Portrait photo of Lena Gustafsson

Lena Gustafsson

Professor emeritus, Department of Ecology (S Faculty)
Mobile phone
+46703022747
Phone
+4618672747
Professor emeritus in conservation biology, SLU, Uppsala. Research on biodiversity and conservation in forests. Knowledge transfer aimed at practitioners.

Presentation

I am Professor Emeritus at the Department of Ecology, SLU in Uppsala. My research is applied and focused on biodiversity and nature conservation in forests. I am interested in processes and structures that control the occurrence and dynamics of species in natural and managed forests and how this can be used to design nature conservation strategies. A strong driving force in my research is the connection to current and important forest and nature conservation policy issues, including those that are particularly important for practitioners. I am a plant ecologist and often use mosses and lichens as study organisms.

Research

A main focus of my research has for a long time been tree retention at forest harvest (“retention forestry”, “variable retention”, “structure retention”, “green-tree retention”), a common environmental adjustment at harvest operations today, practiced in many countries. It implies that single trees and tree groups are left unharvested, in order to benefit biodiversity. Here, together with colleagues, I have carried out a number of studies but also carried out several knowledge syntheses. Another major interest is the importance of small, protected areas for biodiversity, a current research issue both nationally and internationally. The last decade, I have also spent a lot of time studying the development of vegetation after the large forest fire in Västmanland in 2014, when 14,000 ha burned.

Educational credentials

Collaboration and research communication are a great interest. I have coordinated several large knowledge compilations aimed at forestry and nature conservation. Over the years I have participated in a number of different media and also in various film projects.

Publications

Google Scholar Citations