Interdisciplinary Integration in Alpine Social-Ecological Systems Research

The inter- and transdisciplinary research project TREBRDIGE (formally titled Transformation toward Resilient Ecosystems: Bridging Natural and Social Sciences) focuses on watershed management in Alpine regions in Switzerland. centuries, check dams have been constructed in streams to control erosion and flooding, while intensive forest management in these areas has further influenced both flood and erosion processes. The maintenance of flood management infrastructure requires high financial investments and at the same time affects the resilience of the ecosystems. The aim of TREBRIDGE is to identify alternative policy and management approaches of watersheds in Alpine regions. Such approaches aim on the one hand to increase the resilience of Alpine ecosystems in coping with extreme weather events and on the other hand meet societal needs regarding natural resource use and protection.

The transdisciplinary aspect of TREBRIDGE focuses on creating and assessing alternative policy and management to explore different scenarios which are co-created in collaboration with researchers, policymakers, as well as national, regional, and local actors. We focus on three case study areas in the Swiss Alps: Alptal (Canton Schwyz), Gürbetal (Canton Bern) and Illgraben (Canton Valais). All case studies are prone to varying natural hazard risks but have a in place.
The interdisciplinary aspect of TREBRIDGE takes a holistic view on watershed and forest functioning by assembling inter-​ and transdisciplinary scholars, geologists, geomorphologists, hydrologists, ecologists, economists, and policy analysts. To combine the socio-economic, ecological and geohydrological dimensions, we followed a structured method to develop a conceptual framework. The framework represents a comprehensive social-ecological system view and bridges three types of knowledge (systems, target, and transformation) as well as diverse disciplinary perspectives. Our poster contributes to this session in three ways: 1) We describe what steps can be taken to develop a conceptual framework when dealing with complex social-ecological systems that are influenced by drivers and processes of global change. The framework supports integration of diverse types of knowledge and perspectives from different disciplines. 2) We briefly present how such a framework could look like using the TREBRIDGE project as an example. 3) We outline how such a conceptual framework can be applied in interdisciplinary research settings to facilitate knowledge integration across disciplines.