Dear GLORIA team members, colleagues and friends!
Again, another exciting year has passed and we would just like to quickly brief you about our progress. But first of all we would like to thank you for the very fruitful and interesting co-operation in the past 12 months!
This year, the GLORIA network has expanded:
In North America by new target regions in Alaska: (Selawik Wilderness Refuge, where fieldwork could be finalised; BrooksRange - central, setup continued in 2008), in the Colorado Rocky Mountains (Niwot Ridge); several more in the USA are planned for 2008.
A science field week was held at the GLORIA master site in the Californian White Mountains, focusing on various additional approaches including downslope vegetation transects, recording of arthropods, population ecology at treeline.
In South America, fieldwork was continued in the Cumbres Calchaquies/Huaca Huasi (N-Argentina), Sajama (Bolivia), and the Cordillera Vilcanota and Cord. Blanca (both Peru) so that in all these regions setup is almost finalised. Fieldwork in the Cordillera Oriental of Colombia (Paramo Chingaza) and in the Cordillera Apolobamba (Bolivia) was started in 2007.
In Asia, setup in the Alborz mountains (Iran) was commenced. Options for establishing sites in the Nepal Himalaya as well as in Africa (Kilimanjaro) are in discussion.
In Europe, a target region in the southern Apennines (Matese mountains, Italy) was finalised and two in Norway (Fræna and Søln) were initialised. An Austrian/Greenlandic cooperation has concrete plans for a first target region in eastern Greenland in 2008 and more sites in the Arctic region are planned in cooperation with the international working group 'Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna' linked to the Arctic Council.
After the 2006 workshop on Hochschwab (Northeastern Alps), the summer 2007, again, was dedicated to the procedures in preparation for re-investigation in the forthcoming summer 2008 in the European target regions. The results of this work will be distributed for discussing the after final methodological adjustments for re-investigation. We are looking forward to the first major re-investigation round in summer of 2008!
Recently, a major an stimulating international GLORIA workshop (organised by CONDESAN, Proyecto Paramo Andino, Conservation International, Universidad San Andres) took place in Bolivia, aiming at multiplying the number of long-term observation sites in the Andes was perceived as linking focal point for related projects in the wider scope of global change.
Again, many thanks for all your dedication and efforts in the GLORIA network!
