Ecosystem Dynamics and Forest Management Group

What is the effect of increasing disturbances in C European forests on insect diversity, and how does salvage logging modulate it? We found an overall positive response for both cleared and uncleared sites, with a stronger signal for taxonomic vs phylogenetic diversity doi.org/10.1016/j.bi...

Disturbed areas are preferential habitat for red deer throughout the day, because they combine forage with safety. Great insights from combining remotely sensed disturbance data with GPS collar data in Berchtesgaden National Park, led by J. Eggers and R. Reiner, doi.org/10.1016/j.fo...

Global, multi-scale standing deadwood segmentation in centimeter-scale aerial images. Important work by J. Möhring, @cmosig.bsky.social, T. Kattenborn et al. in detecting dead trees across biomes from high resolution aerial images. doi.org/10.1016/j.op...

#2: Landscape context modulates the effect of local canopy cover on forest multidiversity across elevations by T. Richter doi.org/10.1111/1365...

Thanks to @sebseibold.bsky.social and many others for their contributions, looking forward to continue our efforts to better understand biodiv change!

Great to see the results of our massive biodiversity assessment at Berchtesgaden Natl. Park pour in! Cool insights on patterns & drivers of multidiversity!

#1 Macro- and microclimate interactively shape species diversity of multiple taxa in mountain landscapes by L. Geres. doi.org/10.1002/ecog...

Great new paper led by @knowlton.bsky.social with @ttkeller.bsky.social and @rupertseidl.bsky.social (and me!) Still so much to learn from #Yellowstone about #fire, #forests & #climatechange. #NSFfunded #JFSPfunded

Mortality from fire & wind is increasing in Europe's forests, but what about biotic disturbances? A new, massive dataset compiled by @thlasny.bsky.social and many local experts shows a mixed picture: While wood borers increase strongly, defoliator activity generally decreases doi.org/10.1111/gcb....

Yippie, my paper is now out in Global Ecology and Biogeography!

Basically, we tried to destroy (simulated!) forest landscapes

And despite increasing disturbances 100-fold and decreasing regeneration by 99% - we didn't manage to! (in most cases anyways)

Find out more at doi.org/10.1111/geb....

How forest disturbances can lead to tipping points in the wood value chain. Great work coming out of the RESONATE project, led by T. Boiger and T. Stern from @uni-graz.at
doi.org/10.1007/s110...

Home - English - SmartForest SmartForest creates a space to find solutions that will make forestry more digital, innovative, sustainable, and climate adjusted.

We're once again hosting the "Smart Forest" conference in Freising from March 12th-13th 2026!
🌳🎯💻
If you're excited about digitalization of forestry and bringing together theory and practice, apply now at smartforest.ai/en/home-engl...

@wernerrammer.bsky.social @johannesmohr.bsky.social

Can fire exclusion zones enhance postfire tree regeneration? A simulation study in subalpine conifer forests Climate change and novel fire regimes increasingly challenge stewardship of forests adapted to infrequent, stand-replacing fire. Novel fire regimes may disrupt mechanisms that sustained postfire rege...

New paper in Ecological Applications! Management that mimics historical mosaics of fire severity could promote postfire tree regeneration under future climate change. Thanks to co-authors @monicagturner.bsky.social @rupertseidl.bsky.social @christinadollinger.bsky.social @knowlton.bsky.social

Had an amazing time at FoWiTa in Freiburg 🌲🌳

✅ new connections
✅ reconnecting to (science) friends
✅ hosted my first session
✅presenting my two core PhD chapters
✅ insightful excursion
✅ new fodder for thoughts

Great @edfm-tum.bsky.social representation with @johannesmohr.bsky.social 🚀

Overtourism und Klimakrise: Alpen unter Druck NANO vom 25.09.: Skipisten oberhalb der Waldgrenzen können Lawinen auslösen. Die Bergidylle gerät aus dem Gleichgewicht. Können die Alpen dem Klimawandel trotzen?

Our research in the National Park Berchtesgaden - both in the field and in silico - was reported on by NANO.
The segment is in German and starts at minute 7:37

www.zdf.de/play/magazin...

@rupertseidl.bsky.social @wernerrammer.bsky.social @christinadollinger.bsky.social

Climate change raises costs for European forestry - Nature Climate Change Natural disturbances, such as windthrows, pest outbreaks and wildfires, pose a major economic threat for the forestry sector. By coupling spatially explicit ecological and economic forest models, this study assesses the costs of natural disturbances under current and future climate conditions for all of Europe.

How expensive are natural disturbances for Europes forestry?

I'm super excited, that @natclimate.nature.com decided to publish a Research Briefing by @rupertseidl.bsky.social and me related to our recent paper on the cost of disturbances. Check it out here:

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

What makes German forests vulnerable to wind & bark beetles? 🌲💨🪳
👉 Elevation, Norway spruce %, precip. & slope.
Will it get worse?
👉 Models predict a slight decrease by 2070 (RCP4.5 & 8.5).
Great MSc by Rémie Matta, a wonderful co-supervision with @anastritih.bsky.social
📄 doi.org/10.1016/j.ec...

How expensive are 🪲💨🔥?! I can‘t believe it, but my 2nd PhD paper is finally published @natclimate.nature.com! Disturbances lower the economic value of Europes 🌲 by 29%... Climate change will increase it to up to 42%! (Now imagine a company looses 42% of its value…) doi.org/10.1038/s41558-025-02408-9

Climate change increasingly alters the interactions between forest disturbances. Here we present a framework for quantifying dist. interactions and compile evidence for their impacts. Led by @dudney-joan.bsky.social with @brian-j-harvey.bsky.social & @julieedtree.bsky.social doi.org/10.1146/annu...

A bunch of us went to the 2025 GfÖ conference (@gfoesoc.bsky.social) last week - always great to be able to share our research and connect with old and new collaborators!

Just a few days left to apply!

Protected areas safeguard old-growth forests against human land use, but not against the impacts of anthropogenic climate change. Here we show that a climate-mediated increase in disturbances could cause a decline in old-growth forests in a national park in C Europe. doi.org/10.1088/1748...

Can we map species richness across taxonomic groups from space? Promising results for fungi, plants, insects and birds in a mountain forest landscape, obtained by @corneliussenf.bsky.social et al. by combining different sensors (EnMAP, Sentinel-1/2). doi.org/10.1016/j.ja...

Hunting strongly affects the habitat selection of red deer, particularly during daylight hours. This suggests that hunting can efficiently control habitat use, and underscores the value of protected areas w/o hunting to conserve the behavior of ungulates. Led by J. Eggers doi.org/10.1002/wlb3...

Several small reserves hold more beetle, spider and bird species than a single large reserve of the same size in Central Europe, with habitat heterogeneity being an important driver. First PhD paper by Anne Huber (not on Bsky), w/ @sebseibold.bsky.social. doi.org/10.1016/j.bi...

Come work with us! We are looking to fill a PhD (mountain forest management) and PostDoc position (forest adaptive capacity, w/ @juditlecinadiaz.bsky.social). We'd be happy to have you as part of our dynamic team!

PhD: www.lss.ls.tum.de/fileadmin/w0...

PostDoc: www.lss.ls.tum.de/fileadmin/w0...

Small protected areas are often more easy to install than large ones, but they have a high proportion of their area close to the boundary. Are there boundary effects for important indicators of biodiversity? Find out more here: doi.org/10.1016/j.bi.... First PhD paper of Aikio Erhardt (not on Bsky).

Taylor’s law predicts unprecedented pulses of forest disturbance under global change - Nature Communications Large pulses of disturbance have been observed globally in response to climate change. Using Taylor’s Law, the authors show that those pulses were not unpredictable but expected given a strong scaling...

As the mean rate of forest disturbance is increasing, so does its temporal variance. Proof that Taylor's law also applies to disturbance ecology, and a warning of more severe future extremes. Paper led by @corneliussenf.bsky.social w/ @tommaso-jucker.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Canopy disturbances affect insect diversity via increased light availability and deadwood, but the effects of these two drivers on taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity differ. New insights from a replicated experiment, led by @juliarothacher.bsky.social @betafor.bsky.social doi.org/10.1111/1365...

#WernerRammer visited @luke.fi last month to help advance the #iLand model for #SafeNet🌲

Inspired by a seaside sauna & concert, Werner implemented updates on the deadwood submodel: key biodiversity indicator.

Joint publication in making 👀

@edfm-tum.bsky.social
#ForestResearch #Biodiversity

The increasing role of drought as an inciting factor of bark beetle outbreaks can cause large-scale transformation of Central European forests - Landscape Ecology Context Historically, large-scale outbreaks of the European spruce bark beetle were initiated mainly by windthrows. However, after 2018, a severe drought triggered the hitherto largest bark beetle out...

As climate change modulates the processes in ecosystems, we need to confront process-based models with these new realities, and adapt them if necessary. We've done this in a new study focusing on bark beetle outbreaks, led by Agnish Das and @thlasny.bsky.social: link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Two inspiring days of discussions to better understand forests' adaptive capacity to disturbances! 🌳🔥🪲💨
Grateful for the inspiring group, the motivation, and the ideas we exchanged!
Thanks to @dfg.de for funding and to @edfm-tum.bsky.social for being part of the journey. Excited for what's ahead! 🚀