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The Department of Forest Ecology and Management was established in January 2007 by merging the three departments of Forest Ecology, Forest Vegetation Ecology and Silviculture. Since then we have grown considerably and now have c. 90 staff (14 professors), excellent technical facilities and good access to outstanding field experiments. This provides a very good base for research on the dynamics and management of forest ecosystems. We convey our findings and their implications to undergraduate students and other stake-holders; our contribution to undergraduate studies is among the largest at the faculty. In the 2009 evaluation Quality of Impact of research at SLU our three units of assessment, Vegetation Ecology (incl. Forest History), Soils (incl. Biogeochemistry), and Forest Management (Ecophysiology, Forest Regeneration, Forest Growth & Yield, Silviculture and Tropical Forestry) scored 24, 23 and 20 points, respectively, out of 24 possible (the average for SLU was around 15).
Our activities can be split into nine competence areas:
Competence Areas
 Our research deals with nitrogen nutrition of plants in general and of forest plants in particular. Nitrogen, being the mineral element needed in largest amounts by plants is also, in most terrestrial ecosystems, limiting for plant growth. In Boreal forest ecosystems, this limitation is in spite of large stocks of organic nitrogen in the soil. Thus, the production of plant available nitrogen sources is a key process in these forests.
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 The overarching goal of the research is to better understand the fundamental processes underlying forest regeneration in Boreal forests. This research includes a better understanding of the limiting factors that control seed and seedling performance in both natural and managed forests. The key factors of interest are the role of understory vegetation (ericaceous dwarf shrubs, mosses, and lichens), disturbance (natural and anthropogenic), mycorrhizal fungi and the interactions or feedbacks between seedling growth
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 The goal of the research in growth and yield is to quantify the wood production under different conditions regarding sites (soil and climate), plants (tree species and genotypes) and stand types (plantations, old-growth forests). The research is based both on experimental studies, often in the form of long-term field experiments, and on survey studies in different stand types, for instance old-growth forests.
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 The aim of silvicultural research is to evaluate the effects of forestry practices, like regeneration, pre-commercial thinning, thinning, fertilization, and felling, on the future development of forests. The research is based on long-term field experiments, survey-studies, laboratory experiments, and simulations. The department is responsible for the development of knowledge for forming silvicultural practices and systems, which enable a sustainable use of the forest resource. The topic is central to the department's education, at both undergraduate and graduate level. Read more...
 The work spans over a broad range of tropical ecosystems, from natural forests, over planted forests to agroforestry. Typical research and education activities concern both deeper biogeophysical process understanding, as well as development of sustainable forest management. These activities also involve knowledge about both environmental effects and adaptations to climate change. Examples of research questions are; How can rainforest be used in a sustainable way? Can trees improve water supply in semi-arid areas?
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 The forest history research focus on the changing relationships between humans and forests and forest ecosystems over time and also people's specific use of the forest resource from an historical perspective. It includes the reconstruction of past interactions between people and forest ecosystems, and the interpretation of the long-term trends in human impact on the forest. The research focus on different ethnic groups, over different time perspectives and can be on a local or regional scale.
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 The overarching goal of the forest vegetation ecology research effort is to better understand interactions of forest plants with each other, and with the other biotic and abiotic components of the forested ecosystem. This includes understanding interrelationships of plants with animals and microbes, feedbacks between plants and soil, and relationships of plants with extrinsic disturbance factors, notably fire.
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 Our major research objectives are oriented towards understanding the biogeochemical transformation and cycling of energy, water, carbon, nitrogen and other elements in the boreal landscape. We work across spatial scales from the molecular level to the landscape level. At the landscape level both forest, mire and stream ecosystems are included as well as how the role of landscape heterogeneity affect the biogeochemical cycling.
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 This field encompasses several subdisciplines; in our case especially plant-soil relations, geochemistry and pedology. A major focal area is interactions among soils, microbes and plants, and their implications for forest nutrition management, long-term productivity and the carbon balance. Another major focal area is the biogeochemistry of mercury in soils, especially the effects of forest activities and restoration of wetlands.
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