Lisa Petersson

Forest ecologist at the Southern Swedish Forest Research Centre. My research interests include nature conservation, biodiversity and how species are affected by forest management and land use changes.

I am teaching biodiversity and nature conservation at the bachelor program Forest and Landscape and Euroforester master program. Since 2023 I am course leading Forest and Landscape Ecology.

I'm currently involved in following main research projects: 

1) The return of wetland forests – Exploring soil moisture's role in biodiversity and carbon storage. 
2) Forest management & biodiversity – Studying effects on ant assemblages and vegetation.
3) Landscape changes & vascular plants – Assessing impacts on threatened species. 
4) Life is a Beech – Restoring beech forests in southern Sweden.

During my postdoc, I studied the effects of sika deer browsing on forest understory vegetation and epiphyte communities in Nikko National Park, Japan.

In my PhD project, I studied ecosystem services and biodiversity, focusing on vascular plants, bryophytes, and lichens in managed stands of Scots pine and Norway spruce.

2021 - 2023 Postdoctoral researcher. Southern Swedish Forest Research Centre, Alnarp Sweden and Forest department of Utsunomiya University, Utsunomiya, Japan.

2020 - 2021 Research assistant Southern Swedish Forest Research Centre, Alnarp Sweden.
SLU crop platform project ESSLA: Ecosystem Services in Sweden – At the Landscape Level

2015 - 2020 PhD-student at Southern Swedish Forest Research Centre, Alnarp Sweden

2015 MSc Environmental Science. Lund university

2013 BSc Landscape Science. Kristianstad university

I am the supervisor for PhD candidate Emil Andersson, studying how forest ants are affected by different forest management practices.

I've been supervising following student theses:

Ines Diaz Garcia 2024. Can the disappearance of the forest orchid Goodyera repens be linked to clearcutting?

Glenn Faxhag Raymond 2022. Skador på kultur- och fornlämningar i samband med föryngringsavverkning - med fokus på oregistrerade lämningar

Ewa Jastrzebska 2020. Poplar for biodiversity? 

Johan Back och Christian Syk 2018  Fältskiktsväxter i gran- och tallbestånd i södra Småland : en studie om indikatorvärden och hävdgynnade växter 

Petersson, L., Salk, C., Jensen, D., Thor, G. and Ohkubo, T. (2025), Long-Term Deer Exclusion Releases Dwarf Bamboo, Reducing Vascular Plant Diversity. Applied Vegetation Science, 28: e70018. 

Lariviere, D., Holmström, E., Petersson, L., Djupström, L. & Weslien, J. 2023. Ten years after: Release cutting around old oaks still affects oak vitality and saproxylic beetles in a Norway spruce stand. Agricultural and Forest Entomology, 1– 11.

Petersson, L., Lariviere, D., Holmström, E., Fritz, Ö, & Felton, A. 2022. Conifer tree species and age as drivers of epiphytic lichen communities in northern European production forests. The Lichenologist, 54(3-4), 213-225.

Ara, M., Felton, A. M. Holmström, E. Petersson, L. Berglund, M. Johansson, U. Nilssona, U. 2022. Pre-commercial thinning in Norway spruce-birch mixed stands can provide abundant forage for ungulates without losing volume production. Forest Ecology and Management 520 120364.

Felton, A., Felton, A. M.,  Wam, H. K., J. Witzell, Wallgren, M., Löf, M., Sonesson, J., Lindbladh, M., Björkman, C., Blennow, K., Cleary, M., Jonsell, M. Klapwijke, M., Niklassona, M., Petersson, L., Rönnberg, J., Ode Sang, Å., Wrethling, F. and Hedwall, P-O. 2022. Forest biodiversity and ecosystem services from spruce-birch mixtures: The potential importance of tree spatial arrangement. Environmental Challenges 2022 Vol. 6 Pages 100407

Petersson, L., Nilsson, S., Holmström, E., Lindbladh, M. & Felton, A. 2021. Forest floor bryophyte and lichen diversity in Scots pine and Norway spruce production forests. Forest Ecology and Management 493.

Lindbladh, M., Hedwall, P.-O., Holmström, E., Petersson, L. and Felton, A. 2020. How generalist are these forest specialists? What Sweden’s avian indicators indicate. Anim Conserv, 23: 762-773.

Petersson, L. 2019. Replacing Scots pine with Norway spruce. Implications for biodiversity in production forests. Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet, Acta Universitatis Agriculturae Sueciae, 1652-6880; 2019:85 [Doktorsavhandling]

Petersson, L., Holmström, E., Lindbladh, M., and Felton, A. 2019. Tree species impact on understory vegetation: Vascular plant communities of Scots pine and Norway spruce managed stands in northern Europe. Forest Ecology and Management 448 p. 330-345.

Lindbladh, M., Petersson, L., Hedwall, P.-O., Trubins, R., Holmström E. and Felton, A. 2019. Consequences for bird diversity from a decrease in a foundation species—replacing Scots pine stands with Norway spruce in southern Sweden. Regional Environmental Change 19 p. 1429-1440.

Felton, A., Petersson L., Nilsson, O. Witzell, J. Cleary, M., Felton, A. M., Björkman, C., Sang, Å. O. Jonsell, M., Holmström, E., Nilsson, U., Rönnberg, J., Kalén, C. and Lindbladh, M. 2019. The tree species matters: Biodiversity and ecosystem service implications of replacing Scots pine production stands with Norway spruce. Ambio.

Petersson, L. and Andersson, S. 2015. Vegetationsförändringar på Lilla Smörstack 1982-2015 (populärvetenskaplig artikel). Botaniska notiser 148(3) p. 15-22