{
  "abstract": "Forests provide crucial ecosystem services, but are vulnerable to climate-related physical and biological stresses, such as droughts, pests and pathogens. The rapid climate change currently observed increases the pressure on forest ecosystems, with already drastic consequences, e.g., widespread tree mortality across Central Europe. However, we fall short of understanding underlying process dynamics and their impacts on the Earth system. To better understand and predict forest ecosystem dynamics and the associated energy, carbon and water fluxes, detailed knowledge of ecosystem structure, processes and functioning under constantly varying conditions and across different spatial and temporal scales is needed. The ECOSENSE project brings together engineers, environmental and data scientists to establish novel environmental monitoring approaches and to capture distributed forest carbon and water flux dynamics in space and time with a wide range of established measurement technologies and newly developed sensors. Here, we describe the required infrastructure – called ECOSENSE forest – with regard to physical structures, power supply, communication network and data management, that supports such novel environmental sensor networks. We established a comprehensive monitoring system in this ECOSENSE forest, spanning from below-ground to above-canopy with three large scaffold-towers in different plots. More than 670 commercial and 430 self-built sensors monitor over 90 distinct parameters, fluxes, or processes generating upwards of 4,500 time series that capture soil, tree and atmosphere processes with high spatial and temporal resolution. In particular, our design objective is to provide a stable, flexible and secure forest research infrastructure with power, communication and data management using low-cost and commercially available components that meet the needs of various research disciplines. Our considerations and experiences provide impulses and practical solutions for establishing robust, low-cost distributed field research infrastructures and thus increase data continuity and resilience to disruptions at remote locations. The ECOSENSE forest may thus serve as a blueprint for future projects with similar goals and challenges.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "University of Freiburg (Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany)",
    "Chair of Ecosystem Physiology, Institute of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, 79104, Germany",
    "Chair of Environmental Meteorology, Institute of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, 79104, Germany",
    "Chair of Biometry and Environmental System Analysis, Institute of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, 79104, Germany",
    "Chair of Forest Growth and Dendroecology, Institute of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, 79104, Germany",
    "Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research, Atmospheric Environmental Research (IMK-IFU), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Garmisch-Partenkirchen, 82467, Germany",
    "Chair of Sensor-based Geoinformatics (geosense), Institute of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Freiburg, Germany",
    "Laboratory for Microactuators, Department of Microsystems Engineering - IMTEK, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, 79104, Germany",
    "Chair of Hydrology, Institute of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, 79104, Germany",
    "Laboratory for Electrical Instrumentation and Embedded Systems - IMTEK, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, 79104, Germany",
    "Chair of Soil Ecology, Institute of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, 79104, Germany",
    "Institute of Energy Efficient Mobility, Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences, Karlsruhe, 76133, Germany",
    "Laboratory for the Design of Microsystems - IMTEK, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, 79104, Germany",
    "Laboratory for Chemistry & Physics of Interfaces, Department of Microsystems Engineering - IMTEK, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, 79104, Germany",
    "XR Future Forests Lab, Institute of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, 79104, Germany"
  ],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 38,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Jasmin Tesch",
      "orcid": "0009-0006-2023-6231"
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        0
      ],
      "name": "Kathrin Kühnhammer",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-5266-2207"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Delon Wagner"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Andreas Christen",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-3864-1703"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3
      ],
      "name": "Carsten F. Dormann",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-9835-1794"
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    {
      "affs": [
        4
      ],
      "name": "Julian Frey",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-7895-702X"
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        5
      ],
      "name": "Rüdiger Grote",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-6893-6890"
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        6
      ],
      "name": "Teja Kattenborn",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-7381-3828"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Markus Sulzer",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-5588-2985"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        7
      ],
      "name": "Ulrike Wallrabe",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-0532-1519"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        8
      ],
      "name": "Markus Weiler",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-6245-6917"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Christiane Werner",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-7676-9057"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        9
      ],
      "name": "Samaneh Baghbani",
      "orcid": "0009-0005-2503-3655"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        10
      ],
      "name": "Julian Brzozon",
      "orcid": "0009-0001-5362-1842"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        11
      ],
      "name": "Laura Maria Comella",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-8283-1454"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        8
      ],
      "name": "Lea Dedden",
      "orcid": "0009-0003-0308-609X"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Stefanie Dumberger",
      "orcid": "0009-0004-4297-3043"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        7
      ],
      "name": "Yasmina Frey",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-5118-1268"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        6
      ],
      "name": "Matthias Gassilloud",
      "orcid": "0009-0006-8293-9792"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        12
      ],
      "name": "Timo Gerach",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-5576-4671"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        6
      ],
      "name": "Anna Göritz",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-9844-0896"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Simon Haberstroh",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-6097-6633"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        12
      ],
      "name": "Johannes Klüppel",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-6370-9522"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        6
      ],
      "name": "Luis Kremer",
      "orcid": "0009-0007-1613-5793"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Jürgen Kreuzwieser",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-5251-9723"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Hojin Lee",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-3022-5852"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        6
      ],
      "name": "Joachim Maack",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-6696-6164"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Julian Müller"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        13
      ],
      "name": "Oswald Prucker",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-8683-7730"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        13
      ],
      "name": "Sanam Kumari Rajak",
      "orcid": "0009-0004-1822-1239"
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    {
      "affs": [
        13
      ],
      "name": "Jürgen Rühe",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-2534-8228"
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    {
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        9
      ],
      "name": "Stefan J. Rupitsch",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-4806-9838"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        10
      ],
      "name": "Helmer Schack‐Kirchner",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-6255-8577"
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    {
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        14
      ],
      "name": "Christian Scharinger"
    },
    {
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        12
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      "name": "Uttunga G. Shinde",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-7868-8787"
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    {
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        9
      ],
      "name": "Till Steinmann",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-0890-5184"
    },
    {
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        1
      ],
      "name": "Clara Stock",
      "orcid": "0009-0004-8437-7477"
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    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Josef Strack"
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  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/8bcm7xcwj8cbd.bib",
  "cited_by": 10,
  "doi": "10.5194/gi-15-253-2026",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "8bcm7xcwj8cbd",
  "issns": [
    "2193-0856",
    "2193-0864"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-15-253-2026",
  "language": "en",
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "journal",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "1907|Environmental Monitoring and Data Management"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "2308|Environmental Monitoring and Data Management"
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  "pdf_url": "https://gi.copernicus.org/articles/15/253/2026/gi-15-253-2026.pdf",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-08",
  "publisher": "Copernicus Publications",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/8bcm7xcwj8cbd.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-01T13:20:21Z",
      "native_id": "W4415499924",
      "source": "openalex",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-15-253-2026"
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  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "earth",
      "origin": "openalex:2308|Environmental Monitoring and Data Management",
      "subfield": "environmental-science"
    },
    {
      "field": "earth",
      "origin": "openalex:1907|Environmental Monitoring and Data Management",
      "subfield": "geology-geochemistry"
    }
  ],
  "title": "The ECOSENSE forest: a distributed sensor and data management system for real-time monitoring of ecosystem processes and stresses",
  "title_text": "The ECOSENSE forest: a distributed sensor and data management system for real-time monitoring of ecosystem processes and stresses",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-08T13:20:54Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/8bcm7xcwj8cbd",
  "venue": "Geoscientific instrumentation, methods and data systems",
  "versions": []
}