#60: Intense days on the field course to Val Piora
Field courses provide some of the most memorable moments in learning and teaching Geography and Earth System Science. The students always show great enthusiasm - sometimes even too much, when they attempt one more sample while daylight is already fading.
-
- Val Piora in Ticino (Picture: Maria J. Santos)
The current Earth System Science field course to Val Piora is more spectacular than most. Accessible by one of the world's steepest funicular railways, this alpine valley is located at almost 2000 m in the Gotthard massif, with characteristics exciting across almost all Earth System Science fields.
One of the biologically richest areas in the Alps
Geologically three major tectonic units are exposed, a central valley of white metamorphosed sediments between the surrounding nappes of grey crystalline rock. There are over 20 small lakes, from the artificial reservoir Lake Ritom to Lake Cadagno, a rare permanently stratified meromictic lake. Landscapes vary from larch and pine forest, to wetlands, to expansive meadows and pastures. This diversity has created one of the biologically richest areas in the Alps, with over one thousand plant species, an Important Bird Area, and mammals such as ibex, deer and marmot. And despite the remote location, human influence via pasture expansion over 800 years ago can be detected from lake pollen records. Today, pastoral land use continues, with famous local cheese production continuing today, alongside several thousand tourists.
We visit Val Piora every summer with around 20 students. After a five kilometre hike along the lakeside, we reach the Cadagno research station for Alpine biology. Located next door (and above) of stables for the local cheese factory, you soon get used to the ringing of cowbells.
Slope impact on berry weight and cow pats as indicators of grazing density
The aim of the course is to give a hands-on overview of the scientific process, and experience of relevant field methods for Earth System Science and Geography research. To do this, students design a project from start to finish to explore the interactions between the different earth system spheres. The students have never failed to show hard work and great enthusiasm - sometimes too much when the instructors have to trek up the hillside before the light fades as they attempt one more sample. Participants have looked at everything from slope impact on berry weight, to effects of grazing on soil respiration, using cow pats as an indicator of grazing density. It's an intense few days, but the value far outweighs the time spent.
More news
- #125: The 125th and last
- #124: Gletscher vor 125 Jahren und heute
- #123: Ist das Navi in der Hand der erste Schritt zum betreuten Wohnen?
- #122: Catapulted into a new world
- #121: How to make health care service provision more equitable and greener
- #120: Our world is a multidimensional collage
- #119: Is Tourism the Beginning or the End? Livelihoods of Georgian Mountain People at Stake
- #118: «Wir müssen den Klimawandel systematisch als Risiko mitdenken»
- #117: Andean mountain regions: Fragile sentinels of landscape and cultural transformation
- #116: Temporary streams at the doorsteps of Irchel Campus
- #115: Counting snowflakes from space
- #114: Provokation und Revolte am GIUZ
- #113: Ambitious goals for biodiversity urgently needed!
- #112: "The Eyes Have It!" - Where we look while navigating
- #111: Investigating plants genetic structure from above
- #110: «I see and I remember. I do and I understand.»
- #109: «Für uns, unsere Kinder und Kindeskinder»
- #108: Was macht die Digitalisierung mit unserer Umwelt?
- #107: The role of a developer at GIUZ
- #106: Dem unterirdischen Wasser auf der Spur
- #105: Was der Geographieunterricht zur Bildung im 21. Jahrhundert beitragen kann
- #104: Nepal - Kein Land für alte Leute?
- #103: Klimawandel in der Schweiz: Alles, was du wissen musst!
- #102: Wie Instagram unseren Umgang mit der Natur verändert
- #101: Numbed by navigation technologies: How can we counteract?
- #100: This is blog post number 100
- #99: Investigating food sustainability: from production and trade to consumption
- #98: Geographers live in concert - postponed!
- #97: Global Glyphosate: Uneven Geographies of herbicide production and use
- #96: "Pesticides burned grass and know-how"
- #95: Vier Standorte in 125 Jahren
- #94: Dietikon: Vom Bauerndorf zur Stadt
- #93: What is biodiversity?
- #92: Fieldwork in rural Nepal: reflection on positionality, responsibility, and roles
- #91: Das Schulfach Geographie: heute und morgen
- #90: Mapping functional diversity from space
- #89: Adieu ewig’ Eis
- #88: Landschaftsleistungen erlebbar machen
- #87: What is the role of variability in nature?
- #86: The Skin of Chitwan
- #85: Animated flight line collection over Switzerland
- #84: Space, Nature & Society: Wo wir forschen und was wir tun
- #83: Do you know about the 3MT competition?
- #82: An academic career in ecology
- #81: Hundreds of students enrich the start of the semester at the University of Zurich
- #80: Wie bewegen wir uns in Zukunft fort?
- #79: Willkommen im GEO- und ESS-Studium!
- #78: Expeditions from the window: How do you perceive your surroundings?
- #77: Researching a pandemic - during a pandemic
- #76: Das Geoteam stellt sich vor
- #75: How roots influence climate change
- #74: Imaging the earth from above
- #73: Studierende sammeln Daten: Natur, Landschaft und Ressourcen
- #72: Trouvaillen aus dem Archiv
- #71: The fluorescence of phytoplankton from 800 km above
- #70: Der kalte Norden ist auch familiär
- #69: How the COVID-19 pandemic is teaching us to tackle the climate crisis
- #68: Studierende sammeln Daten: Migration, Mobilität und Stadt
- #67: Summer break!
- #66: On the art of failing forward
- #65: Die Wasserstadt Zürich mit dem Smartphone entdecken
- #64: Tracing the tracks of the first Swiss polar explorers
- #63: Geistreiche Wortspiele
- #62: Von Gemüse über Milch bis zu Kaffee: Solawis in der Deutschschweiz
- #61: Berner Seeland - quo vadis?
- #59: Panta rhei - everything flows
- #58: Comic Strip Geographies
- #57: Where we come from
- #56: A journey through time with loess deposits
- #55: Schlacht am Morgarten 1315: Wie sah die Landschaft damals aus?
- #54: Berne going green
- #53: Biochar increases rice root architecture
- #52: Cycling and pedestrian travel in Covid-19 world
- #51: The impact of Covid-19 from an economic geography perspective
- #50: Why do we create virtual forests?
- #49: Wenn das Eis fehlt: Das Lötschental und seine Zukunft
- #48: Planning ski tours: insights from Big Data
- #47: Is there a place for people in protected areas?
- #46: Biodiversity in Irchel park
- #45: Cress, tomatoes and the meaning of the universe
- #44: Scientific games to understand social-ecological system dynamics
- #43: Insight into the WGMS
- #42: Connecting female hydrologists worldwide: an initiative born at GIUZ
- #41: Shopping with Maximilian
- #40: Sars-CoV-2 and food producers: who cares?
- #39: The value of water
- #38: Mit Slimy-Masse die Gletscherschmelze illustrieren
- #37: Was machen Geographinnen und Geographen nach dem Studium?
- #36: Geographie-Student Jonathan, der Erdball und die CO2-Männli
- #35: Two study programs at the Department of Geography
- #34: Urban Sustainability as New Financial Fix?
- #33: Silently in the background
- #32: Interaktiv und interdisziplinär
- #31: Unpacking the complexity of social-ecological systems
- #30: Listen to the landscape
- #29: Creating synergies between homeschooling and university teaching
- #28: The first fully remote PhD defenses
- #27: Der Weltwassertag fällt ins Wasser
- #26: The GIUZ Sustainability Task Force
- #25: What is geography?
- #24: «Geografe nüme schlafe!»
- #23: Zurich on its way to the 2000-Watt society
- #22: Spatial genetics for plant-based communities - and much more!
- #21: Strebergärtli - Irchel Garden Project
- #20: Writing papers - a nightmare. Or not?
- #19: Urbanised landscapes - living between nature and civilisation
- #18: A 3D view on breathing forests
- #17: «Wir sind hier, wir sind laut!»
- #16: What is EGEA?
- #15: Exploring the future of biodiversity
- #14: Avalanche bulletins in the Alps: consistency across borders
- #13: Ice age coffee
- #12: Greenland 1912 - and today!
- #11: «Wir sitzen alle im selben Boot»
- #10: Air miles monitoring & reduction @ GIUZ
- #9: The "Geographie Alumni UZH" society: a platform for people interested in Geography
- #8: Knowledge in images - information design today
- #7: Geographie in Aufruhr
- #6: Glacier measurement series with mayonnaise
- #5: Landkarten im Reduit
- #4: Mapping the plastic soup
- #3: New unit "Space, Nature and Society"
- #2: How it all began
- #1: Happy 125th Anniversary