ALPKULTUR - Cultural-historical documentation of toponyms in the Alpine region

Project Management: Dr. Isolde HAUSNER, Institute of Lexicography of Austrian Dialects and Names, Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW)
Duration: 3 years (beginning 2004)


Abstract

With signing the Alpine Convention Austria undertook several obligations for the protection and the research of its Alpine region. The protocol "Population and Culture", which is still in statu nascendi, indicates the integration of cultural-historical research about the Alpine region, but it indicates also the concern for the research of the variant languages in the alpine regions and the linguistic heritage which lies in the toponymsmaintenance of the cultural heritage

• responsibility of the society for its natural and cultural heritage
• language diversity in the light of a sustainable cultural development
• initiatives for crossborder cooperations

In the Alpine names inventory we can find the linguistic informations about the early settlers as well as about their cultural achievements in the cultivation of the Alpine region. Names are witnesses of civilization in early times, they mark the ways of the early settlers, their settlement areas and their economic system. In East Tyrol we find the contact zone between the three great language families of Europe, the Romans, the Slaves and the Bavarians (Germans), and on the other hand we find a manageable Alpine research region, of which we can expect representative results in a reasonable time. In this area the three ethnical groups left their deep traces of their specific kind of civilization in the Alpine names inventory, which shall be investigated in the frame of this project. A specific Alpine vocabulary, closely connected with the act of civilization, is spread over the whole Alpine region, it exceeds the borders of our country and in this respect this project can set a sustainable initiative for the cultural-historical investigation of the whole Alpine region. The focus of this project is the collection of the historic basic data, the treatment and documentation in a data base combined with the comprehensive linguistic analysis by means of the diachronic method and the interference research, and the elaboration of the cultural-historical references. The results will be visualized on thematic/topographic maps with manifold search facilities. The corpus of the dialect archives in our Institute for the Lexicography of Austrian Dialects and Names with 3,6 Mio. records as well as the onomastic research materials are of benefit for this project.


Contact:
Dr. Isolde Hausner
Institute of Lexicography of Austrian Dialects and Names
Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW)
Postgasse 7, 1010 Vienna
T +43 1 51581-3496
F +43 1 51581-3495
isolde.hausner@oeaw.ac.at

Prähistorische und antike Verkehrswege in den Ostalpen - - zur Dokumentation und Rekonstruktion archäologischer Siedlungs-, Wirtschafts- und Verkehrsstrukturen mit Hilfe eines Katasters archäologischer Fundstätten (KAFAlp)

Project Management: Prof. Dr. Otto H. URBAN, Prehistoric Commission, Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW)
Duration: 3 years (beginning 2004)


Abstract

Prehistoric and antique routes crossing the Eastern Austrian Alps - documentation and reconstruction of archaeological settlement, trade and traffic patterns with the help of a GIS-based archaeological database

The first focus of the project is mapping all the known and published sites within the counties Upper Austria and Styria and locating them precisely with the help of GPS. Digital elevation models and aerial photos will help reconstructing the exact course of prehistoric routes and showing them in their topographical context. Settlements along the way as well as single finds, help dating the use of antique routes and bringing them in a chronological order. The reconstruction of a network of prehistoric and antique routes as well as the closely related settlement and economic structures gives hints on the development, cultivation and exploitation of the alpine region. The Archaeological Alpine Land Register is not only the basis of reconstructing cultural, social and economical events in the alpine region, but can also be linked with databases on bio-diversity and vegetation to discuss matters in a larger context. In addition to mapping the known sites, another main focus of the project is detecting, finding and documenting unknown archaeological sites with the help of aerial prospection. Due to the specific climate, vegetation and soil the economic basis of the inhabitants of the alpine region was quite different to the non alpine regions. For this reason different types of archaeological structures can be expected, such as seasonally used houses, mining villages or herdsmen's huts. Vertical photographs of the project area will be interpretet and flights to possible sites will be made to acquire oblique photographs. The second step is verifying the discovered sites documented from the air and locating them precisely on the ground. Surveys may help dating the objects, as the age of the discovered remains is usually not known from the photographs. After further research, the data is added to the database, the Archaeological Alpine Land Register. Since the landscape is currently changing, the project is important to rediscover old structures and systems concerning economy, commerce and traffic and to save the knowledge for the future, right before the last traces are destroyed. The Archaeological Alpine Land Register will be the basis for historical and archaeological research as well as for regional studies and spatial planning, in order to protect the historical landscape of the Austrian Alps.


Contact:
Prof. Dr. Otto H. Urban
Prehistoric Commission
Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW)
Franz-Klein-Gasse 1, 1190 Vienna
T +43 1 4277-40474
F +43 1 4277-9404
otto.urban@univie.ac.at

Evidenz von Datenbank und WebGIS RAUMALP

Project Management: Prof. Dr. Axel BORSDORF, Research Unit for Mountain Research: Man and Environment, Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW)
Duration: 4 years (beginning 2005)


Abstract

The RAUMALP project was elaborated in an interdisciplinary approach by seven scientific teams from four Austrian universities and the Academy´s Institute for Urban and Regional Research. Although it was concluded in 2003, one of the products, an geo-referenced data-base with more than 1300 variables is still acturalised and now accessible in an own homepage ( www.galpis.at ) as an interactive, web-based Alpine Information System (GALPIS-web). It will be supported at least until 2007 and offers interfaces to all other projects, funded by the national committee to implement their data to the system. Another product of RAUMALP is a modern atlas, published with the title: "Das neue Bild Österreichs. Strukturen und Entwicklungen im Alpenraum und in den Vorländern". Wien: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2005. ISBN 3-7001-3513-0, 160 pp ("The new vision of Austria. Structures and trends in the Alpine area and its surroundings").


Contact:
Prof. Dr. Axel Borsdorf
Research Unit for Mountain Research: Man and Environment
Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW)
Technikerstr. 21a
Otto Hittmair-Platz 1, 6020 Innsbruck
T +43 512 507-4940, 4901, 5400
Axel.Borsdorf@uibk.ac.at

Seasonal climate impact on alpine land-use development - CLIM-LAND

Project Management: Prof. Dr. Roland SCHMIDT und Dr. Jens. BOENIGK, Institute for Limnology, Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW)
Duration: 2 years (beginning 2006)


Abstract

CLIM-LAND is a multidisciplinary approach study. The overall goal of the study is to reconstruct seasonal climate variables in relation to Alpine land-use in the Austrian Alps during the last 4,000 years. For the quantitative inference of seasonal climatic variables we use diatom, chrysophyte-cyst and chironomid-based transfer functions, which were established from a lake calibration data set of the Austrian Central Alps. These transfer functions will be applied to the fossils of a sediment core from an Alpine lake (Oberer Landschitzsee), which is located slightly above the present tree-line at the southern slopes of the Niedere Tauern (Lungau). The seasonal climate pattern will be compared with plankton dynamics based on morphological and molecular surveys, catchment processes inferred from geochemical and mineralogical analyses, and with land-use impact indicated by pollen. Additionally, molecular biology should enable us to identify chrysophyte resting stages to species levels, thus getting way to recent species ecology and their use as bio-indicators.


Contact:
Prof. Dr. Roland Schmidt
Dr. Jens. Boenigk
Institute for Limnology
Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW)
Mondseestr. 9, 5310 Mondsee
T +43 6232 3125
F +43 6232 3578
roland.schmidt@oeaw.ac.at
jens.boenigk@oeaw.ac.at

AUSTRO*ICE*CAVES 2100

Project Management: Prof. Dr. Christoph SPÖTL, Institute for Geology and Paleontology, University of Innsbruck
Duration: 2 years (beginning 2006)


Abstract

The Eastern Alps host a great number of spectacular underground glaciers, which are among the largest of their kind on Earth and some of which are top tourist attractions. The fate of these ice caves in a warming world is unknown, but documentary evidence shows a large reduction in ice since the end of the "Little Ice Age", i.e. since the second half of the 19th century. Recognizing the urgency of this matter this multi-disciplinary pilot study attempts to (a) gain a better physical understanding of underground ice dynamics, (b) to develop constraints on the fate of alpine ice caves, and (c) to assess the unexplored potential of this ice as a paleoclimate archive in the Alps.


Contact:
Prof. Dr. Christoph Spötl
Institute for Geology and Paleontology
University of Innsbruck
Innrain 52, 6020 Innsbruck
T +43 512 507-5593
F +43 512 507-2914
christoph.spoetl@uibk.ac.at

Microbial Communities of CRYOconites as Sensitive Indicators for RADioactive Impact on Alpine Glaciers - CRYO.RAD

Project Management: Dr. Birgit SATTLER, Institute of Ecology, University of Innsbruck
Duration: 2 years (beginning 2006)


Abstract

Since vast snow and ice fields of the Earth's cryosphere have been recognized as habitats for different organisms, life in ice is no longer a paradox. According to the latest trend in cryo-research, cryoconites are now seen as microecosystems with high ecological relevance for glaciers worldwide. In alpine glaciers cryoconites are often found to contain rather high concentrations of radioactive remnants from atmospheric atomic bomb tests and the Chernobyl accident, suggesting a distinct microbial community capable to cope with higher radioactive doses as usual. In this project, radionuclides will be used as tracers for airborne pollutants which accumulate in the cryoconite. Microbial communities seem to be relevant for the formation of cryoconites and, thus, determine the chemical milieu which in turn is responsible for the efficient accumulation, retention and release of radionuclides and other pollutants which requires intensive studies on the functional biodiversity of microbes in cryoconites. Since glaciers are retreating worldwide the accumulated radionuclides may be washed out, thus a better understanding of the processes involved in storage and release of radionuclides is needed. The project aims at a better understanding of the ecological relevance of cryoconites, their role in radionuclide accumulation and their impact on glacial retreat worldwide.


Contact:
Dr. Birgit Sattler
Institute of Ecology
University of Innsbruck
Technikerstr. 25, 6020 Innsbruck
T +43 512 507-6124
F +43 512 507-2930
birgit.sattler@oeaw.ac.at

Y-chromosomal history of Tyrol: High-Resolution Analysis of Y-chromosome Variability in Selected Regions of the Tyrolean Alps (Austria): Influences of Topology and Demographic History on the Genetic Differentiation

Project Management: Prof. Dr. Richard SCHEITHAUER, Dr. Burkhard BERGER, Dr. Walther PARSON, Institut für Gerichtliche Medizin, Medical University of Innsbruck
Duration: 3 years (beginning 2006)


Abstract

The paternally inherited Y-chromosome has an extensive track record in exploring various aspects of human population history. A number of high-quality Y-data exist for European populations enabling a genetically view on the population history and spatial distribution of the continent, but there is a lack of data concerning the Alps. Therefore we plan a high-resolution sampling of DNA from individuals (males) living in a selected area within the Alps (Tyrol, Austria). The major intentions of this multidisciplinary project are (1) finding a particularly suitable investigation areas meeting the criteria of an interesting topology and historical background (2) collecting a high number of DNA samples including data concerning the origin of the sample (3) analyzing the samples for Y-chromosomal lineages using highly discriminating Y-SNPs and Y-STRs and (4) putting the genetic data into a historic proved framework.


Contact:
Prof. Dr. Richard Scheithauer
Dr. Burkhard Berger
Dr. Walther Parson
Institut für Gerichtliche Medizin
Medical University of Innsbruck
Müllerstr. 44, 6020 Innsbruck
T +43 512 507-3303
F +43 512 507-2764
E-Mail: richard.scheithauer@i-med.ac.at
E-Mail: burkhard.berger@i-med.ac.at
E-Mail: walther.parson@i-med.ac.at

Investigations of a cestod ( Triaenophorus crassus ) epidemic in Arctic charr ( Salvelinus alpinus )

Project Management: Dr. Robert SCHABETSBERGER, Institut für Organismische Biologie, Universität Salzburg
Duration: 4 years (beginning 2007)


Abstract

The alpine Lake Grundlsee in the Austrian lake district has been famous for its stock of Arctic charr ( Salvelinus alpinus ) and the fishery records date back to 1280 A.D. Life fish from Lake Grundlsee were so highly valued that they had to be delivered to the emperor's court in Vienna. For more than 700 years no parasite epidemic was reported. In 2005 an outbreak of the cestod Triaenophorus crassus occurred and 53% of the population were found to be infected with up to 17 cysts in the musculature. This is the first record of an epidemic in Arctic charr worldwide. The parasite needs a copepod and a salmonid fish as intermediate hosts and European pike ( Esox lucius ) as definitive host. It is still unknown how the shift in the ecology of lake Grundlsee finally culminated in a parasite outbreak, however our proposal is based on a set of working hypotheses: An uncontrolled introduction of fish preceded the epidemic. A total of three different translocated species were either stocked deliberately (whitefish, Coregonus spp. ; 1920ies onwards) or accidentally (European Pike; 1960ies, Common Perch, Perca fluviatilis ; 1980ies). Firstly, with pike the definitive host was introduced. Secondly, whitefish may have served as the vectors carrying the cestod. Thirdly, the increasing perch population probably forces Arctic charr to feed on infected copepods. Our proposal includes an integrated approach to elucidate the parasites life cycle and to understand the role of translocated fish species within the food web. It will also provide strategies to contain the epidemic and protect the remaining pristine alpine lakes in the area (Hallstätter See, Altausseer See, Toplitzsee, Vorderer and Hinterer Lahngangsee).


Contact:
Dr. Robert Schabetsberger
Institut für Organismische Biologie
University of Salzburg
Hellbrunnerstraße 34, 5020 Salzburg
T +43 664 52 21 809
F +43 662 8044 5698
Robert.Schabetsberger@sbg.ac.at
Homepage

Ecological versus historical determinants of plant species distribution in the Austrian Alps

Project Management: Dr. Stefan DULLINGER, V.I.N.C.A. - Vienna Institute for Nature Conservation and Analyses

Duration: 3 years (beginning 2007)


Abstract

"Historical factors", i.e. dispersal limitations at larger spatial and temporal scales, may impede an equilibrium between current abiotic conditions and the geographical distribution of plant species. In this study we want to examine (1) the extent to which plants of alpine grasslands fill their potential range in Austria as predicted by habitat distribution models which are based on the equilibrium assumption, and (2) if differences in range filling can be explained by species functional traits. Distribution models will be calibrated by linking species presence data from the "GIS-based vegetation database of the Austrian Alps" with abioitic site descriptors on climate, bedrock, and topography. Quantification of range filling will be done by comparing spatially explicit predictions of the habitat models with documented data on the real current distribution of the species in Austria. The results will also provide an indication on the utility of equilibrium-based models to predict species responses to climate change.


Contact:
Dr. Stefan Dullinger
V.I.N.C.A. - Vienna Institute for Nature Conservation and Analyses
Gießergasse 6/7, 1090 Wien
T +43 1 4029675
F +43 1 4029675 10
stefan.dullinger@vinca.at