Ecological Assessment of Springs and Spring Brooks in the Swiss National Park: Combining Fieldwork with Geodesy (GPS/Tachymetry) and GIS Diploma Thesis by Michael Döring Written at the Swiss Federal Institute for Environmental Science and Technology (EAWAG) Supervised by Dr. Urs Uehlinger PD Dr. Christopher T. Robinson (EAWAG, Switzerland) Diploma Professor: Prof. Dr. Thomas Schmitt (Ruhr Universität Bochum, Germany) Table of contents Table of contents I SUMMARY......................................................................................................................1 II ZUSAMMENFASSUNG ................................................................................................3 1 INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................5 1.1 HISTORY .......................................................................................................................5 1.2 STUDIES ON SPRINGS.....................................................................................................5 1.3 ECOLOGY OF SPRINGS ...................................................................................................6 1.4 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY ...........................................................................................8 2 DESCRIPTION OF THE STUDY AREA ....................................................................9 2.1 GEOGRAPHICAL SITUATION ..........................................................................................9 2.2 SWISS NATIONAL PARK ................................................................................................9 2.3 GEOLOGICAL SITUATION...............................................................................................9 2.4 CLIMATE.....................................................................................................................10 3 SAMPLING SITES.......................................................................................................11 3.1 BUFFALORA SPRING ....................................................................................................11 3.2 FUORN SPRING ............................................................................................................12 3.3 GOD DAL FUORN SPRING.............................................................................................12 3.4 SPÖL SPRING ...............................................................................................................13 3.5 VAL DA L´AQUA SPRING .............................................................................................14 4 METHODS ....................................................................................................................15 4.1 PARAMETERS AND SAMPLING DATES ..........................................................................15 4.2 GEODESY ....................................................................................................................15 4.2.1 GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM (GPS)..................................................................15 Table of contents 4.2.2 TACHYMETRY ......................................................................................................17 4.3 GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEM (GIS) ...............................................................17 4.4 MOSS ..........................................................................................................................18 4.5 POTENTIAL SOLAR RADIATION ....................................................................................18 4.6 GRAIN SIZES AND BENTHIC PARTICULATE ORGANIC MATTER (BPOM) .......................18 4.7 PHYSICO-CHEMICAL PARAMETERS..............................................................................19 4.8 PERIPHYTON ...............................................................................................................21 4.9 STATISTICAL ANALYSES..............................................................................................21 5 RESULTS.......................................................................................................................22 5.1 GPS AND TACHYMETRY .............................................................................................22 5.1.1 POINT PRECISION AND DENSITY ............................................................................22 5.2 DEM TERRAIN MODELING ..........................................................................................23 5.3 MORPHOLOGY ............................................................................................................24 5.3.1 THE BUFFALORA SPRING ......................................................................................24 5.3.1.1 Wetted area....................................................................................................24 5.3.1.2 Moss coverage...............................................................................................25 5.3.2 THE FUORN SPRING ..............................................................................................25 5.3.2.1 Wetted area....................................................................................................25 5.3.2.2 Moss coverage...............................................................................................26 5.3.3 THE GOD DAL FUORN SPRING ..............................................................................26 5.3.3.1 Wetted area....................................................................................................26 5.3.3.2 Moss coverage and plant cover .....................................................................27 5.3.3.3 Sludge layer...................................................................................................27 5.3.4 THE SPÖL SPRING .................................................................................................27 5.3.5 THE VAL DA L´AQUA SPRING ...............................................................................27 5.3.5.1 Wetted area....................................................................................................28 5.3.5.2 Moss coverage...............................................................................................28 5.4 POTENTIAL SOLAR RADIATION ....................................................................................28 5.5 GRAIN SIZE DISTRIBUTION ..........................................................................................29 5.6 BENTHIC ORGANIC MATTER ........................................................................................30 5.7 PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL PARAMETERS.....................................................................32 5.7.1 VELOCITY.............................................................................................................32 Table of contents 5.7.2 THERMAL PATTERNS ............................................................................................32 5.7.3 HYDROCHEMISTRY...............................................................................................34 5.8 PHYSICO-CHEMISTRY AMONG AND WITHIN SITES........................................................38 5.9 PERIPHYTON ...............................................................................................................39 5.10 PERIPHYTON AND HABITAT CHARATERISTICS .............................................................42 5.11 MAJOR DETERMINANTS OF SPRINGS............................................................................44 6 DISCUSSION ................................................................................................................45 6.1 GEODESY AND GIS .....................................................................................................45 6.2 MORPHOLOGY AND GRAIN SIZE DISTRIBUTION ...........................................................47 6.3 BENTHIC PARTICULATE ORGANIC MATTER (BPOM)...................................................47 6.4 TEMPERATURE............................................................................................................48 6.5 HYDROCHEMISTRY .....................................................................................................49 6.6 PERIPHYTON ...............................................................................................................50 6.7 SPRING TYPES .............................................................................................................51 6.8 SPRING HABITATS .......................................................................................................51 7 OUTLOOK...................................................................................................................52 8 CONCLUSION.............................................................................................................53 9 LITERATURE CITED................................................................................................54 10 APPENDIX A: FIGURES ..........................................................................................66 11 APPENDIX B: VELOCITY DATA............................................................................95 12 APPENDIX C: PHYSICO-CHEMICAL DATA.......................................................95 13 APPENDIX D: PERIPHYTON DATA....................................................................107 14 APPENDIX E: PERIPHYTON REGRESSIONS ...................................................109