Mats Dynesius

I earned a PhD in Ecological Botany from Umeå University in 2001. I did a PostDoc in deadwood ecology at SLU and served as Assistant Professor and later Associate Professor (Docent) at Umeå University. In 2014-2018 I worked with biodiversity conservation for the major Swedish forest company SCA and starting February 2019 I have a permanent position at SLU.

My two main current research projects are 1) on the contribution of Mountain birch forests to the conservation of boreal biodiversity associated with broadleaf dead wood and 2) on the role of really low-productive boreal pine forests in deadwood-associated biodiversity conservation and restoration. 

On the broadest scales I study the evolutionary consequences of climatic fluctuations caused by variations in Earth’s orbit. I also develop ideas about the importance of persistence of intraspecific lineages for speciation.

On the regional to local scale I study boreal biodiversity. Fundamental questions concern the wide range of species richness attained in different parts of boreal landscapes as well as the occurrence of spatial correlations in species richness among organism groups.

My work on biodiversity effects of land use are also concentrated to boreal areas and include effects of river regulation, conventional forestry, slash removal from clear-cuts for energy production, and wood ash recycling into forests. I have also studied the efficiency of buffer strips of riparian forest for biodiversity conservation.

I have a longstanding interest in how to mitigate negative impacts of land use and a more recent interest in restoration of forest biodiversity in degraded areas and in the role of variation in colonization capacity among forest species.

I work with a broad range of boreal organisms, mainly plants (liverworts, mosses, vascular plants) and insects, but also land snails, lichens and wood-inhabiting fungi.

In addition to these major themes, I have studied the long-term dynamics of natural disturbance (tree uprooting) and deadwood (tree mortality after fragmentation) as well as factors affecting how fast a downed tree trunk is covered by ground vegetation. I have also conducted assessments of human impacts on the World’s large river systems.

My publications have been cited almost 12,000 times according to Google Scholar. Link

I also have a profile page at Research Gate. Link

In my current projects, fieldwork is conducted in forests owned by the National Property Board (SFV) and the major Swedish forestry companies SCA and Holmen. In the fungal parts of these projects i also cooperate with my colleagues professor Anders Dahlberg, Department of Forest Mycology and Plant Pathology, SLU, Uppsala and associate professor Mattias Edman, Mid Sweden University, Sundsvall. In my evolutionary research I cooperate with professor Roland Jansson, Dept. of Ecology and Environmental Science, Umeå University.

I have supervised a number of students in their theses work. Examples from later years include:

Mattsson, Emma and Ostermann, Lena, 2025. Partial bark removal of Scots pines on low-productive forest land for conservation purposes: How are mortality, radial growth, and crown thinning affected? Link

Olsson, KajsaLisa, 2024. Wood-inhabiting beetles 10-20 years after pine forest fires: a comparison between rocky outcrops and more productive sites.  Link

Nilsson, Tyr, 2022. Decrease in slow-grown trees on productive forest land in Northern Sweden. Implications for saproxylic organisms and the importance of low-productive mires and rocky outcrops. Link

I have supervised the following PhD students:

Andreas Karlsson Tiselius, Umeå universitet. Primary supervisor. Link

Ruaridh Hägglund, SLU. Assistant supervisor. Link

Jon Andersson, SLU. Assistant supervisor. Link

Fredrik Stenbacka, SLU. Assistant supervisor. Link

Marcus Åström, Umeå University. Assistant supervisor. Link

Ursula Zinko, Umeå University.  Assistant supervisor. Link