Regional food self-sufficiency potential in the European Alpine space.

The sustainability of the food system needs to be improved, including shortening supply chains and promoting the consumption of regional food. Here, we explore the current potential for regional food self-sufficiency in the European Alpine space by calculating the current regional food/feed energy balance, deriving the regional per capita land footprint based on current food/feed consumption rates, and modelling the current potential for regional food/feed self-sufficiency. We show that 59% of the 560 Pcal of energy currently available in the study area comes from domestic production, and almost 60% of the energy is used for livestock consumption, with high regional variability. The resulting land footprints range from 2301 to 2975 m2 cap-1 y-1. Taking into account changes in cropping patterns, partial intensification, but no expansion of agricultural land, the European Alpine space could produce 89% of its current food demand domestically, with high regional variability due to population density, availability of agricultural land, crop yields, climatic conditions and dietary habits. These findings highlight the potential and limitations of regional mountain food systems and call for new strategies to improve sustainability. Reducing the current high consumption of animal products would reduce the land footprint and increase the potential for food self-sufficiency.

A detailed land use/land cover map for the European Alps macro region.

Spatially and thematically detailed land use maps are of special importance to study and manage populated mountain regions. Due to the complex terrain, high elevational gradients as well as differences in land demand, these regions are characterized by a high density of different land uses that form heterogeneous landscapes. Here, we present a new highly detailed land use/landcover map for the areas included in the European Strategy for the Alpine Region. The map has a spatial resolution of up to 5 m and a temporal extent from 2015 to 2020. It was created by aggregating 15 high-resolution layers resulting in 65 land use/cover classes. The overall map accuracy was assessed at 88.8%. The large number of land use classes and the high spatial resolution allow an easy customization of the map for research and management purposes, making it useable by a broad audience for various applications. Our map shows that by combining theme specific "high-resolution" land use products to build a comprehensive land use/land cover map, a high thematic and spatial detail can be achieved.

A biodiversity monitoring program for macroinvertebrates inhabiting streams and rivers of South Tyrol (Italy): aims, methodologies, and publicly accessible dataset.

Despite very limited in their extension - about 1% of the total surface of our planet - freshwater habitats greatly contribute to the biodiversity of Earth, since 10% of the known species and 33% of the vertebrates inhabit freshwaters. However, continuous monitoring of habitats and biodiversity - not only aquatic - is considered as a complex task due to the long-term perspective these monitoring programs should have, and the connected required financial needs. Here, within the framework of a regional-scale program of biodiversity monitoring started in the mountainous region of the Autonomous Province of Bolzano/Bozen (Italy) - including terrestrial and aquatic habitats - we present a dataset covering the first year of the fieldwork campaign aiming at sampling and identifying the benthic macroinvertebrates inhabiting the running-waters of the region. First, we developed a GIS model with the aim of classifying all the running-waters of the region on the base of their water origin, elevation, mean discharge, slope, and geology of the catchment. After having identified a final set of 12 different stream types, 10 sampling points per each type were selected throughout the region, 2 of which - defined as "reference points" - were scheduled to be sampled each year, in order to keep a "year-by-year" temporal resolution in addition to a long-term one. Thus, every year, 48 points are sampled: 24 "reference points" (2 sites x 12 stream types), and 24 additional sites whose re-sampling is scheduled to happen every 4 years. In summary, in a 4 year-period all the 120 sites are sampled, and the same sampling campaign is planned to be repeated every 4 years, in order to build an ecological time series in a long-term perspective. At each site, we collect benthic macroinvertebrates through a kick-net sampler (mesh size 500 µm), following a detailed protocol involving, among other aspects, characterization and quantification of the habitats present in the stretch selected for the sampling, as well as measurement of the water velocity associated to each habitat. The benthic samples are then sorted in the lab - with no application of sub-sampling - and identified mostly to family or genus level using appropriate literature. In addition, at each site, water samples are collected and analyzed within the same day, through a spectrophotometer, looking for a set of chemical species of nitrogen and phosphorous.

Integrating supply, flow and demand to enhance the understanding of interactions among multiple ecosystem services.

A comprehensive understanding of the relationships among ecosystem services (ES) is important for landscape management, decision-making and policy development, but interactions among multiple ES remain under-researched. In particular, earlier studies often did not clearly distinguish between supply, flow and demand. Furthermore, the underlying mechanisms in complex socio-ecological systems remain less examined. In this study, we therefore aimed to assess interactions among eight key ES, adopting a multistep approach. For all ES, we mapped ES supply, flow and demand at the municipality level in the Alpine Space area. We applied correlation analysis and cluster analysis in order to analyse the linkages between ES and to identify bundles of ES. We used random forest analysis to explain the distribution of the ES bundles and to identify important drivers based on socio-ecological variables (e.g. land use/cover, climate, topography and population density). Our results demonstrate that trade-offs and synergies varied greatly for supply, flow and demand. We identified five ES bundles, distinguishing hotspots of ES supply and demand. Twelve socio-ecological variables correctly predicted the membership of 81% of the municipalities to the ES bundles. Our results suggest that a limited number of socio-ecological variables can explain the majority of the distribution of ES bundles in the landscape. Considering the spatial relationships between mountain regions and their surrounding lowlands, regional and transnational governance frameworks need to connect areas of multiple ES supply to areas of ES demand, and should account for the different levels and types of ES relationships.