EARTHWATCH PIRINEU II

The main objective of this project funded by the Earthwatch Institute is to conduct long-term monitoring of mountain systems organisms and some of their interactions to determine how climate and/or land use change is affecting the different compartments of the alpine systems. The project studies from soil decomposition to the behavior of large mammals in the Pyrenees, is at limit of the distribution of the brown bear and is in a rather frequent passage of wolves that visit the Pyrenees. In this project we use different scientific methods: from a simple measure of how a tea bag looses weight to the use of RPAS (drones) to assess the health and phenology of the mountain flora.

This project is done in close collaboration with Centre for the Study of the Snow and the Mountain of Andorra (CENMA), and both Andorra Turisme and the municipality of Ordino collaborate in it. Thus, another objective of the project is to provide tools, to encourage, and to participate in adaptation strategies necessary for a mountain society strongly focused on winter tourism, to become a model for other regions that understand biodiversity as an ecosystem service that needs to be preserved and and managed in a sustainable way.