In October 2022, our team -led by Dr Alice Gauthey- carried out the last fieldwork campaign of 2022 in the Pfynwald forest (Valais). This Nature Reserve, the largest contiguous pine forest in Switzerland, contains a long-term irrigation experiment that has been running for 20 years, with four sites receiving a surplus of artificial irrigation and another four (control sites) receiving the normal amount of water.
Starting in 2021, our team has been climbing up a series of scaffolds in order to conduct multiple monthly measurements during the summer season. This includes measuring photosynthesis activity, water conductivity and drone-based remote-sensing to monitor canopy temperature. Below, a short video compilation of this year’s fieldwork campaign.