La Kretz Center Postdoctoral Fellow, Timo Metz, is curious about how ecosystems respond to disturbances, and the strategies that can foster their resistance and recovery. After decades of fire suppression, forests in California’s Sierra Nevada became unnaturally dense and thereby prone to the risk of high-severity, stand-replacing wildfires that threaten biodiversity and the long-term persistence of forests in the landscape. Different forest management strategies aim at mitigating this risk, but it remains unclear how effective these strategies really are in achieving their goal. Timo’s work aims at supporting forest managers and conservation scientists in selecting forest management strategies that most effectively promote resistance and recovery of Californian forest ecosystems. Thereby, Timo’s work during his fellowship aims at enhancing the resilience of Californian forest ecosystems in the Sierra Nevada in the presence of future wildfires.
Research Project | 2025