GLORIA Master Site.The 3497m-peak Mount Schrankogel belongs to the highest mountains of the Austrian Alps. Its northern and eastern side is surrounded by glaciers and glacier forelands. Its southern to western faces, however, are not interrupted by glacier Established in 1994 as the first comprehensive alpine to nival long-term monitoring site for high-altitude vegetation in the Alps, with ca. 1000 permanent plots of 1x1m arranged in transects of 30x3m or smaller ranging from 2900m to 3450m. Main purpose is ecological climate impact research. In 2001 it became a master site of the GLORIA network: e.g. method development and testing for species recording in 1x1m plots for GLORIA was partly conducted on Schrankogel. The first major resurvey of plots was made in 2004, the second resurvey was conducted in 2014. Besides long-term monitoring, several other research approaches were/are carried out at the Schrankogel site, such as species and vegetation modeling, vegetation mapping, phenological studies of alpine and nival plants, exclosure studies for grazing impacts at the lower altitudes of the site, soil studies, snow pattern studies (two permanent snow cameras), surface and soil-temperature measurements. In 2014, the the scope was extended to other organism groups such as soil microbiota, soil mesofauna (Oribatida and Collembola in particular), and surface-dwelling arthropods. Site setup, resurveys, or other activities were/are supported by: the Austrian Academy of Sciences through a national grant of the International Geosphere–Biosphere and the UNESCO MaB Programmes, by the Austrian and through the Institute of Mountain Research (IGF) of the Academy; by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Science and Research; the Austrian Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management; the Swiss MAVA Foundation; the Government of Tyrol; the project ALARM (Assessing Large-Scale Risks for Biodiversity with Tested Methods; No. GOCE-CT-2003-506675) in the FP-6 of the EU; the Austrian Climate Research Programme (ACRP: GZ B368633 ACRP6 - SCHRANKOGEL_20YEARS - KR13AC6K11076). For further details on Schrankogel_GLORIA see: http://www.gloria.ac.at/?a=42&b=56

The Rutzendorf Experimental Station is an agricultural research site of the University of Natural Resources and Live Sciences Vienna (BOKU), belonging to the Landwirtschaftliche Versuchswirtschaften GmbH. It is representative for the productive soils managed as arable land in the Marchfeld area (Lower Austria). The soil is described as a silty loamy Calcaric Phaeozem (WRB), a Chernozem according to Austrian soil classification. Management on the farm is without livestock, no organic fertilizers are applied. The farm was converted to organic farming in the production year 2002/03. The 8-year crop rotation comprises luzerne (2 yrs), winter wheat*, grain maize, spring barley*, field peas*, winter wheat, winter rye. Cover crop mixtures are grown where indicated in the crop rotation with an asteric. Current research questions include to study (i) the long-term sustainability and productivity of the stockless organic arable system compared to a livestock-keeping system, (ii) the mitigation of climate change effects on the soil-plant system by reducing soil cultivation intensity, and (iii) the development of biodiversity following the conversion to organic farming and enhancement of landscape elements. Regularly meteorological data, crop yields and quality, physical, chemical and biological soil traits, weed species and diaspores, springtails, wild bees and other animal species are assessed. Studies have been conducted as research projects financed nationally and by the European Union, e.g. in two EIP projects.

The study site starts at the mouth of the river (Vlissingen, the Netherlands) and extends to Gent, 160 km from the mouth, where tidal influence is stopped by sluices. The tributaries the Durme and the Rupel, with the Nete , Dijle and Zenne are also under tidal influence and are considered part of the estuary. The natural inundated areas around the river and the valleys up to 5m TAW are also part of the study system.

Plynlimon is at the headwaters of the Rivers Severn and Wye. The infrastructure at Plynlimon consists of 10 instrumented research catchments representing different land use options on the same geological parent material. It is the UK’s Critical Zone Observatory, part of the EU and global network of CZOs and is an ExpeER site. The infrastructure records high temporal resolution river flow and meteorological data (40 year data record) and stream water and precipitation chemistry for cations, anions, trace metals, nutrients, pH and alkalinity (30 year data record) and some data for suspended sediment. The site has an extensive spatial data library including topography, digital terrain model (DTM), soils, geology and vegetation/land-use available, open access, through the Environmental Information Data Centre (https://catalogue.ceh.ac.uk/documents/91961a0f-3158-4d00-984d-91eb1e03e8bd). Sub sites in the catchments represent a range of upland management types: mature/clear cut/replanted conifer forest; acid grassland; eroding peatland; improved grassland.Samples analysed for a wide range of major, minor and trace components. Bulk precipitation and cloudwater chemistry is also measured at one location.

The site consists of high elevation vegetation in central Mediterranean basin, along the Apennines mountain range: xerophitic primary grassland (Pediculari elegantis-Seslerietum tenuifoliae) and mesophitic primary grassland (Luzulo italiacae-Festucetum macratherae), with important resident and migratory bird communities. Six plots, each one 100 m2 large, grouped in two cluster-plots including each one three plots, representative of a larger area of 0,5 km2 ca., ranging from 2100 to 2300 m a.s.l. (alpic and Mediterranean high-mountain belts.

Coniferous forests and mire.

This site is located on the territory of National Park “Rila”, Bulgaria. Parangalitsa has been a reserve since 1933. It is situated on part of the southwestern slopes of Rila mountain, covering 1,509 hectares. It contains some of the oldest pine tree forests in Europe with an average age of over 200 years. The site is a part of the network of bioecological stations of Forest Research Institute – BAS and research is focused on highly productive coniferous forests with unique biomass. In the main experimental plots, long-term complex studies were conducted during the period 1979 - 1998, a large-scale database was created and a number of significant scientific results were obtained. In the period 2000 - 2018, separate targeted studies were carried out - focused on some ecosystem processes, which allows the analysis and evaluation of the functioning of ecosystems to be don

The Sani Environmental Observatory (S.E.O.) is located within a mature, near-coastal Aleppo pine (Pinus halepensis L.) ecosystem at the peninsula of Kassandra, in Chalkidiki, Greece. It is part of the Stavronikita forest, which comprises approximately 300 ha of land covered mainly by forests and to a lesser extend by shrubs and pastures. The Observatory aims primarily at the assessment of the carbon and water balance of this typical low-elevation forest ecosystem to the ongoing climatic shift. Such ecosystems may be prone to the intensified heat and drought events, as well as to the associated insects’ and pathogens’ outbreaks, which are increasingly occurring at the Mediterranean region and particularly at its eastern part. Although Aleppo pines, as well as other Mediterranean pines, are generally adapted to the region’s xerothermic conditions, the in-depth understanding of their ecophysiological and growth responses will allow us to predict the potential of such ecosystems to adapt to climate change. SEO also serves to assess the carbon stocks and fluxes and the contribution of these natural, old-growth ecosystems to carbon sequestration and, thus, to climate change mitigation. S.E.O. is developed by the Forest Research Institute (Lab of Forest Ecophysiology) of the Hellenic Agricultural Organization Dimitra with the support of Sani Resort SA, the owner of the studied forest ecosystem, presenting a nice example of collaboration between the research community and the private sector. Given that SEO is located at a region of high touristic and aesthetic value, close to a wetland and the sea, the Observatory also plans actions to familiarize people with environmental monitoring and the multiple functions and services of the studied Mediterranean ecosystem.

The Aelmoeseneie Forest is a 28.5 ha mixed deciduous forest in the community of Gontrode, just southeast of Ghent. The largest part of the forest is ‘ancient forest’, i.e. it is permanently forested since before 1775, while the forest is surrounded by agricultural land (mostly pastures). The soil consists of a silt loam to loam soil (Planosol), overlaying a mosaic of tertiary clayey and sandy deposits with high base saturation starting at 50 cm depth. Forest management is designed to obtain a more natural tree species composition and to conserve biodiversity. More info can be found at www.aelmoeseneiebos.ugent.be.

The site comprises 4 km stretch of a complete alluvial floodplane managed as a private nature reserve some 10 kilometer upstream of the city of Leuven. Since 1990, human interference in the river channel has stopped resulting in a spontaneous meander evolution and roughening of the river channel. This has induced frequent (e.g. yearly) inundations, thus avoiding flood damage in the city of Leuven downstream and this without creating the usual storm basins.