Abstract

At present, forests constitute a main subject of interest in the scientific community corresponding to their important role in the carbon, nitrogen, ozone and water cycles. In order to recognize the common interaction between the above mentioned compounds and forest stands, science-based approaches are necessary. Presently, several databases have been elaborated within various large-scale monitoring and research networks dedicated to the forest ecosystems. They are significantly diversified in terms of their accessibility, quality and comparability. Furthermore, a majority of the European Research and Monitoring Networks (ERMN) are focused on specific topics (e.g. carbon, nitrogen). Therefore, there is a crucial need for ERMN harmonization in terms of the measurement methodology, data availability and applied quality checking and control procedures. Results of the COST Action FP0903 survey, which was carried out among the European scientific community in 2010, to a large extent confirm the necessity of data harmonization. In the forest ecosystems, measurement time scale is also important especially to research the forest biogeochemistry in decade-long time spans. So-called “Supersites” are proposed as a new research infrastructure in the forest ecosystem research which can be an effective way to attain the better integration of research and monitoring networks at forest sites in Europe.

Keywords

supersites; European Research Monitoring Networks; harmonization; forest

Published in

Forest Systems
2013, volume: 22, number: 3, pages: 535-545

Authors' information