Frank Sterck appointed as professor holding a personal chair in Forest Ecology and Forest Management

Frank Sterck’s fascination with nature began when he was just a child. In 1982, he therefore decided to study Biology at Wageningen University. This is where he started to study trees; from the dry Sahel in Mali to rainforests and mangroves in Gabon.

Climbing to the canopy

“In 1989, I did a spectacular canopy raft expedition in French Guyana, during which we climbed across the highest tree tops of a tropical forest,” says Sterck. “This inspired me to choose a PhD in French Guyana (1992-1997), where I climbed trees to study the physiology and dynamics of tree crowns.”

During his postdoc studies (1998-2002), he developed tree models to better understand the differences between tree species in growth and survival through underlying plant characteristics and physiology. He tested theoretical model predictions with field observations of tropical trees in rainforests in Bolivia, Mexico, and Malaysia.

Climate-smart forests

In 2002, Frank returned to Wageningen and expanded on this line of research. His research was focused on the intersection of climate change and tropical (Ethiopia, Panama, Brazil, and China) and temperate forests (Europe, China). He recently started a large-scale forest experiment to better calibrate forest management to the responses of trees and soil to increased drought.

At the moment, Frank leads a partnership of scientists and forest managers who collect data in this forest experiment and who develop forest models to use the new insights for the creation of ‘climate-smart’ forests. This work is a unique test case for increasing the productivity, resilience, biodiversity, and/or carbon storage of forests in the context of ongoing climate change.