The restoration sites are located in abandoned arable land and clear-cut tree plantations mostly, but not entirely within LTER Fulophaza that is a high diversity site, both in terms of habitats and species, in the Kiskunság Sand Ridge. It uses some of the central facilities of the KISKUN LTER, such as the meteorological station and the field research station with accommodation opportunities, and a couple of long term monitoring sites and field experiments.

Hohe Tauern NP was established more than 40 years ago as one of the biggest protected areas in Central Europe to protect at long-term wide areas of the Austrian main-ridge of the Alps. The 1.856 square kilometre Hohe Tauern National Park is split into a 1.213 square kilometre core zone and a 643 square kilometre buffer zone and stretches over three provinces. Until the first and largest national park in Austria was actually created, the three provinces of Carinthia, Salzburg and Tyrol had to establish the corresponding legal framework. The Provincial Parliament of Carinthia passed the legislation to create the Hohe Tauern National Park in 1981. Salzburg followed with its national park legislation in 1984, followed by Tyrol in 1992. In this 40 years Hohe Tauern NP established the Nationalpark idea in its region working together with all stakeholders (land owners, tourism, majors, hunting organisations, governmental departments…). The International Union for the Conservation of Nature IUCN awarded Carinthia in 2001 and Salzburg and Tyrol in 2006 with the international recognition of a national park with its "Category II" listing. The distinction that the national park has with a core zone, where nature can develop without human influence and a buffer zone, where traditional cultivation could be continued was key for gaining this international recognition. Contractual agreements between landowners, hunters and the national park paved the way and were pioneering for many protected areas. Hohe Tauern NP contains 3 main zones: - core zone (km²): 1.078 - buffer zone (km²): 643 - special protected areas (km²): 135 About 845 km² of the area is nature zone, which remains untouched by humans (no land use based on IUCN criteria, i.e. no hunting, no grazing). The altitudinal belts from the valleys to the summits of the three-thousand-metre-tall mountains represent an exceptional biodiversity. This is home to many plants and wildlife species originating from the Central Asian tundra, the Arctic and even Southern Europe. The preservation of all significant Alpine ecosystems across large areas of the Hohe Tauern National Park has been unimpaired. More than one third of all plant species recorded in Austria can be found in the national park. For mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians, this figure is at around 50%. Even those animals that were nearly extinct in almost all of Europe at the beginning of the 19th century are now provided a safe habitat in the Hohe Tauern National Park. This impressive biodiversity is a result of the different prevailing climatic, geological, geomorphological and hydrological conditions in the high mountains and the differing adaptation strategies of the plants and animals. The Tauern Window – a unique tectonic window in terms of shape and size – provides insight into the deepest tectonic layer of the Alps and is thus key for understanding the geological structure of the Alps. Rocks of differing ages, different origins and different chemical composition harbour a genuine hoard of up to 200 different minerals. Nature protection (ecosystems/Natura2000 habitats) and species conservation projects play a big role in the work and history of Hohe Tauern NP (e.g. bearded vulture, ibex, golden eagle, …). The NP and its work do not stop at the protected areas borders and for a lot of species it is important that the whole region is aware of its impacts on biodiversity. According to the altitude gradation of the Hohe Tauern National Park "high mountain habitat types" are typical. Based on the aerial photo interpretation of the National Park montane to alpine grassland and pastures dominate with a third. This also reflects the zoning with the outer zone in the sense of an Alpine cultural landscape zone with alpine pastures – and the transition to the high alpine core zone. The core zone is formed by the "eternal ice" of the glaciers around the highest mountains of Austria as well as scree slopes with and without pioneer vegetation dominate. CORINE Land Cover L3 (2018): 35 % bare rocks, 24 % natural grasslands, 20 % sparsely vegetated areas, 9 % coniferous forest, 7 % glaciers and perpetual snow, 2 % moors and heathland, 1 % pastures.

Coniferous forest.

Soil data of LTER Zöbelboden, Austria. Soil inventory is carried out since 1992 on regular positions (approx 65) in the catchment measuring soil chemistry. Soil water chemistry is measured in forest plots (2-3) using lysimeter sampling and analyses on a bi-weekly to monthly basis. Soil hydraulic characterizations exist for the major soil types in the catchment. Soil CO2 and N2O respiration data is available for some years

The site was established in 2000 and is situated in Waldviertel (northern Lower Austria), the current stand being a Norway spruce monoculture. The bedrock is poor in nutrients and further nutrient loss from litter raking as well as anthropogenic furtherance of conifers has led to unstable monocultures and the disappearance of deciduous species. The main research questions center around reintroduction of deciduous species, soil amelioration and nutrient cycling. The site is instrumented with climate stations as well as on-line soil water content measurements and soil temperature measurements. Further data include detailed chemical soil analyses, tracer experiment data, growth data and LAI measurements. In 2007 a large part of the stand was broken by wind (Cyrill). Currently measurements aim to quantify and qualify the effects of the windthrow to soils and rejuvenation. To date, the site has hosted 2 international and 3 national projects.

The total NPHK is currently (since 2020) about 12,000 ha, but the eLTER site corresponds to the former perimeter of the NPHK and represents an urbanised protected area of about 60km2 (or 6,000ha) located in the Province of Limburg in the East of Belgium. The NPHK (inaugurated in 2006 and extended from 6000ha to its current 12000ha in 2020), located in a former coal mining area is surrounded by 10 municipalities with more than 200,000 inhabitants, equivalent to a population density of 450/km2 . The park covers a rich variety of habitats, including heathlands, deciduous forest, coniferous forest and fens and evidently the corresponding diversity of fauna and flora. Several research groups from universities and institutes are monitoring and measuring abiotic and biotic parameters throughout the different ecosystems. Research on ecosystem services are also playing a major role, including tourism and mobility.

Dong Cao is a small agricultural catchment (47 ha) of northern Vietnam, located at 70 km from Hanoi, in a sloping land environment. The objective is to monitor the impacts of land use changes (from cassava to fodder and tree plantations) and possible climate changes upon hydrological and sedimentary fluxes and budgets. The catchment has an elevation of 125 m to 485 m and slopes range from 15 to 120%. Monitoring devices include an automatic meteorological station, and weirs to monitor discharge, suspended sediment and bedload. More information is available on https://mtropics.obs-mip.fr/ and in the following paper: Valentin, C., et al., 2008. Runoff and sediment losses from 27 upland catchments in Southeast Asia: Impact of rapid land use changes and conservation practices. Agric. Ecosyst. Environ. 128, 225–238. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2008.06.004

Ensemble of agricultural and forestry systems in a catchment area of five consecutively connected lakes

The site is located in Clocaenog Forest in North East Wales (53o 03’ 19’’N -03o 27’ 55’’ W). It is a typical upland west-atlantic moorland, dominated by the evergreen shrub Calluna vulgaris (heather). Heather makes up >60% of the plant biomass at the site, but Vaccinium myrtillus and Empetrum nigrum are also present.

Intensive Forest Monitoring site with Pinus silvestris - Betula pendula forest