur schwer überwinden kann und daher hervorragend für langlebige Kulturpflanzen, wie die Weinrebe geeignet. Das Fachgebiet entwickelt von den traditionell in Deutschland angebauten Rebsorten Klone mit lockerem Traubenaufbau und damit einhergehender hoher Resistenz gegen Traubenfäulen. Hierzu wird Zuchtmaterial, das im Rahmen dieses oder weiterer Projekte gesammelt wurde, auf seine Widerstandsfähigkeit gegen Traubenfäulen und weitere weinbaulich relevante Eigenschaften getestet. Ziel ist die Entwicklung von Klonen traditioneller Rebsorten mit hoher Traubenfäuleresistenz kombiniert mit einem stabilen Ertrag und hoher Trauben und Weinqualität, um deutschen Winzern entsprechendes Pflanzgut zur Verfügung zu stellen und damit einerseits die Applikation von Fungiziden zu reduzieren und gleichzeitig die Konkurrenzfähigkeit der heimischen Produktion an ihren traditionellen Standorten sichern zu helfen.

The scalar organization of environmental governance: an institutionalist perspective on the transformation of water and marine governance in the European Union

The project aims to theorize the scalar organization of natural resource governance in the European Union. This research agenda is inspired by critical geographers' work on the politics of scale. The research will examine an analytical framework derived from theories of institutional change and multi-level govern-ance to fill this theoretical gap. Furthermore, it will review conceptualizations of the state in institutional economics, evaluate their adequacy to capture the role of the state in the dynamics identified, and develop them further. The described processes may imply shifts in administrative levels, shifts in relations between different levels and changes in spatial delimitations of competent jurisdictions that result, for example, from decentralization or the introduction of river basin oriented administrative structures. The research investigates the implications of two European Directives: the Water Framework Directive (WFD) and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). They both have potentially great significance for the organization of marine and water governance at the level of Member States and below, and adhere to similar regulatory ideas for achieving good ecological status of waters. A multiple case study on changes in the scalar reorganization of marine and water governance that result from the implementation of the Directives will be carried out. It will rely on qualitative and quantitative data gathering based on semi-structured interviews and review of secondary and tertiary sources looking at Portugal, Spain, and Germany. It specifically addresses the role of social ecological transactions, the structure of decision making processes and the role of changes in contextual factors (such as ideologies, interdependent institutions and technology).

Late-Glacial and Holocene vegetational stability of southern South America

This project focuses on the long-term stability (or otherwise) of vegetation, based on a series of multi-proxy records in southern South America. We will build a network of sites suitable for high-resolution reconstructions of changes in vegetation since the Last Glacial Maximum, and use these to test a null hypothesis that changes in vegetation over the past 14,000 years are driven by internal dynamics rather than external forcing factors. The extent to which the null hypothesis can be falsified will reveal the degree to which we can expect to be able to predict how vegetation is affected by external events, including future climate change. The southern fringes of the South American landmass provide a rare opportunity to examine the development of moorland vegetation with sparse tree cover in a wet, cool temperate climate of the Southern Hemisphere. We present a record of changes in vegetation over the past 17,000 years, from a lake in extreme southern Chile (Isla Santa Inés, Magallanes region, 53°38.97S; 72°25.24W; Fontana, Bennett 2012: The Holocene), where human influence on vegetation is negligible. The western archipelago of Tierra del Fuego remained treeless for most of the Lateglacial period. Nothofagus may have survived the last glacial maximum at the eastern edge of the Magellan glaciers from where it spread southwestwards and established in the region at around 10,500 cal. yr BP. Nothofagus antarctica was likely the earlier colonizing tree in the western islands, followed shortly after by Nothofagus betuloides. At 9000 cal. yr BP moorland communities expanded at the expense of Nothofagus woodland. Simultaneously, Nothofagus species shifted to dominance of the evergreen Nothofagus betuloides and the Magellanic rain forest established in the region. Rapid and drastic vegetation changes occurred at 5200 cal. yr BP, after the Mt Burney MB2 eruption, including the expansion and establishment of Pilgerodendron uviferum and the development of mixed Nothofagus-Pilgerodendron-Drimys woodland. Scattered populations of Nothofagus, as they occur today in westernmost Tierra del Fuego may be a good analogue for Nothofagus populations during the Lateglacial in eastern sites. Climate, dispersal barriers and/or fire disturbance may have played a role controlling the postglacial spread of Nothofagus. Climate change during the Lateglacial and early Holocene was a prerequisite for the expansion of Nothofagus populations and may have controlled it at many sites in Tierra del Fuego. The delayed arrival at the site, with respect to the Holocene warming, may be due to dispersal barriers and/or fire disturbance at eastern sites, reducing the size of the source populations. The retreat of Nothofagus woodland after 9000 cal. yr BP may be due to competitive interactions with bog communities. Volcanic disturbance had a positive influence on the expansion of Pilgerodendron uviferum and facilitated the development of mixed Nothofagus-Pilgerodendron-Drimys woodland.

CFK-Recycling in der Kompetenzregion Augsburg

The increasing proportion of carbon fibre reinforced plastics (CFRP) in different branches of industry will result in an increasingly larger quantity of CFRP wastes in future. With regard to improved management of natural resources, it is necessary to add these fibres that require energy-intensive production to effective recycling management. But high-quality material recycling is only ecoefficient if the recycled fibres can be used to produce new high-quality and marketable products. Tests carried out up to now indicate that very good results can be expected for large-scale recycling of carbon fibres by means of pyrolysis. The waste pyrolysis plant (WPP) operated in Burgau is the only large-scale pyrolysis plant for municipal wastes in Germany. Use of this plant to treat CFRP wastes represents a unique opportunity for the whole Southern German economy and in particular the Augsburg economic region. In a study funded by the Bavarian State Ministry of the Environment and Health ('Bayerisches Staatsministerium für Umwelt und Gesundheit'), the specific implementation options for the recovery of carbon fibres from composites by means of large-scale pyrolysis have been under investigation since November 2010. To this end, in the first step a development study was carried out, which in particular examined the options for modifying the Burgau WPP for the recycling of CFRP. The knowledge acquired from the pyrolysis tests, the fibre tests and the economic feasibility study confirmed the positive assessment of the overall concept of CFRP recycling in Burgau. As an overall result, unlimited profitability was found for all scenarios with regard to investments in CFRP recycling in Burgau WPP. The work on the development study was carried out by bifa Umweltinstitut GmbH together with the Augsburg-based 'function integrated lightweight construction project group ('Funktionsintegrierter Leichtbau' - FIL) of the Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology (ICT). Methods: analysis and moderation of social processes, economy and management consulting, process engineering

Identification of groundwater nitrogen point source contribution through combined distribute temperature sensing and in-situ UV photometry

Agriculture is the major contributor of nitrogen to ecosystems, both by organic and inorganic fertilizers. Percolation of nitrate to groundwater and further transport to surface waters is assumed to be one of the major pathways in the fate of this nitrogen. The quantification of groundwater and associated nitrate flux to streams is still challenging. In particular because we lack understanding of the spatial distribution and temporal variability of groundwater and associated NO3- fluxes. In this preliminary study we will focus on the identification and quantification of groundwater and associated nitrate fluxes by combining high resolution distributed fiber-optic temperature sensing (DTS) with in situ UV photometry (ProPS). DTS is a new technique that is capable to measure temperature over distances of km with a spatial resolution of ca1 m and an accuracy of 0.01 K. It has been applied successfully to identify and quantify sources of groundwater discharge to streams. ProPS is a submersible UV process photometer, which uses high precision spectral analyses to provide single substance concentrations, in our case NO3-, at minute intervals and a detection limit of less than 0.05 mg l-1 (ca.0.01 mg NO3--Nl-1). We will conduct field experiments using artificial point sources of lateral inflow to test DTS and ProPS based quantification approaches and estimate their uncertainty. The selected study area is the Schwingbach catchment in Hessen, Germany, which has a good monitoring infrastructure. Preliminary research on hydrological fluxes and field observations indicate that the catchment favors the intended study.

Züchtung von Rebunterlagen mit hoher Reblausfestigkeit und Anpassung an Trockenheit und Kalk-Chlorose

Eine hohe Resistenz gegen Bodenpathogene, gute Standortanpassung und Veredlungsaffinität sind die entscheidenden Merkmale von Unterlagen. Bei der Pathogenresistenz ist bei Reben die Widerstandsfähigkeit gegen die Reblaus Daktulosphaira vitifoiae essentiell, da die europäische Kulturrebe Vitis vinifera L über keinerlei Resistenzen verfügt und nur an wenigen Standorten ein wurzelechter Anbau möglich ist. Klimaveränderungen erfordern neue Unterlagen mit hoher Reblausfestigkeit und besserer Standortanpassung. Aufgrund der derzeitigen Szenarien werden sowohl Trockenresistenz als auch Toleranz gegen hohe Kalkgehalte insbesondere in Verbindung mit hohem Bodenwassergehalte zukünftig von Bedeutung sein. Hierfür werden entsprechende Kreuzungen vorgenommen, die Sämlinge aufgezogen, auf ihre Reblausfestigkeit getestet und anschießend Prüfungen der Wurzelungs- und Veredlungsfähigkeit vorgenommen. Anschließend wird die Witterungs- und Bodenanpassung der Zuchtstämme insbesondere auf Trocken- und Kalkstandorten untersucht. Ziel ist die Entwicklung verschiedener Unteralgen, die eine vollständige Reblausresistenz mit hohen Trockenheits- und/oder Kalktoleranz kombinieren.

Monitoring changes in biodiversity at regional and continental scales over the past three decades using a dynamic habitat index derived from historical satellite data

Understanding the drivers behind the loss of biodiversity currently observed is of major importance in the context of the global change discussion. For studies of biodiversity at broad spatial scales, satellite remote sensing is the premier source of information, as it is uniquely capable of covering large areas of the Earth at high temporal resolution. The underlying assumption is that satellite-derived geophysical surface parameters, such as vegetation greenness, are related to biodiversity. For that purpose, concepts such as the Dynamic Habitat Index (DHI) were recently developed. The DHI combines information on the overall greenness, the base level of vegetation cover, and vegetation seasonality at a certain location. By comparing the annual DHI with a long term mean, areas undergoing disturbances or recovery events can be delineated, which are indicative of changes in species composition and diversity. The concept of the DHI was developed for data obtained from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) post-2000. However, for climate change impact studies a longer time series is desirable. The only sensor system suitable for such applications is the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR), which has been in orbit on various platforms since the early 1980ies. The purpose of this project was to develop a methodology to derive long term information on habitat conditions at continental scales based on historical satellite data. In particular, the goal was to adopt the principle of the DHI as developed for the MODIS sensor to an AVHRR archive at 1 km spatial resolution over Canada and to analyze long term variations in the DHI. In a first project phase, an AVHRR data set of vegetation greenness, generated in the framework of the project, was validated against the reference MODIS product. The results demonstrated a very good agreement between both data sets for a wide range of vegetation types and on various spatial and temporal scales. A historical baseline of habitat conditions post-1987 based on the DHI was subsequently generated based on the long term AVHRR data. The analysis of the DHI showed that certain areas, particularly northern parts of the Province of Quebec as well as southwestern Canada, experienced significant changes over the past two decades, which may have had significant impacts on species diversity and abundance in these areas. In the future, the methods developed in the framework of this project may be used to obtain information on long term variations in habitat conditions in areas covered by other historical satellite archives, e.g., for Europe based on an AVHRR archive hosted at the University of Bern.

Infrastructure guidelines for environmental railway performance (INFRAGUIDER)

Objective: InfraGuidER Coordinated Action primary objective is to define the guidelines for developing an effective European method/tool for the environmental impact evaluation of the railway infrastructure (existing and new). Despite a similar process has been already provided for the rolling stock the railway infrastructure is a more complex system where in the last year a silent revolution has been performed in order to face the high performances of trains (high speed trains), to attract the freight transport, to reduce the maintenance and operational costs, to comply with the local, regional regulation in terms of environmental impact. To avoid that this revolution will create a great unbalance among regions and to support the know-how and best practices transfer it is important to assess by a consensus process at European level the following items: the current state of environmental performance within the railway sector, and to highlight the criticalities to become effective and practical for the internal Environmental Management system implemented by railway companies and suppliers; the infrastructure functional subsystems and interfaces from the environment point of view; balance of goods in terms of material flow, environmental performance indicators EPIs and relevant ranking. Finally, as result of the three steps, the specification for the environmental part of a sustainability management system is provided and disseminated to end users (railway infrastructure managers and international organisations), to suppliers and academia (through EURNEX poles of excellence). According to this description InfraGuidER will be delivered in four main work packages. Other two work packages related to the management and communication/dissemination of the project are included in order to guarantee and to monitor the quality and effectiveness of the coordination mechanism. InfraGuidER fits with SST.2007.1.2.1 The greening of transport-specific industrial processes. Prime Contractor: Consorzio Nazionale Interuniversitario per i Transporti e la Logistica; Genova; Italia.

SPLASH - European Union Water Initiative - European Research Area Network (EUWI Era-Net)

Narrative description of Project: SPLASH has been the name of the European Union Water Initiative European Research Area Network (EUWI Era-Net). This network project has been developed and implemented by a consortium of 15 ministries, funding agencies and national research and technological development authorities from 11 European countries. Objective: The overall aim of SPLASH has been to improve water research for poverty reduction and thus to contribute to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). SPLASH objective has been to improve the effectiveness of European funded research on water for development and to develop the capacity of local organizations to coordinate and communicate their research activities. The project focus was Africa and the Mekong region. SPLASH focussed on the following specific objectives: - To coordinate existing national and regional research programmes to minimise duplication and identify gaps; - To design collaborative research programmes which address identified needs; - To speed up knowledge sharing between researchers and practitioners; - To map good research management to maximise use of resources; - To support the transfer of research into practice. Description of actual services provided by your staff within the assignment: In close collaboration with the Austrian Development Agency HYDROPHIL experts worked with other European agencies on the implementation of several Work Packages (WP) and specifically was responsible for the fulfilment of WP4 - Engagement of Main Actors (i.e., from Africa and the Mekong region). HYDROPHIL conducted regional stakeholder consultations in Western Africa (Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso), Eastern Africa (Kisumu, Kenya) and in the Mekong Basin (Phnom Penh, Cambodia).

MultiBus - Das Nahbussystem für den ländlichen Raum

Mit zunehmend ländlicher Prägung des Raumes und dispersen Siedlungsstrukturen nimmt die Bündelungsfähigkeit der Nachfrage im Personenverkehr ab. Die Folgen sind auf der Nutzerseite ein lückenhaftes Mobilitätsangebot des öffentlichen Personennahverkehrs und eine starke Auto-Orientierung im individuellen Verkehrsverhalten. Für die Betreiberseite bedeutet die niedrige Nachfrage und geringe Bündelungsfähigkeit einen defizitären Betrieb ihrer Verkehre. Die in der Regel liniengebundenen Busangebote konzentrieren sich zumeist auf nachfragestarke, meist längere Distanzen betreffende Relationen und sind auf die Hauptverkehrszeiten und damit insbesondere auf den Arbeitspendler- und Schülerverkehr ausgerichtet. In den Schwachlastzeiten und im Kurzstreckenbereich nehmen die Verkehrsangebote hingegen deutlich ab. Ausgehend von dieser Problemlage wurde vom Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF) das Forschungsvorhaben 'Personennahverkehr für die Region' initiiert, welches durch wissenschaftliche und praktische Erkenntnisse dazu beitragen soll, eine Erhöhung der Effizienz und Qualität im Personennahverkehr außerhalb der großen Ballungsräume zu erreichen. Das Vorhaben umfasst insgesamt zehn Projekte. Das Wuppertal Institut ist neben der Bearbeitung des Projektes IMAGO an der Entwicklung und Umsetzung des MultiBus-Konzeptes beteiligt. Das MultiBus-Projekt versucht, ein kunden- und bedarfsorientiertes öffentliches Verkehrssystem zu entwickeln, mit dem der ÖPNV im ländlichen Raum entscheidend gestärkt werden kann. Angestrebt wird die Realisierung eines modernen Rufbussystemes, das die wirksame und bedarfsgerechte Verdichtung von Mobilitätsangeboten im ländlichen Raum am Beispiel der drei Gemeinden Gangelt, Selfkant und Waldfeucht (Kreis Heinsberg) praktisch demonstriert. Mit einer flächendeckenden Bedienung, einem ausgeweiteten Angebotsspektrum, dem Einsatz von komfortablen Kleinbussen und der zielgerichteten Einbettung des MultiBus-Systems in bestehende regionale Verkehrsangebote soll veranschaulicht werden, dass regionale Aufgabenträger und Verkehrsbetriebe mit kundenorientierten Mobilitätsdiensten attraktive sowie wettbewerbsfähige Alternativen zur Verkehrsmittelnutzung bereitstellen können und zur schrittweisen Individualisierung des regionalen Personennahverkehrs befähigt sind. Innerhalb des MultiBus-Projektes werden ferner die Möglichkeiten einer Kopplung von Personenbeförderung und lokalen Kleinguttransporten untersucht. Mit dem MultiBus sollen die bislang von verschiedenen Dienstleistern unkoordiniert betriebenen Kleingutverkehre im Untersuchungsraum gebündelt werden, indem ein auf die Serviceanforderungen der Kurier-, Express-, Paketdienste abgestimmter Verteil- und Sammeldienst für Unternehmen und Haushalte aufgebaut wird.

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