Rupert Seidl

Great new paper out by @ttkeller.bsky.social, using simulations to explore if and how fire exclusion zones can enhance tree regeneration. I particularly enjoyed the interaction between scientists and managers on this one, which added another important dimension to the work! doi.org/10.1002/eap....

Been on a different kind of field trip last week, spending a day in the forest with the primary school class of my daughter! It was really fun to see the kids explore, and they got to experience forest biodiversity first-hand!

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

Thanks for the kind words Mat!

Increasing tree growth could offset disturbance costs in northern Europe, but in southern Europe overall forest value is decreasing under moderate and severe climate change. Our results highlight that climate change adaptation in forestry is not only an ecological but also an economic imperative!

What is the cost of wildfire, windthrow and bark beetles for Europe’s forestry? We estimate that disturbances reduce Europe’s forest value by €115 bn, more than doubling to €247 bn under severe climate change. Led by @johannesmohr.bsky.social, out in @natclimate.nature.com doi.org/10.1038/s415...

Last segment of field work for this year, surveying Pinus mugo stands (which can be quite challenging to navigate!) to understand the spread and impacts of the invasive pathogen Lecanosticta acicola. Great to have such a wonderful field crew, led by @michaelmaroschek.bsky.social and Barbara Araujo!

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...

It was wonderful to have you Brian, thanks for making the trip! I look forward to our continued collaboration!

Good news for a change: Background mortality in unmanaged forests of Europe has not increased over past decades. Great work from the European Forest Reserve Initiative EuFoRIa, out in @journalofecology.bsky.social doi.org/10.1111/1365...

Given the strong increase in forest disturbances, Europe urgently needs a concerted and harmonized forest damage monitoring program, argue @thlasny.bsky.social et al. in a new perspective paper: doi.org/10.1016/j.fo...

Just a few days left to apply!

However, structurally complex forests increase with future disturbances. This suggests a decoupling of forest structure and demography in the 21st century. Great collaboration with @michaelmaroschek.bsky.social @wernerrammer.bsky.social @sebseibold.bsky.social and D. Thom (not on here).

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...

Big congrats Lisa, very well done!

Wonderful to have the great @akkym.bsky.social visiting the lab at the moment! Great fun to show Akira our ongoing research in Berchtesgaden National Park, and really cool to discuss ideas for continuing our fruitful collaboration!

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...

Indeed! Its quite a steep and rocky slope, so head protection is a good thing, particularly with a group of 20ish students!

Teaching a field-based class is a great way to discuss current challenges of forest management with students! Also a wonderful opportunity to connect with and learn from practitioners!

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...

In the field this week, surveying post-disturbance forest development in Berchtesgaden National Park together with David Liebler (not on Bsky). Great deadwood mikado and diverse post-disturbance tree regeneration - curious what the data will tell us! Funded by @erc.europa.eu

Diving into the history of Berchtesgaden National Park via a treasure trove of archival data. Curious as to how the storied past of the landscape determines its present state and future trajectory! Looking forward to working on this with @simonegingrich.bsky.social!

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...

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Online registration is now open and the call for abstracts for oral presentations and posters has been published for the 54th Annual Meeting of the #Ecological Society of #Germany, #Austria and #Switzerland.

HOW TO SUBMIT AN ABSTRACT:
www.gfoe-conference.de/index.php?ca...

Hi @bingbongromcom.bsky.social and @brian-j-harvey.bsky.social, this is indeed an interesting question! Brian is right that we here have a wind & beetle regime, so effects on resilience differ from fire-driven regimes in US. We will in fact look at this in Kirstens next paper - so stay tuned!