Tropical Forestry and Seed Laboratory
The major research interests of the group are in the area of global silviculture and forest renewal. The global climate change, deforestation and loss of biodiversity are emerging challenges today.
New silvicultural research initiatives are expected to meet these challenges and societal needs related to forest management around the world. Aspects of silvicultural research in the changing world include forest governance, silvicultural management for multiple-uses, rehabilitation of degraded forests and landscapes, recycling of waste products through forest fertilization, silvicultural management to control pests, and management of valuable or rare, endangered and threatened forest species. In light of these global silvicultural research directions, our group has been and is still working in many countries throughout the world; namely Sweden (Europe), Ecuador, Nicaragua (Latin America), China, Nepal, Laos, India, Iran and Indonesia (Asia), Burkina Faso, Botswana and Ethiopia (Africa). The main focus of our research has been on development of techniques for seed quality assessment (e.g. biochemical markers and near infrared spectroscopy) and enhancement of seedlot performance, effects of silvicultural management on structure and function of ecosystems, productivity of non-timber forest products, stand dynamics and regeneration of forests following disturbances, monitoring biodiversity in protected areas, rehabilitation of degraded landscape (including abandoned agricultural lands), characterization of storage behaviour for effective ex-situ conservation of forest genetic resources, and evaluation of provenances for future tree improvement programs. We also started looking into the role of tropical forests in global climate change mitigation and adaptation. Our research vision is to develop adaptive silvicultural practices that can be applied to develop new management approaches needed to balance economic, environmental and social criteria for sustainable forest management. At the moment, we have 6 PhD-students, of which one will join us soon. The group offers courses in Tropical Silviculture, Forest Regeneration, Seed Science, Scientific Paper Writing and Tropical Forest Restoration.