Ana Stritih successfully completed her PhD on “Risk-Based Assessments of Ecosystem Services. Addressing Uncertainty in Mountain Forest Management”
In her thesis, Ana developed methods to account for uncertainty in assessments of ecosystem services (ES) using Bayesian Networks. She integrated remote sensing data, existing process-based and empirical models, and expert knowledge to model and map forest ES in the Swiss Alps.
Although increasingly available remote sensing data can help increase the accuracy of mapping of ecosystem structure, uncertainties in assessments of ES remain high due to the natural variability and model uncertainty related to ecosystem processes, such as natural disturbances. By analyzing a large dataset of forest disturbances in the Canton Graubünden, Ana found that the legacies of historical land use as well as recent management affect the susceptibility of forests to disturbances. This information was included into ES models to map the risk to ES due to natural disturbances in the region of Davos and the strictly protected Swiss National Park. Besides forest characteristics, the spatial patterns of risk to ES also depend on management strategies, the demand for ecosystem services, and people's perceptions. Risk-based assessments of ES can help identify priorities for ecosystem management in an uncertain future.
Ana's thesis is available online here: external pagehttps://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000493088
In addition, the last paper from her PhD has just been published in the Journal of Environmental Management: external pagehttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.113188