People

We are a group of researchers exploring how forests respond to management and natural forces like wind, and how these processes shape structure and resilience.
Markku Larjavaara, Group Leader

Markku is a forester educated at the University of Helsinki, with a postdoctoral fellowship completed at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama. Before returning to Helsinki, he served as a research professor at Peking University. He has lived on five continents and built a diverse career across academia, national research institutes, an international NGO, and a private consultancy. His research spans a wide range of topics, including tree structure, natural disturbances, land use, and ecosystem carbon dynamics.

Markku is responsible for the following courses:

  • Master´s thesis seminar
  • Metsän kasvu ja kasvatus
  • Simulation of forest growth
  • Struktur, mångfald och användning av skogar i Norden
  • Trees, forests and people
Titta Majasalmi, University Researcher

Titta Has expertise in remote sensing of vegetation (boreal forest canopy and understory, LAI, fPAR, phenology, spectra), forest classification and mapping (biodiversity, species, structure), and forest (dynamics) modelling (Formit-M, EFDM, Yasso).

Wen Gao, Doctoral Researcher

Forest wind disturbances remain inconsistently mapped and poorly understood at the global scale. Wen aims to create a global map of forest wind disturbances using over 20 years of satellite imagery, analyzing sudden decreases in Leaf Area Index to detect disturbances and coupling them with wind data. This will provide detailed insights into the patterns, frequency, and severity of wind disturbance events, helping us better understand forest resilience under climate change.