The site is the parent site of three research sites, performing long-term research and monitoring in Apennines forests (mostly beech - Fagus sylvatica L. - forests) and meadows located within those forests.

The Hesse site is beech forest plot equipped since 1996 with an eddy covariance system to measure continuously (half-hourly) the net fluxes of CO2, H2O and energy exchanged between ecosystem and atmosphere. Supplementary sensors provide the main meteorological data (temperature, humidity, radiation) and edaphic status (soil water content, soil temp.). Additional field campaigns give information about ecosystem characteristics evolution (Leaf Area Index, trees growth, fine roots biomass), carbon allocation to ecosystem compartments (soil and stem CO2 efflux, heterotrophic respiration) and their isotopic signature (13C).

The Höglwald is a Norway spruce-dominated forest of about 370 ha surrounded by farmland in the hilly landscape of Southern Bavaria, approx. 70 km north of the Alps and 40 km west of Munich at 11° 5' E and 48°18' N. The Höglwald site (560 m asl) is operated by IMK-IFU permanently since 1993. The site is equipped with 2 fully automated, remotely controlled measuring and data acquisition systems in standard containers for continuous quantification of net exchange of trace gases (CO2, N2O, CH4, NOX) at the soil-atmosphere interface in high temporal resolution using static and dynamic chamber techniques and two towers (3 m and 50 m height) for quantification of net ecosystem exchange of CO2, H2O and sensible heat.

Zemaitija station (LT03) was founded in the strict reserve zone of Zemaitija national park, at the basin of right side Uođa river tributary - Juodupis brook. The area of the basin is 147.3 ha. The lowest place - 147.0 m, the highest elevation - 180.0 m above sea level. The geographical co-ordinates of the basin are: longitude - 21*51*56*-21*53*10*, latitude - 56*00*19*-56*01*05*. Zemaitija station is situated at 50 km distance from the Baltic Sea, which generally defines the climatic conditions of this territory. High humidity, cloudiness and abundant precipitation are typical for the assessment location. The perennial air temperature is 5.9 C, the perennial average amount of precipitation reaches up to 788 mm and is significantly higher than in other stations. The length of vegetation period is 187 days. The geomorphologic structure of the basin is also relatively complicated. Different than in other locations, in this station the marsh accumulation forms with organic sediments transfer into limnoglacial accumulative forms and glacioacval accumulative sandy hilly formations with typical limnoglacial sand. Saturation of Juodupis river water had very little mineralisation, with oxygen levels of 9.6 mg/l and average yearly mineralisation of 163 mg/l, and the pH fluctuated in the limits of 6.65-7.90, being slightly alkaline. Annual yearly concentration of nitrates is 0.37 mgN/l. Significant increases in the number of nitrate ions were indicated in 1997, i.e., concentration increased twice compared to 1996. Concentrations of nitrogen are not significant. Concentrations of common phosphor and silicon are very small. Conifers dominate the basin of this brook, which are mainly spruce with up to a 20-30% pine mixture. Abundant spruce under layer is common for these stands. A significant territory of the basin is also covered by pure spruce stands. However, as a rule in these forest stands we can find an abundant second spruce layer or under layer. The number of birch and black alder stands is even lower in Zemaitija station. They can be found only at the source of the river, where marsh habitat types are dominating. Forest stands with two or more age classes are dominating in Zemaitija station. This is mainly multi-layered spruce stands and pure pine or pine mixed with abundant spruce under layer forest stands. A slightly smaller territory is occupied by mature forest stands and young forests. The main vegetation communities are: sub-oceanic blueberry western taiga, marsh boreal spruce forests and boreal marsh Scotch pine forests. Eleven plant communities can be identified in the river basin.

The site is located on a flat area 35 km North-West of Montpellier. The forest is dominated by the overstorey evergreen tree Quercus ilex (80% cover) managed as a coppice for centuries with the last clear-cut performed in 1942. Mean annual precipitation is 883 mm with 75 % rainfall between September and April. However, because of the large fraction of rocks and stones in the soil profile, available water averages only 150 mm. Long-term 30% throughfall exclusion and thinning experiments has started in 2003. In 2007 a new and unique manipulative experiment has been designed to simulate the effect of extreme droughts on the functioning and the vulnerability of this ecosystem. A mobile rainfall shelter was installed above the canopy in order to simulate 100% rain exclusion during different seasons. Measurements recorded include soil and organ-level gas exchange; tree transpiration; aboveground and belowground biomass; phenology; functional traits; litterfall; regeneration; organs, soil and litter biochemistry; VOC emission; dry and wet nitrogen deposition; ectomycorhizal communities. The site also includes an eddy-flux tower that continuously monitors atmosphere-vegetation exchange of CO2, water and energy since 1998. A large number of papers have already been published from research at the site and an important database is already available for the users, which will help defining new research areas in the areas of population genetics, nutrient cycle, soil microbiology, isotope studies.

“The Ecotron” is a unique facility for controlled environment ecological experiments, designed to bridge the gap between the complexity of real field communities and the simplicity of laboratory or greenhouse studies. The facility has been extensively described in the scientific literature and includes 16 separate walk-in chambers with computer-controlled climatic conditions. Recent modifications of the facility allow it to emulate real weather data (temperature, humidity, light, rainfall and water table) for large mesocosms (up to 130 x 85 x 40cm).

The ERO AgrHyS aims at studying the response time of hydro-chemical fluxes to the evolution of AgroHydroSystems. An AgroHydroSystem is considered as a catchment that is influence by agricultural activity. The ERO AgrHyS is conducted by the laboratory INRA-Agrocampus Sol, Agro-hydroSystems of Rennes. Two other labs, Geosciences Rennes and COSTEL Rennes, are associated to the ERO AgrHyS. It is part of the observation set-ups of the Observatory of the Sciences of the Universe of Rennes OSUR.

The Intensive Monitoring of Forest Ecosystems (ICP-Forests Level II network) consists currently in 14 monitoring plots representing important Spanish Forest Ecosystems distributed throughout the Spanish mainland showing the most common forest situations of each country and representing rare or endemic situations. The plot 37 Ppr represents a Pinus pinaster forest located in the Castilian region. It is a 41 to 60 years old monoespecific regular forest. The tree layer covers one third of the plot area. Climatic gradient is Supramediterranean. The plot is located on siliceous sands. The soil is poor.

3M_RECITAL - MINHO, MONDEGO, AND MIRA ESTUARIES observatory: Long term vaRiation of ECOLOGICAL sTAtus as a response to naturaL and human induced changes. Implications for management and restoration. The Minho River estuary is located in the western Iberian margin (SW Europe), in the border region between the Minho (north of Portugal) and Galicia (Spain) regions. It is classified as a mesotidal estuary, covering a total area of 23 km2. The estuary has a great socio-economic importance, providing goods and services to about 80,000 of persons. It has also a high ecological value, mainly due to its large diversity of habitats and biodiversity (it is included in NATURA 2000; it is classified as a “Zona de Protecção Especial para Aves” (ZEP), an “Important Bird Area” (IBA) and is a CORINE Biotope). The high productivity of this estuary makes it a refuge place for nursery and feeding of marine species, essential to ecosystem functioning. The Minho estuary is still relatively low impacted by anthropogenic activities, however, in the last decades, the environmental pressures and impacts have been increasing, with the most important at the present being: physical and hydrological alterations mainly due to the construction of dams and other facilities to support human activities (e.g. fluvial transport of people and goods, touristic activities, etc); the presence of non-native (exotic) invasive species that have been contributed to the decline of several native species, including some with high economic and conservational interest; and organic and chemical contamination produced or increased by anthropogenic activities (industrial, urban and agricultural sources) still found in low concentrations in water, sediments and organisms but with a general increasing trend over the years; and alterations resulting from global climate changes.This ecosystem has been intensively studied, especially in the last two decades, in relation to hydromorphological characteristics, water quality, communities diversity and functioning, populations health, pollution, among other aspects. However, more knowledge is still needed on environmental chemical contamination and on the effects of complex mixtures of those pollutants in wild populations, communities and ecosystem functioning. In addition, more attention should be given to alterations resulting from global climate changes, in particular in relation to extreme events (e.g. heat waves, floods) and interactions between pollution, invasive species, and abiotic factors variation. Knowledge on plants and microorganisms (especially pathogens and parasits) is lacking. Mondego estuary site is located in the Western coast of Portugal - North Atlantic Ocean Eco-region - supports industrial activities, salt-works, and aquaculture farms, and is the location of Figueira da Foz, a harbour and a centre of seasonal touristic activity. The Mondego River drains a basin of approximately 6670 Km2 and its valley is considerably steep in upstream sections, forming a large alluvial plain consisting of good agricultural land in downstream areas. Since the 1960s, the Mondego catchment area underwent a large scale morphological modification, involving the construction of stone walls, to regulate the river water flow and enlarge harbour facilities, and water reservoirs to control floods, improve the uses of water resources, and produce electric power, which modified the riverbed topography and changed the system hydrodynamics. The river contributes presently with a high anthropogenic loading of nutrients and several chemicals into its relatively small estuary (1600 ha, splitting in two arms separated by an island in the terminal part), causing eutrophication. A comprehensive study on the Mondego estuary environmental quality has been carried out during the last two decades, focusing on water quality, hydraulics and sediments dynamics, plankton communities (phyto, zoo, and ichtyoplankton), the term evolution of the benthic communities (intertidal and subtidal), and the changes in macrophytes’ beds (Zostera noltei) and green macroalgae distribution in relation to morphological alterations. The Mira estuary is a small system (2 km2) located at the Southwestern coast of Portugal that extends between Vila Nova de Milfontes at the mouth and Odemira at its upper limit. It is a narrow entrenched system, with a length of more than 40 km and a mean depth of about 6 m. Saline variability is higher in the middle estuary and sediments are usually dominated by mud and/or fine sand, except in both ends of the system where coarse sediment particles predominate. Near the river mouth presents ecologically important seagrass beds of Zostera marina and Zostera noltii in the subtidal and intertidal areas, respectively. Given the knowledge already available for fishes, benthic macroinvertebrates and saltmarshes communities in the Mira estuary, these are the biologic groups that will be studied with more detail in order to monitor their evolution and assess the hypothetic influence of climatic change and human activities in such evolution. In addition, zooplankton studies will be performed to investigate the impact of the hydromedusae exotic invader Blackfordia virginica in the different compartments of the Mira estuary ecosystem. It is usually considered a well preserved system due to reduced human population and industry. It has high conservation status because the entire estuary is included in a nature protected area (Parque Natural do Sudoeste Alentejano e Costa Vicentina) limiting fishing activities that currently are not allowed. The major threat to this ecosystem is the increasing touristic pressure in all the southwestern coast of Portugal, which may have serious implications to the estuarine water quality. Moreover, several fish farms were installed and agriculture (mainly rice fields) and forestry activities (mainly eucalyptus plantations) occupy an important extension of the water margins. The upstream estuarine areas show a slight contamination by heavy metals due to previous mineral extraction activities in the river basin. Several studies have been conducted in the estuary since the 1980’s. Little information is available for phytoplankton and macroalgae but data about saltmarshes and seagrass beds are much more abundant. Zooplankton data is also scarce but has increased in recent years, particularly with studies on the exotic invasive species Blackfordia virginica. Meiofauna was only studied in Zostera beds but benthic macroinvertebrates and fishes have been studied in more detail along the entire estuarine gradient. Nevertheless, investigation of modifications in these communities related with climate change, human activities and introduction of exotic species must proceed.

The Intensive Monitoring of Forest Ecosystems (ICP-Forests Level II network) consists currently in 14 monitoring plots representing important Spanish Forest Ecosystems distributed throughout the Spanish mainland showing the most common forest situations of each country and representing rare or endemic situations. The Plot 22 Pn represents a Pinus nigra pine forest of Maestrazgo region (Iberian mountain range) . It is an 81 to 100 years old monoespecific regular forest The stand is in the regeneration section, before the final cut. Climatic gradient is Supramediterranean. Plot is located in a hillside, with gentle slope. Soil is calcareous and extremely rocky.