Biodiversity

In many places in Switzerland, rivers, streams and lakeshores are being restored. The new practice documentation “Evaluating the outcome of restoration projects” by Eawag and FOEN provides the basis for joint learning across project boundaries.

It is little known that Switzerland harbours chestnut forests and mixed stands covering about 24000 ha. Even more unknown is that these forests hide a precious genetic resource specific to Switzerland and not existing elsewhere in Europe. This is what an international team of scientists with participation of the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL has discovered.

In Lake Constance, Eawag scientists have tracked down a charr species thought to have gone extinct – a surprising rediscovery raising numerous questions.

The ETH Board is strengthening the interdisciplinary biodiversity research of WSL and Eawag in order to find answers to the urgent social challenges of species loss as quickly as possible.

Two researchers from ETH Zurich have been awarded USD 1.5 million each from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to explore the diverse symbiotic relationships between bacteria and other aquatic organisms.

Farmers could increase their revenues by increasing biodiversity on their land. This is the conclusion reached by an interdisciplinary research team including the fields of agricultural sciences, ecology and economics at ETH Zurich and other universities.