The Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research is concerned with the use, development and protection of natural and urban spaces. The focus of our research is on solving problems to do with the responsible use of landscapes and forests and a prudent approach to natural hazards, especially those common in mountainous countries. WSL occupies a leading position internationally in these research areas. We also provide groundwork for sustainable environmental policies in Switzerland.

More information: https://www.wsl.ch/

77 datasets found

  • Soil organic carbon stock of an afforestation sequence on a subalpine pasture

    EnviDat: the Environmental Data Portal
    Education, culture and sport

    This data set provides soil organic carbon, total nitrogen, and stable carbon isotope (13C) values of mineral soil (0-45cm), organic horizons (Oi, Oe, Oa), and root biomass of an...

    Last updated: March 4, 2025

    • XLS
    • subalpine
    • afforestation
    • isotopes
    • picea-abies
    • belowground-biomass
  • Snow Drift Station - Flowcapt

    EnviDat: the Environmental Data Portal
    Education, culture and sport

    The FlowCapt is an ultra-robust instrument measuring solid particle acoustic mass - flux intensities (g m‾ ² s‾ ¹) and wind speeds (m s‾ ¹). It was...

    Last updated: March 27, 2020

    • XLS
    • acoustic-mass-flux
    • wind-speed
    • flowcapt
    • snow-blowing
    • raclets
    • snowdrift
  • MadCrypto – Bryophyte and macrolichen diversity in laurel forests of Madeira

    EnviDat: the Environmental Data Portal
    Education, culture and sport

    This dataset includes species lists of bryophytes and macrolichens (presence/absence) sampled on the forest floor and on trees in disturbed and undisturbed plots along elevation...

    Last updated: February 26, 2025

    • XLS
    • climate-change-impact
    • disturbance
    • madeira-island
    • endemic-species
    • elevational-gradient
    • moss
    • bryophyte-life-strategy
    • lichen
    • functional-taxonomic-groups
    • bryophyte
    • biodiversity
    • liverwort
    • endemic
    • climate-change
    • photobiont
    • functional-taxonomic-group
    • lichen-growth-form
    • lichen-growthform
  • Factors influencing teenagers' forest visit frequency

    EnviDat: the Environmental Data Portal
    Education, culture and sport

    The data results from a questionnaire survey conducted at 8 schools in the cantons Zurich, Aargau and St. Gallen. Respondents aged 13-22 years. The aim of the survey was to gain...

    Last updated: January 31, 2022

    • XLS
    • PDF
    • SERVICE
    • childhood
    • recreational-activities
    • teenagers
    • adolescents
    • forest
  • Life at chilly temperatures - A collection of microorganisms from extreme habitats

    EnviDat: the Environmental Data Portal
    Education, culture and sport

    The cold habitats of the Swiss Alps and the Arctic are undergoing change and are at risk of disappearing completely or partially in the future. Along with them, a poorly known...

    Last updated: March 4, 2025

    • XLS
    • glaciers
    • conservation
    • swiss-alps
    • biodiversity
    • collections
    • active-layer
    • permafrost
    • biobank
    • bacteria
    • arctic
    • extreme-habitat
    • fungi
    • plastisphere
  • Water isotope signatures in Swiss forest ecosystems in 2021 and 2022

    EnviDat: the Environmental Data Portal
    Education, culture and sport

    The isotope composition of different forest water pools was analyzed at 10 sites of the Long-term Forest Ecosystem Research programme in 2021 and 2022. The sampling was done during...

    Last updated: March 4, 2025

    • XLS
    • PNG
    • water-isotopes
    • water-budget
    • forest-ecosystems
    • xylem-water
    • soil-solution
  • Flow and tracer data for overland flow and topsoil interflow during rainfall simulation experiments in the Studibach catchment - Alptal - Switzerland

    EnviDat: the Environmental Data Portal
    Education, culture and sport

    Description: This dataset comprises the time series of overland flow (OF) and topsoil interflow (TIF) discharge, and tracer concentrations during artificial rainfall simulation...

    Last updated: August 22, 2025

    • XLS
    • rainfall-simulation
    • preferential-flow
    • velocity
    • celerity
    • studibach
    • tracers
    • runoff-plot
    • topsoil-interflow
    • overland-flow
    • alptal
  • Shading by Trees and Fractional Snow Cover Control the Subcanopy Radiation Budget

    EnviDat: the Environmental Data Portal
    Education, culture and sport

    This data set consists of incoming and outgoing short- and longwave radiation as well as sunlit-snow-view-fraction as described in the JGR-Atmospheres paper "Shading by trees and...

    Last updated: February 13, 2025

    • XLS
    • TXT
    • fractional-snow
    • forest
    • shortwave-radiation
    • longwave-radiation
    • shading
  • Data on interaction diversity in urban gardens

    EnviDat: the Environmental Data Portal
    Education, culture and sport

    The data supports the paper "Local and landscape factors shape alpha and beta trophic interaction diversity in urban gardens". It provides: (1) the host-natural enemy interaction...

    Last updated: April 18, 2025

    • CSV
    • OCTET
    • TXT
    • XLS
    • urban-ecosystems
    • food-webs
    • wasps
    • trap-nest
    • urban-ecology
    • management-intensity
    • host-enemy-interactions
    • hymenoptera
    • urbanization
    • cavity-nesting
    • zurich
    • bees
  • European Snow Booklet – an Inventory of Snow Measurements in Europe

    EnviDat: the Environmental Data Portal
    Education, culture and sport

    The European Snow Booklet (ESB) is a book of reference for snow measurements that has been produced through collaboration with many European snow practitioners and snow scientists...

    Last updated: February 26, 2025

    • HTML
    • PDF
    • XLS
    • depth-of-snowfall
    • water-equivalent-of-the-snow-cover
    • spatial-distribution-of-snow-observations-in-europe
    • harmonisation-of-snow-measurements
    • snow-measurement-methods
    • cost-action-es1404-harmosnow
    • snow-depth
  • Spatial factors shape taxonomic and functional beta-diversity in water-filled tree holes in different biogeographical regions

    EnviDat: the Environmental Data Portal
    Education, culture and sport

    These datasets and code support research on the community assemblage of aquatic macroinvertebrates in ephemeral microhabitats, specifically water-filled tree holes (WTH), in three...

    Last updated: July 15, 2025

    • CSV
    • OCTET
    • XLS
    • beta-diversity
    • functional-diversity
    • water-filled-tree-holes
    • metacommunity
    • environmental-factors
    • taxonomic-diversity
    • community-assembly
    • spatial-factors
  • Urban bird capture data with prey species and fungal community

    EnviDat: the Environmental Data Portal
    Education, culture and sport

    We captured birds in urban parks and peri-urban forests in the cities of Lugano and Zurich. The urban sites were located in an urban forest (Lugano) and in a cemetery (Zurich), and...

    Last updated: April 10, 2025

    • XLS
    • urban-ecology
    • biodiversity
    • insects
    • fungal-pathogen
    • fungi
    • urban-biodiversity
    • urban
    • birds
  • 2013-2020 gas exchange at Pfynwald

    EnviDat: the Environmental Data Portal
    Education, culture and sport

    Gas exchange was measured on control, irrigated and irrigation-stop trees at the irrigation experiment Pfynwald, during the years 2013, 2014, 2016-2020. The measurement campaigns...

    Last updated: August 13, 2021

    • CSV
    • XLS
    • SERVICE
    • acclimation
    • drought
    • gas-exchange
    • fluorescence
    • photosynthesis
    • pinus-sylvestris
    • vpd
  • Daily data of the volumes, solutes and isotopes in snowpack outflow measured at three locations in the southern Alp catchment

    EnviDat: the Environmental Data Portal
    Education, culture and sport

    This data contain volumes, solutes and isotopes of snowpack outflow measured by a snowmelt lysimeter system at three locations in the southern Alp catchment, situated Central...

    Last updated: August 25, 2021

    • XLS
    • snowmelt-rate
    • snowpack-outflow
    • snowmelt-lysimeter
    • stable-water-isotopes
    • solutes
  • Survey data on public support for forest restoration in Europe based on evidence from Sweden and Spain

    EnviDat: the Environmental Data Portal
    Education, culture and sport

    This dataset accompanies the article Factors influencing public support for forest restoration in Europe: Evidence from Sweden and Spain, published in the journal Ecosystems and...

    Last updated: September 10, 2025

    • XLS
    • forest-restoration
    • household-surveys
    • sweden
    • socio-demographic-factors
    • spain
    • public-perceptions
  • Daily data of solute and stable water isotopes in stream water and precipitation in the Alp catchment, Central Switzerland

    EnviDat: the Environmental Data Portal
    Education, culture and sport

    This dataset contain measurements of solute and stable water isotopes in stream water and precipitation in the Alp catchment and two of its tributaries (between 2015 -2018) . The...

    Last updated: August 25, 2021

    • XLS
    • precipitation
    • stable-water-isotopes
    • geochemical-solutes
    • spatially-distributed-sampling
    • stream-water
  • Chicken Creek 10 years

    EnviDat: the Environmental Data Portal
    Education, culture and sport

    Structural and functional changes of microbial communities in ephemeral stream sediments and adjacent soils between was assessed in an artificial newly created catchment at 3 and...

    Last updated: April 23, 2025

    • XLS
    • microbial-respiration
    • soil-respiration
    • beta-diversity
    • ecosystem-functions
    • microbial-biodiversity