Monitoring and Research on Succession in glacier forefields of the Northern Limestone Alps

Project leader: Ingolf Kühn

Project staff: Christian Hecht, Ingolf Kühn

Project outline

Glacier forefields are defined as the area between the current glacier front and the moraines of the last glacial maximum (c. 1850), from where the Alpine glaciers have retreated. Such dynamic areas have unique species with special adaptation and offer the opportunity to observe the development of an emerging ecosystem from its beginning to gain a better understanding of the succession mechanism. While previous studies focused on the Central Alps, little is known about the vegetation dynamics of the forefields in the Northern Limestone Alps.

Since 2017, we have been continuously investigating permanent plots in forefields of the Hallstätter Glacier and Great Gosau Glacier (both within Dachstein Mountains) as well as the Watzmann Glacier and Blaueis (both within Berchtesgaden Alps).