2022
News list
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Unlocking Environmental Narratives
Newspapers, travel diaries, policy documents and even fiction offer rich material capturing relationships between people and surroundings. A new book explores the possibilities and advances in computational analysis of natural language.
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Relationships to nature go both ways – care and attention for nature bring satisfaction and joy for Swiss Alpine farmers
Should we protect nature for its own sake or for people’s sake? In this paper we study a third kind of reason to protect nature – the relationships between people and nature. However, sustaining them requires physical, emotional, and socio-economic resources.
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«Ober mal wett hürate?» oder die Geographie der Schweizerdeutschen Grammatik
Oder würden Sie eher sagen «ober mal hürate wett»? Die räumliche Verteilung grammatikalischer Muster im Schweizerdeutschen untersuchte ein interdisziplinäres Team der Universität Zürich und der EPFL und zeichnete damit die Spuren historischer Migrationen nach.
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Diverse forests outyield monocultures
Multispecies tree plantations are more productive than monocultures, according to a new study carried out in China. GIUZ environmental scientist Bernhard Schmid was involved in the research.
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Drought-exposure history improves recovery of grassland communities from subsequent drought
When a plant community is exposed to drought, the different species undergo evolutionary changes. An international study with GIUZ participation now shows that this leads to improved resilience to future drought stress over time.
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Satellite monitoring of biodiversity moves within reach
Global biodiversity assessments require the collection of data on changes in plant biodiversity on an ongoing basis. Researchers from GIUZ and the University of Montréal have now shown that plant communities can be reliably monitored using imaging spectroscopy.
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Gone with the wind? How small birds move to the wintering grounds
To protect endangered migratory birds, we need to know their flight paths. But some birds are too small to carry a GPS tracker. By combining light, activity and wind measurements, their most likely route can be accurately estimated.
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Choose your own route!
A new navigation system lets pedestrians decide for themselves which route to take in a given area. In this way, they can better acquire spatial knowledge and have a lot of fun during navigation.
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Improving soil health in tropical regions
Healthy soils are key to maintaining ecosystem services provided by agriculture. New organic practices can help, but require incorporating traditional knowledge and the needs of local farmers.