Congratulations!Leam Mykel Martes successfully defended his doctoral thesis

10 January 2025

Photo: Bianca Wörner

We are proud to announce the successful disputation of our SICSS member Leam Mykel Martes.

His dissertation “Forest Vulnerability and Carbon Sequestration in a Changing Climate” was supervised by Prof. Dr. Michael Köhl and Prof. Dr. Annette Eschenbach (both University of Hamburg).

Leam investigated the relationships between forests, forest management and climate. Using scenario analyses and carbon lifecycle modelling Leam compared the results of different management scenarios on forest carbon in northern Germany. Leam also used future climate scenarios and species distribution models to model climate related forest risks of mortality throughout Germany and create risk distribution maps for forest mortality.

Leam was a member of the Department of Biology, Institute of World Forestry at the University of Hamburg.

His future plans?

Leam will continue working in CLICCS as a post doc untill the end of the year. After that he would like to continue in the academic path elsewhere.

More on Leam's work:

• Martes, L., Pfleiderer, P., Köhl, M. et al. Using climate envelopes and earth system model simulations for assessing climate change induced forest vulnerability. Sci Rep 14, 17076 (2024)
• Köhl, M, and Martes, L. "Forests: A passive CO2 sink or an active CO2 pump?." Forest Policy and Economics 155 (2023)
• Martes L, Köhl M. Improving the Contribution of Forests to Carbon Neutrality under Different Policies—A Case Study from the Hamburg Metropolitan Area. Sustainability. 2022; 14(4):2088