Timo Metz, Ph.D.

Timo combines ecological theory and empirical data analysis to find out how ecosystems respond to and recover from disturbances. As a La Kretz Center Fellow, Timo works together with UCLA faculty member Dr. Chuliang Song and forest ecologist Dr. Nick Hendershot of The Nature Conservancy to study the resilience of forest ecosystems in California’s Sierra Nevada. He is interested in how to safeguard these ecosystems in the presence of increasing wildfire risk. His research aims to identify management strategies that will contribute to robust guidelines for conservation science and forest management.

Timo studied physics and biology at Marburg University and Heidelberg University in Germany and, in 2025, received his Ph.D. from the Technical University of Darmstadt. During his Ph.D., Timo combined theory, statistics, and empirical data analysis to find out whether and how fast species communities and networks recover in tropical rainforests. His research was embedded in the large research unit “REASSEMBLY,” which investigates a chronosequence of recovering rainforest in the Chocó rainforest in Ecuador.