Calling on all forest disturbance experts: Please consider contributing to our study on global forest disturbance change, and help resolve the nuances of changing forest disturbance regimes. More details and survey here: www.lss.ls.tum.de/edfm/disturb...

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...

We’re opening the doors for community meetings. Your chance to influence our next steps & get more involved in the network. Join one of our upcoming sessions: 🗓 Dec 4 — 06:00 UTC t1p.de/m3gty 🗓 Dec 4 — 18:00 UTC t1p.de/xaxsu 🗓 Dec 5 — 13:00 UTC t1p.de/c4icd Help guide where ITMN goes next! 🚀

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...

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...

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....

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

Great to be visiting the Basque Centre for Climate Change in beautiful Bilbao this week! Thanks @philmartin.bsky.social for having me, and for showing me around! I particularly enjoyed visiting really exciting experiments, e.g. on European beech recovery at the temperate-mediterranean ecotone!

How do changes in disturbance and regeneration interact to affect widely different temperate forest ecosystems? New insights from a simulation experiment on forest change, led by @christinadollinger.bsky.social, out now in Global Ecology and Biogeography doi.org/10.1111/geb.... #ERCresearch

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...

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!

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

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...

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!

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...

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).

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...

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!

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...

REGISTRATION OPEN 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...

Natural disturbances are often invoked as an argument against creating new forest reserves. But are reserves more affected by disturbances than managed forests? For C Europe the answer is no, in fact reserves have lower disturbance rate & severity than managed forests! doi.org/10.1111/1365...

Don’t miss our next online tree mortality seminar by Kauane Bordin on: “The role of disturbance in shaping demographic trade-offs in temperate trees” 1st April 18:00 CEST 12:00 EDT Register here: zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Happy International Day of Forests y'all! May the Forest be with you!

Hotter drought synchronizes bark beetle outbreaks across large spatial scales. New insights from a massive pheromone trap network in C Europe (more than 60 Mill. beetles caught!), led by Maria Potterf. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Important work by @lauradee.bsky.social et al. on the disturbance impacts on ecosystem services in a changing climate.

Interesting work by van der Meersch et al. out in Ecology Letters, nicely illustrating that process-based models are more robust than correlative models for predicting species distributions under novel climatic conditions doi.org/10.1111/ele....

Come work with us - only a few days left to apply!

Gentle reminder: The next seminar of the International Tree Mortality Network @treemortality.bsky.social featuring the great @dudney-joan.bsky.social is on for tomorrow! Tune in if you're interested in tree mortality in general, and disturbance interactions in particular!

Important piece on the role of Ockham's razor in the modern world of scientific modeling in @pnas.org. Conclusion: Complex models can be quite useful, and parsimony and complexity can complement each other in helping us to gain new insights! doi.org/10.1073/pnas...

iLand is the first forest landscape model to explicitly simulate forest microclimate. Why? Because microclimate effects propagate across scales and influence important processes such as decomposition, regeneration and bark beetle development. Read more in Braziunas et al. doi.org/10.1007/s109...

Towards a global understanding of tree mortality. Important perspective led by the great @corneliussenf.bsky.social with contributions of 113 experts from around the world, facilitated through the Intl. Tree Mortality Network @treemortality.bsky.social nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Interesting work by @nathankiel.bsky.social and @monicagturner.bsky.social on lock-in of forest development (or the lack thereof) 34 yearas after large, stand-replacing fire esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Mark your calendars for the next seminar of the Intl. Tree Mortality Network @treemortality.bsky.social: On Feb 18, the wonderful @dudney-joan.bsky.social will tackle the exiting topic of disturbance interactions under climate change. More info and registration here: www.tree-mortality.net/seminars/

We are hiring! We're looking to fill a PostDoc position on social-ecological systems. Are you excited about the spatio-temporal dynamics of coupled human and natural mountain systems? Then come join us, and work in a wonderful & diverse team + beautiful environment! www.lss.ls.tum.de/fileadmin/w0...

The International Tree Mortality Network is now also on Bluesky! Follow bsky.app/profile/tree... for information on exciting upcoming online seminars and other news related to tree mortality.

Abstract submission is now open for the International Mountain Conference #IMC25 in Innsbruck in September: imc2025.info. If you're looking for an exciting session on the future of mountain forests, come join us for FS 3.206 (imc2025.info/imc25/sessio...). Looking forward to a great conference!