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Forest Development in the European Alps and Potential Consequences on Hydrological Regime

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Forest Management and the Water Cycle

Part of the book series: Ecological Studies ((ECOLSTUD,volume 212))

Abstract

While forest cover decreased dramatically in the European Alps between the tenth and the nineteenth centuries, considerable reforestation occurred during the last 150 years and is likely to further increase in future. Depending on site conditions, this increased forest cover can protect from soil erosion and slope instability and may decrease flood hazard due to generally larger water storage capacity of forests compared to agricultural land. However, a decrease in sediment production may lead to channel narrowing and incision and thus increase flood risk. Furthermore, climate and land use change may have detrimental effects on soil stability, especially where droughts and heavy rain events will increase and/or at easily accessible areas with intensification of land use. Because of the high spatial variability of forest cover change and related hydrological effects, measures to optimize these effects are most promising on a local or regional level.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Environmental Geosciences, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland

    Christine Alewell

  2. Swiss Fedral Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Davos, Switzerland

    Peter Bebi

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  1. Christine Alewell
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Correspondence to Christine Alewell .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Forschungszentrum Waldökosysteme, Universität Göttingen, Büsgenweg 2, Göttingen, 37077, Germany

    Michael Bredemeier

  2. , ARO Volcani Center, Institute of Soil, Water and Environment, Bet Dagan, 50250, Israel

    Shabtai Cohen

  3. College of Natural Sciences, School of the Environment & Natural Reso, University of Wales, Bangor, LL57 2UW, Gwynedd, United Kingdom

    Douglas L. Godbold

  4. , Institute of Ecology, Tallinn University, Uus-Sadama 5, Tallinn, 10120, Estonia

    Elve Lode

  5. Faculty of Forestry, Department of Natural Environment, Technical University Zvolen, T.G. Masaryka 24, Zvolen, 96053, Slovakia

    Viliam Pichler

  6. Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow, Zürcherstr. 111, Birmensdorf, 8903, Switzerland

    Patrick Schleppi

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Alewell, C., Bebi, P. (2010). Forest Development in the European Alps and Potential Consequences on Hydrological Regime. In: Bredemeier, M., Cohen, S., Godbold, D., Lode, E., Pichler, V., Schleppi, P. (eds) Forest Management and the Water Cycle. Ecological Studies, vol 212. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9834-4_6

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