Research output per year
Research output per year
Forstkandidat, Ph.D.
Rolighedsvej 23
1958 Frederiksberg C
Research activity per year
Lars Vesterdal, born 1969. M.Sc. Forestry (1995) and Ph.D. (1998), The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University (now University of Copenhagen). Professor in Section for Forest, Nature and Biomass, Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen.
Research Lars Vesterdal has been involved in research within forest ecology and soil science since 1993. The main focus has been on decomposition of organic matter and nutrient cycling as affected by tree species, forest management and soil types. During the recent years Lars Vesterdal has taken part in international work on the contribution of forests to mitigate greenhouse effects, and carbon storage in forest soils has been a central part of his research. This work focuses on carbon sequestration following changes in management and land use, particularly afforestation of former cropland. Research on afforestation of former cropland also includes impacts on other environmental services such as water recharge and nitrogen retention. The current main research topic is tree species effects on soil C stocks and their vertical distribution, and how such effects are mediated by soil fauna and soil microbial communities.
Lars is involved in the reporting of carbon sequestration in Danish forest soils under UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol and involved in the Danish intensive forest monitoring programme (ICP Forests under UNECE). He is also vice-chair of the Scientifc Committee of ICP Forests. He is currently coordinating a project on resampling of carbon and nitrogen stocks in Danish forest soils which will contribute to the Kyoto Protocol reporting. Other research projects focus on carbon storage and dynamics in forest soils under different tree species and tree species mixtures (FP7 project FUNDIV-EUROPE ), methane and nitrous oxide emission from soils, and effect of land use change and management change on soil carbon sequestration (the FP7 project GHG-EUROPE). He currently supervises several PhD and post doc projects related to tree species effects on soil C and soil biota.
Teaching and other tasks The courses Natural resources & ecology (BSc), Ecology and Ecosystem Science in relation to Environmental Economics (Msc) and Climate Change and Land Use (MSc). Supervision of BSc, MSc and PhD theses.
Associate Editor for Canadian Journal of Forest Research and member of Editorial Board of Forest Ecology and Management. Working group leader for WG2 and member of steering committee in Cost Action 639 "Greenhouse-gas budget of soils under changing climate and land use", 2006-2010.
Personal data
Born March 9, 1969, Gentofte, Denmark. Married, 2 children.
Present occupation
Professor, Section of Forest, Nature and Biomass, Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management (IGN), Faculty of Science, University of Copenhagen, Rolighedsvej 23, DK-1958 Frederiksberg C, Denmark.
Education
1995: MSc (Forestry), the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Frederiksberg, Denmark.
1998: PhD (Forest Ecology), the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Frederiksberg, Denmark. PhD thesis “Forest floors as affected by tree species, thinning intensity, and soil properties” (http://curis.ku.dk/ws/files/13548007/Lars_Vesterdal.pdf) awarded a medal by The Danish Academy of Natural Sciences. During the PhD study period I spent a two month adjourn at University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
Employments
2015-: Professor, Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management (IGN), University of Copenhagen.
2014-15: Associate Professor, Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management (IGN), University of Copenhagen.
2001-2013: Senior scientist, Dep. of Forest Ecology, Danish Forest and Landscape Research Institute (FSL). In 2004 the institution was merged into the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University (KVL) and in 2007 KVL was merged into University of Copenhagen as Forest & Landscape Denmark. Since 2013 Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management (IGN), University of Copenhagen.
1998-2001: Scientist, Division of Forest Ecology, FSL.
Professional career
After my PhD I got strongly involved in research on the role of forests for mitigation of greenhouse effects and the particular contribution of forest soils. My research focused on decomposition of organic matter and carbon stocks as affected by tree species, forest management and land-use change, i.e. afforestation of former cropland. The work on tree species and afforestation of former cropland also included impacts on other environmental services such as water recharge and nitrogen retention. From 1998 I have been working as partner and project leader in various mainly externally funded projects. Since my PhD adjourn at Department of Forest Sciences, University of British Columbia, I have had shorter adjourns there twice to work on forest management and tree species effects on soil C and N dynamics. I have good experience in accounting of greenhouse gas balances from different ecosystems based on my role as responsible for the Danish reporting of carbon sequestration in Danish forests under UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol (2000-2009). My role as coordinator (2005-2010) of the Danish intensive forest monitoring programme (ICP Forests under UN-ECE and EU) has also given me good knowledge of biogeochemistry in forests in Denmark and EU. In addition, this task provided me good experiences in European cooperation on air pollution effects and carbon accounting. My main achievements have been to 1) provide new knowledge on tree species effects and management on soil C, water seepage and N retention based on common garden and other long-term field experiments that enabled separation of tree species effects from site-related factors; 2) the establishment of unique chronosequences of afforestation at two sites in Denmark including the publication of results on ecosystem services (C sequestration, water recharge, water quality, and biodiversity) within national and EU FP5 projects; 3) the installation of a lab facility for measurement of non-CO2 greenhouse gases in the field in afforestation chronosequences and soil moisture gradients used to evaluate effects of changed soil moisture regimes in forests; 4) Cooperation at EU and global level with researchers within EU projects, COST and my informal scientific network with the aim to synthesize data and knowledge of management, tree species and land-use change effects on soil C dynamics; 5) success in applications for externally funded projects (>DKK 20 mio. during the last five years).
I have coordinated a large project on resampling of carbon and nitrogen stocks in Danish forest soils which contributes to the Kyoto Protocol reporting and will in the next years lead a second phase of this project. I recently coordinated the Danish activities in the FP7 project GHG-Europe in which we contributed with resampling of our unique chronosequence experiments to support the knowledge on soil C dynamics following land-use change. I have just finalized our activities in the EU FP7 project FUNDIV-EUROPE in which we led activities regarding tree species diversity effects on soil properties including C and N. Other current projects focus on carbon storage and dynamics in forest soils under different tree species and methane and nitrous oxide emission from soils. I have recently been particularly engaged in activities to synthesize effects of tree species on soils with focus on SOC dynamics and stocks finalized in a special issue of Forest Ecology and Management on this topic as Guest Editor with Cindy Prescott, UBC. This special issue includes my synthesis paper “Do tree species influence soil carbon stocks in temperate and boreal forests?”.
Key research topics
Biogeochemistry of forest ecosystems with a focus on C and N cycling as well as water balances. My main emphasis has been on soil C stocks, their turnover and change as affected by tree species, management, soil type and land-use change. I have worked on the capacity of ecosystems to provide ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration, water recharge, and water quality including the overall synthesis and trade-offs between these services. I continue to focus on management, land-use change and soil type controls on soil C, but currently work to direct my research into characterization of the processes behind patterns observed in soil C dynamics.
Impact
I have authored and co-authored 59 currently accepted or published reviewed papers which have generated 2008 citations (Web of Science, 02.12.2015). h-index: 23. The three most cited papers, of which I am the senior author of the latter two, have 392, 205 and 132 citations WoSCC), respectively. 34 papers are cited 10 times or more.
Services to academia, memberships, awards
Invited key notes (recent)
Major present and past research projects
Supervision and teaching
Current PhD supervision: Relena Ribbons (Feb. 2014-), Bingru Wang (Dec. 2015-). Previous Ph.D. students: Seid M. Dawud (defence Nov. 2015), Claudia Guidi (defence March 2015), Shimon Ginzburg (defence Sept. 2014), Teresa Gomez de la Bárcena (defence March 2014), Jesper Riis Christiansen (defence Sept. 2010), Eva Ritter (defence June 2004).
Supervision of MSc theses: Farhana Zaman (SUFONAMA, grad. Aug. 2015), Tomas Degeti Sitota (SUFONAMA, grad. Aug. 2015), Md. Masudur Rahman (SUFONAMA, grad. July 2013), Judith Boveland (EnvEuro, grad. Sept. 2012), Syed Faiz-ul Islam (graduated Aug. 2012), Muzaffar Hussain (SUFONAMA, grad. Nov. 2011), Oliver Branch (ENVEURO, graduated Dec. 2010), Karen Sverrild Jørgensen (Forestry, June 2008). Internship host and BSc. thesis supervisor for BSc student Karolin Heiser (2008-2009) and BSc. thesis supervisor for Kasper Kleinert (Natural Resources, June 2014).
Teaching: BSc course “Ecology of Natural Resources” (15 ECTS), contributing teacher (13%) from the department. MSc. course “Ecology and Ecosystems Science in Relation to Environmental Economics” (15 ECTS) from 2013 (co-responsible with Associate Professor Inge Stupak). Both courses include lectures, exercises, project supervision and excursions.
I passed the course “Higher Education Teaching” at Faculty of Science, KU in 2013.
I have served on Ph.D. defence committees, e.g. Lisa Bjørnlund, Institute of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Anna Hagen-Thorn, Lund University and Lotte Van Nevel, University of Ghent, March 2015. As a member of the Board of external examiners in Physical Geography (2006-2013) and Agriculture (2013) I have served as external examiner on BSc and MSc theses as well as oral exams at University of Copenhagen, University of Aarhus and University of Aalborg.
Publication counts
Peer-reviewed accepted articles: 59; Book chapters: 12; Proceedings: 14; Public outreach activities and reports: 54.
Lars Vesterdal 02.12.2015
Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
Research output: Memorandum/exposition › Memorandum › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to conference › Conference abstract for conference › Research
Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
Lars Vesterdal (Editor)
Activity: Peer-review and editorial work types › Editor of Research journal › Research
Lars Vesterdal (Editor)
Activity: Peer-review and editorial work types › Editor of Research journal › Research
Lars Vesterdal (Speaker)
Activity: Talk or presentation types › Lecture and oral contribution
Lars Vesterdal (Lecturer)
Activity: Talk or presentation types › Lecture and oral contribution
Lars Vesterdal (Speaker)
Activity: Talk or presentation types › Lecture and oral contribution
Lars Vesterdal (Speaker)
Activity: Talk or presentation types › Lecture and oral contribution
Lars Vesterdal (Lecturer)
Activity: Talk or presentation types › Lecture and oral contribution
Lars Vesterdal (Speaker)
Activity: Talk or presentation types › Lecture and oral contribution