IT19-T Alpi Nord-Occidentali

• Main Authors: Freppaz, Michele, Viglietti, Davide, Pintaldi, Emanuele, D'Amico, Michele, Colombo, Nicola, Martin, Maria, Lombardi, Giampiero, Lonati, Michele, Giardino, Marco, Perotti, Luigi, Cremonese, Edoardo, Isabellon, Michel, Morra di Cella, Umberto, Galvagno, Marta, Pogliotti, Paolo, Filippa, Gianluca, Petey, Martina, Balestrini, Raffaella, Salerno, Franco, Bocca, Massimo, Barni, Elena
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: Italian
• Published: Zenodo 2021
• Subjects: LTER-Italy; LTER; emical and physical properties of soil and snow; biogeochemical cycles in seasonally snow covered areas; phenology and measurement of carbon fluxes; permafrost and pond water monitoring; paleosols; forest and grassland ecosystems; permafrost
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5584767; https://zenodo.org/record/5584767

The macrosite is included in LTER-Italia network since 2009 and represents high-elevation environments of Northwestern Alps. The macrosite includes six research sites located on an elevation-gradient, from 1700 to 3300 m a.s.l., and is characterized by forests (where Larch and Spruce are dominant species) and alpine grasslands. Consequently, soils are considerably heterogeneous in term of different degree of evolution. Snow is an important driving factor, since it covers soil from 5 to 9 months/year, and could have a strong effect on soil chemical and physical dynamics also during the subsequent growing season. Currently, the macrosite has many international collaborations, such as the LTER site Niwot Ridge (Colorado) managed by the University of Colorado - INSTAAR. The main research activities carried out in the macrosite concern the analysis of the interaction between soil/vegetation and water at elevations ranging between the subalpine and the nival belts, through a multidisciplinary approach.