Swiss Mountains Research Articles

Wolves' contribution to structural change in grazing systems among swiss alpine summer farms: The evidence from causal random forest

AbstractThe return of wolves to Swiss mountains and the damage they cause to sheep and goat herds in the region have raised concerns about a consequent wave of farm closures. In this paper, we examine the relationship between wolf attacks and the decline of Alpine summer farms, a specific high‐altitude farm type. We collected farm structure data and monitoring data on wolf attacks between 2004 and 2021 and analysed them using a causal random forest method, enabling a detailed analysis of the relation between wolf attacks and the number of different types of Alpine summer farms at a regional level. The results show that the farming systems are unaffected by incidental and infrequent wolf attacks, but that a high number of wolf attacks in a region is related to faster decrease in number of grazing systems where sheep are most vulnerable to such attacks. In contrast, systems that allow for better herd protection tend to show an increase in areas with frequent wolf attacks.

New paleontological and biostratigraphical data (calcareous nannofossils, ostracods, brachiopods), correlations and lithostratigraphic units in the Urgonian facies (latest Hauterivian-Barremian) of the Swiss and French Jura Mountains: the Falaises Member and the Saars Formation (former “Gorges de l’Orbe Formation”)

From latest Hauterivian to latest Barremian, the Urgonian facies of the Swiss and French Jura Mountains are subdivided into three formations and five members: new Saars Formation (= former “Gorges de l’Orbe Formation” sensu Strasser et al., 2016; Pictet, 2021) with a new Falaises Member below the Montcherand and Bôle members of Pictet (2021), Rocher des Hirondelles Formation with Fort de l’Ecluse and Rivière members (Pictet, 2021, revised), and Vallorbe Formation (revised from Strasser et al., 2016 and the “Vallorbe Member” of Pictet, 2021). The latest Hauterivian-early Late Barremien Saars Formation includes three members 1) to 3): 1) Latest Hauterivian-Early Barremian Falaises Member with new Early Barremian nannoflora from the Corcelles Marls (much younger than the late Early Hauterivian nannoflora from the Uttins Marls of the type locality at Mont de Chamblon), primitive orbitolinids Praedictyorbitolina claveli Schroeder, 1994; and fossils/microfossils usually considered as Hauterivian markers: echinids Pseudholaster intermedius (Münster in Goldfuss, 1826), brachiopods Glosseudesia semistriata (Defrance, 1828), Lamellaerynchia hauteriviensis Burri, 1953 and Plicarostrum aubersonense Burri, 1956, and ostracods of the Assemblage 1 [Protocythere triplicata (Roemer, 1841), Rehacythereis bernardi (Grosdidier, 1964), Schuleridea clunicularis (Triebel, 1938), Schuleridea gr. thoerenensis (Triebel, 1938)]. 2) Early Barremian Montcherand Member with brachiopods Glosseudesia inexpectata Mojon, n. sp. and Glosseudesia ebrodunensis (de Loriol, 1864), and ostracods of the Assemblage 2 [Strigosocythere strigosa (Grosdidier, 1964), P. triplicata, and juvenile immature species markers of the next ostracod Assemblage 3]. 3) Early to early Late Barremian Bôle Member with adult ostracod markers of the Assemblage 3 [Rehacythereis geometrica (Damotte and Grosdidier, 1963), Bairdoppilata barremiana Mojon, n. sp., Bairdoppilata luminosa Kuznetsova, 1961; Neocythere (Centrocythere) gottisi Damotte and Grosdidier, 1963; Schuleridea derooi Damotte and Grosdidier, 1963; Schuleridea alata Kaye, 1965; Dolocytheridea intermedia Oertli, 1958]. 4) The Early to Late Barremian Fort de l’Ecluse Member/Rocher des Hirondelles Formation and Late Barremian Rivière Member/Vallorbe Formation are characterized by markers such as echinids Heteraster couloni (L. Agassiz, 1839), orbitolinids [Praedictyorbitolina carthusiana Schoeder et al., 1990; Eopalorbitolina charollaisi Schroeder and Conrad, 1967; Valserina broennimanni Schroeder and Conrad, 1967; Paleodictyoconus actinostoma Arnaud-Vanneau and Schroeder, 1976; Paracoskinolina maynci (Chevalier, 1961)], and typical ostracods of the Assemblage 4 [Strigosocythere chalilovi (Kuznetsova, 1961), Rehacythereis buechlerae (Oertli, 1958) only in the southern Jura and replaced by R. geometrica in the central Jura, Platycythereis rostrata Sauvagnat, 1999] extended in the latest Barremian-Early Aptian Fulie Member of the basal Perte-du-Rhône Formation defined by Pictet et al. (2016).

Optimized market value of alpine solar photovoltaic installations

Solar photovoltaic (PV) is the most rapidly expanding renewable resource worldwide. Yet, its full potential may be hindered by mismatches with market demand and correlated production profiles. In this research, we explore a case study of innovative PV placements in alpine regions using two, soft-linked optimization models of Switzerland's electricity system. Using Swissmod, an electricity dispatch and load-flow model, and OREES, an electricity system model employing evolution strategy to optimize PV placement, we simulate market prices of optimized PV placements given multiple years of weather data, various CO2 prices, and considering future electricity infrastructure developments across Europe. Mountain placements result in higher market value and less required area relative to lower-altitude PV placement strategies. The higher market value is driven by better alignment with demand, particularly during winter when demand is highest. We found that optimized alpine placements offer revenues of panel capacity (EUR/kW/year) that are on average 20% higher than revenues from urban PV installations. Furthermore, the Swiss mountains could host more than 1 GW of capacity with even greater revenues (33%). Alpine PV installations, with their higher market values and increased value factors, can potentially be very profitable investments and are also valuable from a system perspective.

Estimated pre-caecal digestible crude protein for horses in forage from species-rich grasslands

The methodological procedure of the new German protein evaluation system for horses estimates protein supply at the duodenum on the level of pre-caecal digestible crude protein (pcdCP). Limited information is available on the pcdCP content of forage from species-rich grasslands, commonly used as forage for horses. A characteristic of forage from species-rich grasslands is elevated contents of specific phenolic compounds. The contents and variation of pcdCP were determined in forage samples from three long-term fertilisation field experiments located in the Swiss mountains. The samples were characterised by a large variation in the botanical composition (16–36 species) and were hence analysed by contrasting crude nutrient composition and contents of total extractable phenols (TEP), total tannins (TT) and condensed tannins (CT). The contents of neutral detergent soluble CP (NDSCP) and pcdCP were calculated and the potential influences of varying TEP contents on the pcdCP analysed. Forage (N = 64) crude protein (CP) contents ranged from 67.3–144 g/kg dry matter (DM). On average, the contents of pcdCP varied from 35.5–70.7 g/kg DM and from 260 to 634 g/kg CP. The contents of pcdCP, NDSCP and neutral detergent insoluble crude protein (NDICP) followed an unspecific pattern across all investigated swards when related to either fertilisation or growth cycle. There was a positive correlation (r = 0.4030, P < 0.05) between pcdCP (g/kg DM) and CP (g/kg DM) and between forage NDICP contents and CP (r = 0.7090, P < 0.05). Negative correlations were determined between NDICP and TEP (r = -0.2490, P < 0.05) and TT (r = -0.3550, P < 0.05). Forage NDICP and CT were negatively correlated in both forages from the generative (rg = -0.4010) or vegetative harvest (rv = -0.5570) or as a sum of both growth cycles (r = -0.3710) (P < 0.05). Therefore, the new German protein evaluation system for horses requires further evaluation in vivo to examine whether the contents of pcdCP are predicted adequately in forage with elevated contents of phenolic compounds.

Conversations with Vladimir Nabokov by Golla Robert (review)

SEER, 97, 3, JULY 2019 544 Übermensch, ideas about pity, and conception of the otherworld as ‘materially continuous with this one’ (p. 139) effectively revise or reinterpret Nietzsche’s philosophy. In this way, Rodgers showcases not only how Nietzsche can help us be good readers of Nabokov’s books, but also how Nabokov provokes us to rethink concepts taken for granted in Nietzsche’s philosophy. Department of Language and Literature Laci Mattison Florida Gulf Coast University Golla, Robert (ed.). Conversations with Vladimir Nabokov. Literary Conversations Series. University Press of Mississippi, Jackson, MS, 2017. xvii + 237 pp. Chronology. Index. $60.00: £55.95. Conversations with Nabokov is a new collection of twenty-eight interviews spanning the years 1958 to 1977. Many readers will have thought that Nabokov’s 1973 volume — Strong Opinions — represented an exhaustive selection of the best examples, but here we have material that pre- and post-dates it, and which also includes a number of previously uncollected pieces. This is not to say that thisnewmaterialisoflittlesignificance.Onthecontrary,muchofitrevealsafar more personable and relaxed figure, less controlling, less elusive, and therefore more exposed. As a collection, it of course does not replace Strong Opinions, but serves as a very valuable addition and complement to it, filling gaps in the existing interviews and adding new dimensions to our understanding of contemporary responses to the man and his work. Some interviews from Strong Opinions are included — for example, Peter Duvall-Smith for the BBC in 1962 and Alvin Toffler for Playboy, 1964. Alfred Appel’s 1967 interview is printed in full for the first time, although the additions are few, whilst James Mossman’s 1969 interview for the BBC which Nabokov reproduced from his ‘final typescript’ (Strong Opinions, New York, 1973, p. 141), is taken from the version in The Listener, which although is not as complete, does have a couple of amusing additions. All the rest of the material, covering 1958–62 and 1971–77, is new. Nabokov was notorious for finding interviews difficult. He did not care for the spontaneity of a question and answer exchange, was uncomfortable with speaking ‘off the Nabocuff’ (Strong Opinions, p. 62; Conversations, p. 175), and did not allow interviews to be taped. Instead, he preferred to see the questions in advance so that he could prepare his answers on paper, which has established his reputation for being overly formal and inhibited in conversation. Herbert Gold, however, viewed Nabokov’s claim to need to adopt this formula because of ‘his unfamiliarity with English’ as ‘a constant seriocomic form of teasing’ REVIEWS 545 (p. 143). ‘[H]is frequent apologies for his grasp of English clearly belong in the context of Nabokov’s special mournful joking: he means it, he does not mean it, he is grieving for his loss [of Russian], he is outraged if anyone criticizes his style, he pretends to be just a poor lonely foreigner, he is as American “as April in Arizona”’ (pp. 143–44). In interviews nearly twenty years apart, the impact of having to abandon his Russian for English seems to magnify, rather than diminish. In a 1959 interview, Nabokov describes the switch in terms of a move ‘from a darkened house to another on a starless night during a strike of candle makers and torchbearers. After a period of panic and groping, I managed to settle down rather comfortably’ (p. 35). In 1977, however, in a piece published shortly after his death taken from a meeting only a few months before, Nabokov describes his having to start writing in English as ‘exceedingly painful, like learning anew to handle things after losing seven or eight fingers in an explosion’ (p. 215). Unlike Strong Opinions, many of the pieces collected here are not conventional interviews, but magazine articles — accounts of visits to the Nabokovs in New York, London or Montreux, butterfly hunting in the Grand Canyon or the Swiss mountains, conversations with ‘the tweedy host’ (p. 184) over lunch, dinner or coffee. There is a full transcription of the 1958 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s television special with Nabokov and Lionel Trilling discussing Lolita. Various essays offer rare glimpses of an unguarded Nabokov: at Cornell, ‘slouching comfortably in his armchair’ (p. 18); in...

Environmental and socioeconomic benefits of a division of labour between lowland and mountain farms in milk production systems

Swiss mountains and lowlands feature different climatic and topographic conditions for agricultural production. Thus, farmers developed a collaborative dairy production scheme, where they take advantage of the specific environment of the two regions. In this contract rearing system, the young stock is reared on a mountain farm and the more intensive milk production is performed in the lowlands. This system is an example for the principle of comparative advantage, where each region focuses on the activity where it has the lowest opportunity costs. We hypothesised that the same principle can also be applied in an environmental context, to reduce the environmental impacts of agricultural production. Based on the life cycle assessments of average dairy farms, we could show that the absolute environmental impact was higher on mountain farms for both, the production of one heifer for restocking and the production of one kg milk. However, they had a comparative environmental advantage for rearing, as the young stock was better suitable for their local conditions than the dairy cows. Therefore, milk produced in collaboration between lowland and mountain farms had an up to 4.5% lower non-renewable energy demand and used up to 30.9% less potassium and up to 5.2% less phosphorus resources compared to non-collaborative production. Further consequences of collaboration were a reduced workload and income on mountain farms, and a potentially increased income on lowland farms. We conclude that the principle of comparative environmental advantage is appropriate as a screening method to identify suitable production systems for less favoured regions. However, the total effects of a possible division of labour among regions need to be assessed in a more holistic way where possible side-effects on other aspects are considered as well.

Dwelling-in-motion: Indian Bollywood tourists and their hosts in the Swiss Alps

ABSTRACTUntil recently, tourist routes typically led from ‘the West’ to the so-called ‘rest’ of the world, and travel guides and travel novels were the essential media for planning a journey. In recent years, however, the intensified circulation of place images through global communication media has connected more and more places with more and more imaginations, while the price reductions in and the expansion of travel offers as well as the economic upswing in parts of the global ‘East’, ‘Middle East’, and ‘South’ have set a rising number of these places within potential reach for ever more people. This paper investigates the places and performances of Indian Bollywood tourists and their hosts in and beyond a small town hotel in the Swiss mountains. The Swiss Alps are quite a ‘traditional’ destination of Indian tourism, as they were discovered by the Indian Bollywood film industry as a filming set as early as in the 1980s. Today, many Swiss towns display a comprehensive tourist infrastructure that specifically cares for the services needs of Indian tourists. Building on ethnographic field research and based on recent tourism mobilities studies, this paper explores the practices of Indian tourists in a transitory mode of dwelling and in a place familiar to them through the images produced by the film industry. Moreover, it retraces the way in which the Indian tourists’ practices of dwelling-in-motion have been co-produced and received by service and sales personnel as well as the local population, and how rather immobile imaginations rooted in colonial times structure both the discourses and interactions in the local tourist space.

Hiatuses and condensation: an estimation of time lost on a shallow carbonate platform

AbstractOn shallow carbonate platforms, the sedimentary record is highly fragmentary because low accommodation commonly leads to non‐deposition, erosion, reworking and condensation. Consequently, it is difficult to quantify the time that is actually recorded and to estimate sedimentation rates. The Berriasian platform in the Swiss and French Jura Mountains offers an opportunity to address this problem. Facies evolution through time displays deepening‐shallowing trends of different orders, resulting in a hierarchical stacking of sequences. The sequence‐ and cyclostratigraphic analysis relates these sequences to orbital cycles with durations of 20, 100, and 400 kyr. Many surfaces in the record of shallow‐water carbonates can be interpreted as hiatuses due to non‐deposition in the supratidal realm, reactivation of shoals or scouring by currents. Strongly bioturbated intervals and hardgrounds commonly result from sediment starvation. These same processes and products can be observed on modern carbonate platforms, and the duration of the hiatuses or condensed intervals can be inferred (a few hours to a few hundreds of years). Amalgamations and narrow stacking of such surfaces create sequence‐boundary zones that can be followed over the entire platform. Time lost or condensed in these zones may correspond to hundreds of thousands of years. Time distribution in the studied sections thus is highly irregular: short periods of sedimentation alternated with long periods of non‐deposition, erosion, reworking, and condensation. Furthermore, due to substrate morphology and laterally variable depositional environments, the depositional record of a given time interval varied significantly across the platform. In one example, it can be estimated that – applying modern sedimentation rates – a sedimentary record spanning 800 kyr could have been deposited within 44 kyr if there were no hiatuses or condensations. It becomes clear that, when estimating carbonate production and sediment accumulation rates in ancient records, the shortest possible time spans must be used to minimize the effect of time lost in hiatal surfaces and condensed intervals.

Transhumance Farming in Swiss Mountains: Adaptation to a Changing Environment

Families living on transhumance farms (Stufenbetriebe) in the Swiss Alps may move with their cattle up to 12 times a year between as many as 4 altitudinal levels. Transhumance farms have come under increasing political pressure to improve their economic performance, which has been hampered by a number of factors, such as rising infrastructure costs for meeting animal welfare regulations at multiple farm locations, lack of access roads, and restrictions on the creation of new transhumance farms. Little is known about transhumant farming practices and the role they play in mountain regions. In this exploratory anthropological study, we interviewed 39 transhumance farm family members in 7 Swiss cantons about their history, present situation, and visions of the future. A special focus was the risk perceptions upon which decisions and management strategies are based. The semistructured interviews were analyzed according to principles of content analysis and risk network analysis, with a focus on social, cultural, economic, and political risks as well as natural hazards. The results show that many transhumance farms are undergoing a process of adaptation to a changing social, political, economic, environmental, and cultural context. Transhumance farming has allowed individuals to survive as mountain farmers despite often difficult conditions. This study offers important insights into the risk perceptions and strategies of adaptation to ongoing changes developed by the families on these farms.

Swiss Mountains and English Scholars: Johann Jakob Scheuchzer’s Relations to the Royal Society

In this essay, Urs B. Leu discusses the contributions of Johann Jakob Scheuchzer, a Swiss physician and librarian with more than 800 correspondents; a Fellow of the Royal Society, he was widely published in the Philosophical Transactions and other periodicals. Scheuchzer’s primary work, Physica sacra, uses numerous illustrations to bolster his arguments about the origins of fossils.

Swiss Mountains and English Scholars

Swiss Mountains and English Scholars

ESCMID postgraduate technical workshop on intracellular bacteria: From biology to clinic

Infection by intracellular bacteria can lead to several diseases in both veterinary and human medicine. Unfortunately, the biology of these intracellular bacteria is highly complex due to their interactions with their host cells. Thus, it is very important to develop several tools in order to better understand the complex intracellular life of these pathogens, so allowing to improve the diagnosis options and the treatments of infectious diseases that they are causing. The workshop organised in Villars-sur-Ollon (Switzerland) by the ESCMID Study group on intracellular bacteria was a good opportunity to enhance our knowledge on these fastidious pathogens. During 5 days, 15 speakers gave 41 talks, covering all fields, from biology to clinic of different intracellular bacteria such as Bartonella, Chlamydia, Coxiella, Ehrlichia, Listeria, Parachlamydia, Rickettsia, and Waddlia. The format of this postgraduate course, which took place in the Swiss mountains, allowed interactive sessions and living discussions between the participants coming from all around the world. One of the major strength was to gather epidemiologists, clinical microbiologists, infectious diseases specialists, entomologists, veterinarians as well as bioinformaticians, biochemists and biologists to deliver a unique “one-health science” on intracellular bacteria. Here, we summarise the main take-home messages delivered during this meeting.

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner’s Drawings of the Apocalypse

This essay presents a series of previously unpublished drawings by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880–1938) that are part of the Getty Research Institute's special collections. Dated to 1917, the drawings depict 11 scenes of the Apocalypse and one self‐portrait with Death. It has so far remained largely unknown that the German artist had engaged in the biblical story of the Revelation, which, in a state of general existential anxiety at the beginning of the 20th century, was negotiated by several artists. When executing these drawings, Kirchner was in a miserable physical and mental condition, moving from sanatorium to sanatorium and finally to the Swiss mountains. The paper examines the historical and biographical context in which the drawings were created and offers reasons for Kirchner's interest in the topic. Furthermore, the essay compares Kirchner's works to the famous Apocalypse woodcut series by Albrecht Dürer, highlighting differences and similarities in the selection and rendition of scenes from the biblical narrative.

Seasonal patterns of testate amoeba diversity, community structure and species–environment relationships in four Sphagnum-dominated peatlands along a 1300 m altitudinal gradient in Switzerland

Altitudinal gradients are useful to study the potential effects of climate change on ecosystems. Historically, studies on elevation gradients have primarily focused on macro-organisms and ecosystem processes, while microorganisms have been mostly ignored despite their ubiquity and functional importance. We studied the temporal (about every two months from June 2008 until May 2009) variation of testate amoeba communities in four Sphagnum-dominated peatlands along a 1300 m elevation gradient in the Swiss Mountains (580–1880 m) in relation to water table depth and hydrochemistry with special focus on dissolved organic carbon (DOC), a useful proxy for changes in C-cycling in peatlands.The lowest site had significantly (P < 0.01) lowest testate amoeba density, species richness. The highest site had highest testate amoeba density (38 ind mg−1 dry mass of Sphagnum). Seasonal fluctuations in testate amoeba species richness and diversity were not consistent among sites but density tended to peak in spring at all sites, autumn in the three highest sites and mid-winter in the upper two sites. In a redundancy analysis (RDA) community structure was more strongly correlated to altitude (33.8% of variance explained in living community) than to soil hydrological and hydro-chemical variables (together explaining 16.2% of variance). In a partial RDA with altitude used as covariable, the four sites were separated by DOP, DOC, DON, pH and average depth to water table.The abundance of high trophic level testate amoeba species (shell-aperture over their body size >0.20; i.e. primarily predators of protists and micro-metazoa) as well as the community size structure increased from lowest to highest elevation (respectively by 3.7× and 6×) and followed the seasonal patterns of total density, while DOC, DON, and DOC/DON decreased with elevation.These results agree with previously reported alteration of peatland microbial food chains in response to experimental warming, suggesting that climate-induced changes in microbial community structure (here a shortening of microbial food chains) represent a mechanism controlling the carbon balance of peatlands.

Electrochemical As(III) whole-cell based biochip sensor

The development of a whole-cell based sensor for arsenite detection coupling biological engineering and electrochemical techniques is presented. This strategy takes advantage of the natural Escherichia coli resistance mechanism against toxic arsenic species, such as arsenite, which consists of the selective intracellular recognition of arsenite and its pumping out from the cell. A whole-cell based biosensor can be produced by coupling the intracellular recognition of arsenite to the generation of an electrochemical signal. Hereto, E. coli was equipped with a genetic circuit in which synthesis of beta-galactosidase is under control of the arsenite-derepressable arsR-promoter. The E. coli reporter strain was filled in a microchip containing 16 independent electrochemical cells (i.e. two-electrode cell), which was then employed for analysis of tap and groundwater samples. The developed arsenic-sensitive electrochemical biochip is easy to use and outperforms state-of-the-art bacterial bioreporters assays specifically in its simplicity and response time, while keeping a very good limit of detection in tap water, i.e. 0.8ppb. Additionally, a very good linear response in the ranges of concentration tested (0.94ppb to 3.75ppb, R2=0.9975 and 3.75 ppb to 30ppb, R2=0.9991) was obtained, complying perfectly with the acceptable arsenic concentration limits defined by the World Health Organization for drinking water samples (i.e. 10ppb). Therefore, the proposed assay provides a very good alternative for the portable quantification of As (III) in water as corroborated by the analysis of natural groundwater samples from Swiss mountains, which showed a very good agreement with the results obtained by atomic absorption spectroscopy

Allogenic and autogenic processes combined in the formation of shallow-water carbonate sequences (Middle Berriasian, Swiss and French Jura Mountains)

Sediment production and accumulation on shallow carbonate platforms are controlled by allogenic, externally controlled processes (such as sea level, climate, and/or platform-wide subsidence patterns) as well as by autogenic factors that are inherent to the sedimentary system (such as lateral migration of sediment bodies). The challenge is to determine how and in which proportion these processes interacted to create the observed sedimentary record. Here, a case study of Middle Berriasian, shallow-marine carbonates of the Swiss and French Jura Mountains is presented. Based on vertical facies evolution and bedding surfaces, different orders of depositional sequences (elementary, small-scale, medium-scale) have been identified in the studied sections. The hierarchical stacking pattern of these sequences and the time span represented by the investigated interval imply that eustatic sea-level fluctuations in the Milankovitch frequency band were an important controlling factor. The small-scale and medium-scale sequences relate to the 100 and 400-kyr orbital eccentricity cycles, respectively. The elementary sequences are attributed to the 20-kyr precession cycle. Differential subsidence additionally produced accommodation changes. The present study focuses on one specific small-scale sequence situated at the base of the transgressive systems tract of large-scale sequence Be4, which is identified also in other European basins. This small-scale sequence has been logged in detail at eight different outcrops in the Jura Mountains. Detailed facies analysis reveals that different depositional environments (tidal flats, internal lagoons, open lagoons, carbonate sand shoals) were juxtaposed and evolved through time, often shifting position on the platform. The boundaries of the small-scale (100-kyr) sequence can be followed over the entire study area and thus must have formed through predominantly allogenic processes (eustatic sea-level fall, the effect of which was locally modified by differential subsidence). In two sections, five well-developed elementary sequences constitute the small-scale sequence. In the other sections, the identification of elementary sequences often is difficult because sedimentation was dominated by autogenic processes that overruled the influence of sea-level fluctuations. In low-energy, tidal-flat and internal-lagoonal settings, orbitally induced sea-level changes were recorded more faithfully, while high-energy shoals were mainly submitted to autogenic processes and the allogenic signal is masked. Consequently, the studied Jura platform experienced a combination of auto- and allogenic processes, which created a complex facies mosaic and a complex stacking of depositional sequences. Nevertheless, the 100-kyr orbital signal was strong enough to create correlatable sequence boundaries. Within a 100-kyr sequence, however, the unambiguous definition of sequences related to the 20-kyr orbital cycle is often difficult and the prediction of their lateral or vertical facies evolution impossible.

Limited genetic diversity and high differentiation among the remnant adder (Vipera berus) populations in the Swiss and French Jura Mountains

Although the adder (Vipera berus) has a large distribution area, this species is particularly threatened in Western Europe due to high habitat fragmentation and human persecution. We developed 13 new microsatellite markers in order to evaluate population structure and genetic diversity in the Swiss and French Jura Mountains, where the species is limited to only a few scattered populations. We found that V. berus exhibits a considerable genetic differentiation among populations (global FST = 0.269), even if these are not geographically isolated. Moreover, the genetic diversity within populations in the Jura Mountains and in the less perturbed Swiss Alps is significantly lower than in other French populations, possibly due to post-glacial recolonisation processes. Finally, in order to minimize losses of genetic diversities within isolated populations, suggestions for the conservation of this species in fragmented habitats are proposed.

Preface

Preface

Astronomical time scale for the Middle Oxfordian to Late Kimmeridgian in the Swiss and French Jura Mountains

Detailed investigation of facies and sedimentary structures reveals that, during the Middle Oxfordian to Late Kimmeridgian, the shallow carbonate platform of the Swiss and French Jura Mountains recorded high-frequency sea-level fluctuations quite faithfully. The cyclostratigraphic analysis within the established biostratigraphic and sequence-chronostratigraphic framework implies that the resulting hierarchically stacked depositional sequences formed in tune with the orbital cycles of precession (20 kyr) and eccentricity (100 and 400 kyr). The astronomical time scale presented here is based on the correlation of 19 platform sections and 4 hemipelagic sections from south-eastern France where good biostratigraphic control is available. The cyclostratigraphic interpretation suggests that the interval between sequence boundaries Ox4 and Kim1 (early Middle Oxfordian to earliest Kimmeridgian) lasted 3.2 myr and that the Kimmeridgian sensu gallico has a duration of 3.2 to 3.3 myr. The astronomical time scale proposed here is compared to time scales established by other authors in other regions and the discrepancies are discussed. Despite these discrepancies, there is a potential to estimate the durations of ammonite zones and depositional sequences more precisely and to better evaluate the rates of sedimentary, ecological and diagenetic processes.

Combining classification tree analyses with interviews to study why sub-alpine grasslands sometimes revert to forest: A case study from the Swiss Alps

Natural reforestation reflects a decline in traditional agricultural practices. In the last decades, natural forest re-growth has replaced much of the grasslands in the Swiss mountains. This is an area where traditional cultivation has preserved unique landscapes and habitats of high ecological value. We investigated the patterns and determinants of natural reforestation of sub-alpine grasslands at the sub-parcel level using raster cells as the units of the analysis, and at the municipality-level. The study encompassed four municipalities in the Swiss Alps. Land-use data were derived from aerial photographs taken between the 1950s and 2000. We derived the research design for fieldwork (interviews in this study) from spatial statistical models (classification trees in this study). This method is known as the “finding answers in the errors” approach. This allowed us to relate the behaviour of landowners and operators to changes in land-use/land-cover types, which is one of the main challenges in land-use/land-cover change research. Three of four classification trees accurately described the locations where natural reforestation occurred, which was mostly on steep and north-facing slopes. However, additional information from interviews was necessary to understand the patterns and determinants of reforestation. Interviews revealed that policy factors (e.g. delayed land consolidations) enhanced forest re-growth. Some sites remained under cultivation despite model predictions of reforestation. Socio-economic factors, not incorporated into the models, explained these discrepancies. These factors included the opportunity costs of farm labour (e.g. aged farmers retaining traditional practices), a conversion to low-cost cultivation practices (e.g. deer and horse pasturing), agri-environmental requirements (e.g. land required to avoid exceeding the prescribed number of livestock per hectare) or other benefits (e.g. hobby farming). Many farms were abandoned during the 50-year study period. The remaining farms often increased in size, whereas farm labour remained stable or decreased. Farm labour costs increased faster than incomes, leading to undergrazing and the cessation of tree and shrub clearance. Although our discussion references specific case study areas, our methods are applicable to the study of other areas undergoing land-use change.