Mart Vlam

Mart Vlam is an external researcher at Wageningen University & Research, specializing in Forest Ecology and Forest Management. His work bridges ecological research with forensic timber tracing, focusing on the intersection of tropical forest dynamics, stable isotopes, and global change.

• Research Themes: Tropical forest growth, dendrochronology, isotopic analysis, carbon sinks, and timber trade forensics.
• Projects: Led the Timtrace project (2015–2016), co-promoted PhD research on chemical timber tracing (2019–2023), and studied pan-tropical tree ring dynamics (2010–2014).

Recent publications explore how rising CO2 enhances photosynthetic efficiency in tropical trees (2025), oxygen isoscapes for timber origin verification (2025), and the role of tree-ring chronologies in climate research (2025). His methodology combines multi-element analysis and tree ring dating to combat illegal logging. A 2023 study introduced a forensic tool for wood origin tracing using mass spectrometry.

Collaborations span Africa, Southeast Asia, and South America. Supervised PhD candidate Laura Boeschoten (2019–2023) and contributed datasets to open-access repositories. Media coverage in 2015 highlighted his work on timber traceability systems.