The 50 most important questions relating to the maintenance and restoration of an ecological continuum in the European Alps.

The European Alps harbour a unique and species-rich biodiversity, which is increasingly impacted by habitat fragmentation through land-use changes, urbanization and expanding transport infrastructure. In this study, we identified the 50 most important questions relating to the maintenance and restor...

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Main Authors: Chris Walzer, Christine Kowalczyk, Jake M Alexander, Bruno Baur, Giuseppe Bogliani, Jean-Jacques Brun, Leopold Füreder, Marie-Odile Guth, Ruedi Haller, Rolf Holderegger, Yann Kohler, Christoph Kueffer, Antonio Righetti, Reto Spaar, William J Sutherland, Aurelia Ullrich-Schneider, Sylvie N Vanpeene-Bruhier, Thomas Scheurer
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2013-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3544812?pdf=render
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spelling doaj-861297f704db4383ac655621572c8d0b2020-11-25T02:27:39ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032013-01-0181e5313910.1371/journal.pone.0053139The 50 most important questions relating to the maintenance and restoration of an ecological continuum in the European Alps.Chris WalzerChristine KowalczykJake M AlexanderBruno BaurGiuseppe BoglianiJean-Jacques BrunLeopold FürederMarie-Odile GuthRuedi HallerRolf HoldereggerYann KohlerChristoph KuefferAntonio RighettiReto SpaarWilliam J SutherlandAurelia Ullrich-SchneiderSylvie N Vanpeene-BruhierThomas ScheurerThe European Alps harbour a unique and species-rich biodiversity, which is increasingly impacted by habitat fragmentation through land-use changes, urbanization and expanding transport infrastructure. In this study, we identified the 50 most important questions relating to the maintenance and restoration of an ecological continuum - the connectedness of ecological processes across many scales including trophic relationship and disturbance processes and hydro-ecological flows in the European Alps. We initiated and implemented a trans-national priority setting exercise, inviting 48 institutions including researchers, conservation practitioners, NGOs, policymakers and administrators from the Alpine region. The exercise was composed of an initial call for pertinent questions, a first online evaluation of the received questions and a final discussion and selection process during a joint workshop. The participating institutions generated 484 initial questions, which were condensed to the 50 most important questions by 16 workshop participants. We suggest new approaches in tackling the issue of an ecological continuum in the Alps by analysing and classifying the characteristics of the resulting questions in a non-prioritized form as well as in a visual conceptualisation of the inter-dependencies among these questions. This priority setting exercise will support research and funding institutions in channelling their capacities and resources towards questions that need to be urgently addressed in order to facilitate significant progress in biodiversity conservation in the European Alps.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3544812?pdf=render
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Chris Walzer
Christine Kowalczyk
Jake M Alexander
Bruno Baur
Giuseppe Bogliani
Jean-Jacques Brun
Leopold Füreder
Marie-Odile Guth
Ruedi Haller
Rolf Holderegger
Yann Kohler
Christoph Kueffer
Antonio Righetti
Reto Spaar
William J Sutherland
Aurelia Ullrich-Schneider
Sylvie N Vanpeene-Bruhier
Thomas Scheurer
spellingShingle Chris Walzer
Christine Kowalczyk
Jake M Alexander
Bruno Baur
Giuseppe Bogliani
Jean-Jacques Brun
Leopold Füreder
Marie-Odile Guth
Ruedi Haller
Rolf Holderegger
Yann Kohler
Christoph Kueffer
Antonio Righetti
Reto Spaar
William J Sutherland
Aurelia Ullrich-Schneider
Sylvie N Vanpeene-Bruhier
Thomas Scheurer
The 50 most important questions relating to the maintenance and restoration of an ecological continuum in the European Alps.
PLoS ONE
author_facet Chris Walzer
Christine Kowalczyk
Jake M Alexander
Bruno Baur
Giuseppe Bogliani
Jean-Jacques Brun
Leopold Füreder
Marie-Odile Guth
Ruedi Haller
Rolf Holderegger
Yann Kohler
Christoph Kueffer
Antonio Righetti
Reto Spaar
William J Sutherland
Aurelia Ullrich-Schneider
Sylvie N Vanpeene-Bruhier
Thomas Scheurer
author_sort Chris Walzer
title The 50 most important questions relating to the maintenance and restoration of an ecological continuum in the European Alps.
title_short The 50 most important questions relating to the maintenance and restoration of an ecological continuum in the European Alps.
title_full The 50 most important questions relating to the maintenance and restoration of an ecological continuum in the European Alps.
title_fullStr The 50 most important questions relating to the maintenance and restoration of an ecological continuum in the European Alps.
title_full_unstemmed The 50 most important questions relating to the maintenance and restoration of an ecological continuum in the European Alps.
title_sort 50 most important questions relating to the maintenance and restoration of an ecological continuum in the european alps.
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
series PLoS ONE
issn 1932-6203
publishDate 2013-01-01
description The European Alps harbour a unique and species-rich biodiversity, which is increasingly impacted by habitat fragmentation through land-use changes, urbanization and expanding transport infrastructure. In this study, we identified the 50 most important questions relating to the maintenance and restoration of an ecological continuum - the connectedness of ecological processes across many scales including trophic relationship and disturbance processes and hydro-ecological flows in the European Alps. We initiated and implemented a trans-national priority setting exercise, inviting 48 institutions including researchers, conservation practitioners, NGOs, policymakers and administrators from the Alpine region. The exercise was composed of an initial call for pertinent questions, a first online evaluation of the received questions and a final discussion and selection process during a joint workshop. The participating institutions generated 484 initial questions, which were condensed to the 50 most important questions by 16 workshop participants. We suggest new approaches in tackling the issue of an ecological continuum in the Alps by analysing and classifying the characteristics of the resulting questions in a non-prioritized form as well as in a visual conceptualisation of the inter-dependencies among these questions. This priority setting exercise will support research and funding institutions in channelling their capacities and resources towards questions that need to be urgently addressed in order to facilitate significant progress in biodiversity conservation in the European Alps.
url http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3544812?pdf=render
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