Attention
this is a beta version of the PASTORALP PLATFORM. Contents and/or design may be subject to changes.
this is a beta version of the PASTORALP PLATFORM. Contents and/or design may be subject to changes.
This section displays an updated and static cartography of the Gran Paradiso National Park and Parc Des Ecrins pasture vegetation, according to 13 grassland types, inventoried by integrating field surveys (carried out in 2019-2020-2021) and remotely sensed data. The interactive one can be navigated onto the WEBGIS section.
The pasture mapping activity involved the PNE and PNGP territories differently: in the PNE, some pasture maps produced under the “Alpages Sentinelles” programme were already available. The field work allowed to add six more pasture maps and to resurvey for a total of 2563 ha mapped. In the Gran Paradiso National Park, on the other hand, the surveys and mapping activities were done ex novo. All mountain pastures of Gran Paradiso National Park and closest surroundings, for a total of about 7500 ha, were involved.
The inventory followed a common and shared methodology between the two areas, likely to easily replicable to the whole western Alps, namely:
The harmonization of classifications to define 13 common pasture categories from the Aosta Valley typology is reported in the figure.
A brief description of pastoral typologies is hereby, while the pasture type correspondences between the three vegetation typologies of the study area is reported in Table 1:
Table 1. Pasture type correspondences between the three vegetation typologies of the study area.
PASTURE CATEGORY | AOSTA VALLEY – VANOISE TYPES | PIEDMONT TYPES | FRENCH SOUTHERN ALPS TYPES |
Productive | S3 | 8, 56, 57, 59 | |
Subalpine intermediate | S2 | 52, 53, 54, 60, 64, | PI3 |
Nardus swards | S1, A8 | 29, 30, 32, 41, 47, 48, 49, 61 | PI2, PI4 |
Grassy thermophile | A3, S4 | 11, 40 | PT1 |
P. paniculata swards | S6 | 26 | PI6, PI7 |
B. pinnatum swards | S5 | 3, 25 | PT2, PI5 |
Bare thermophile | SA1, SA2, SA3, A1, A2 | 13, 17, 19, 24, 46, 50 | PT3, PT4, PI1 |
Alpine intermediate | A4, A5, A6, A7 | 21, 22, 33, 35, 36, 37 | PT5 |
Nival | A9, A10 | 72, 74, 75, 76, 77, 79 | PN1, PN2, PN3, PN4 |
Heaths | L1, L2, L3 | 90, 91, 92 | F1, F2, F3, F4 |
Nitrophilous vegetation | 67, 69 | RA1, RA2 | |
Screes | E | 70 | E1, E2 |
Wetlands | ZH | 81, 86 | ZH1, ZH2 |
For further details, please refer to Deliverable C.6 (due in January 2022).
This section includes real-time data deriving from a series of phenocams and NDVI sensors positioned both in the Gran Paradiso National Park and in the Parc Des Ecrins to monitor the phenology of pastures.
Gran Paradiso National Park: a network of phenocam and NDVI sensors allows to track the seasonal evolution of canopy structural and functional properties and their interactions with climate and grazing; observation sites are located along a management gradient: a low elevation (~1500 m asl) intensively grazed pasture (Epinel), an extensively grazed grassland at 2000 m asl (Lauson) an high elevation grassland (Levionaz) with bouquet in grazing. Collected data are used to understand the feedbacks between taxonomical and functional diversity with site conditions, climate and grazing intensity, frequency and timing. They also represent field observations that can be used to evaluate remotely sensed products and to inform grassland productivity models.
National Parc Des Ecrins: several sensors have been installed, with the aim to monitor pasture’s meadows phenology at different altitudes (e.g. agro-climatic conditions) and pastoral management. Two sites are situated in a pasture (name : Crouzet) of L’Argentière-la-Bessée. One site is located at 1940 m above sea level in a subalpine meadow, and the other one is situated in the alpine zone at 2350 m above sea level, in an alpine meadow. Both sites are equipped with NDVI sensors and cameras for landscape monitoring. The NDVI sensors and the camera installed on the lower site can transmit rea-time data (not available yet), while the camera installed on the higher site does not. Another site is at Lautaret, currently transmitting real time data of air temperature and humidity, wind speed, NDVI values and snow cover.
Please click on one of the buttons below to see the real-time data for the relevant park.
This section displays outcomes from future climate projections on the case study areas, climate change impact on pastoral productive macro-types performed by means of process-based (DayCent, PaSim) and statistical (Random Forest) modelling approaches. The analysis was carried out by means of meteorological observations and data on pasture management, production, growth and development, which were collected from stations located in the two study areas (Parc National des Ecrins and Gran Paradiso National Park). The section includes three sub-sections, namely:
Maps on climate change impacts for GIS skilled users are available at the WEBGIS section.
This section includes two subsections:
A Glossary is also displayed at the bottom.
Climatic hazards | Consequences of the hazard on the natural environment (soil, vegetation and water) or animals | Possible consequences on the pastoral system | Possible adaptations | Points to watch out for (management and biodiversity) | Technical difficulties | Factors for failure or success |
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• Lack of snow with very dry and cold winter or • Early snow removal with spring frost or • Late or cold spring |
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Early Spring | ||||||
Drought at the beginning of the grazing season and very little snow cover | ||||||
Very marked drought in June (or even May) | ||||||
High heat or heatwave and wind in June | ||||||
Very hot and dry summer, heatwave and drought | ||||||
Rainy summer or hail storms | ||||||
Very mild autumn |
GLOSSARY OF TECHNICAL MEASURES | |||
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Term in French | Term in Italian | English translation | ENG |
Alpage | Alpeggio | Summer mountain pastures | It indicates both the mountain pastures used by herds and flocks in the summer season, and the structures present on these pastures (houses, stables, milk processing rooms, etc.). The alpage consists of a variable number of remue or tramuto at higher and higher altitudes. The average period of stay in alpage is about 100 days. The alpine pasture is a high-altitude pastoral unit used in summer by herds and flocks belonging to one or several farmers. Usually the alpine pasture consists of a variable number of pasture areas and huts, where the herd and its shepherds stop for the time necessary to consume the surrounding pastures. Stops in the trams, located at different altitudes, take place both uphill and downhill during the season, depending on the availability of fodder. |
Quartiers d’août | Tramuto superiore | High altitude pastoral paddock | Pastures at higher altitudes, usually grazed in August. |
Amontagnage | Monticazione | Climbing | Seasonal, vertical transhumance that takes place in the period of late spring/early summer when cattle and flocks are transferred from the lowlands to the summer mountain pastures |
Démontagnage | Demonticazione | Downclimbing | Descent of cattle and flocks from the alpage to the lowlands at the end of summer or in automn. |
Pâture intégrale | Pascolamento integrale | 24 hours grazing time | Night and day grazing with no return to the barn |
Végétation grossière | Vegetazione grossolana | Coarse vegetation | Graminoid vegetation that is poorly consumed by animals (Patzkea paniculata, Brachypodium gr. pinnatum, Helictotrichon spp., Deschampsia caespitosa, Calamagrostis spp., etc) |
Bois adaptés à une utilisation sylvo-pastorale | Boschi vocati per un utilizzo silvo-pastorale | Forests suitable for sylvo-pastoral use | Forests suitable for sylvo-pastoral use: these are generally even-aged woods characterized by a herbaceous understory, likely rich in grasses and/or legumes and/or a shrub layer having a mid pastoral value. The main tree species larch forests, secondary broadleaf forests (birch, poplar, invasive maple and ash forests, etc.), Scots pine and oak forests rich in grasses and legumes, sometimes fir woods. This category doesn’t entail forests directly protected, stands under regeneration or transformation processes as well as uneven-aged stands at any stage of growth. Beech forests, fir forests, oak-hornbeam forests do not have a particular forestry vocation. In suitable stands, the conditions of the sward, light on the ground and availabiklity for grazing can be improved by thinning, also through the transformation of irregular stands, without any particular management and without any other particular vocations. |
Petite faune |
Fauna minore | Minor species | Wild minor species – complex of small size species ("minor" doesn’t have a biological or systematic meaning) like: amphibians, reptiles, small mammals, fish and insects. Some "minor species" are listed in The Bird (2009/147/EC) and Habitat Directive (92/43/CEE). Directives define the protection level. |
This section includes outcomes from the vulnerability analysis, i.e. modelling outcomes and socio-economic variables, as well as climatic and biodiversity indicators as resulting from Action C.5. The model outcomes are obtained using two distinct models. Pastures productivity and emissions are estimated using two biogeochemical models (PaSim and DayCent), whilst shifts in distribution of pastures are obtained using machine learning approach (Random Forest). List of socio-economic, climatic and biodiversity indicators are defined according to a variety of means including literature scanning, indicator classification, and local stakeholders’ contribution by means of individual questionnaires.
Model outcomes are displayed coupled with climatic indicators (aridity index, hot and cold spells frequency index, etc.), and complemented with biodiversity indicators, in view of a socio-economic assessment. This will allow to create vulnerability indicators for the pastures located in the study area as well as to extrapolate information of the best timing for grazing under current and future climate.
This section makes available all interactive maps produced during the project under a webgis environment, thus requiring a skilled user in Geographical Information Systems (GIS) software. The maps available are the following:
![]() climate |
![]() suitability |
![]() macrotypes |