Peter Antkowiak

Peter Antkowiak is a Researcher and doctoral student at the Chair of Forestry Economics and Forest Planning at the University of Freiburg. He works on the "Determining the Insurance Value of Ecosystems (DIVES)" project in cooperation with WSL in Birmensdorf and SLF in Davos, focusing on dynamic modeling of protection forests and developing management concepts for climate-adapted forests.

His research interests include:

• Dynamic modeling of alpine protection forests under biotic and abiotic disturbances
• Quantification of protection, risks, and ecosystem services
• Development of management concepts for resilient, climate-adapted protection forests
• Image analysis for early detection of plant diseases
• Monitoring of animal populations with camera traps
• Ecology of arctic breeding birds and climate change impacts

His primary research focuses on gravitational mass movements such as avalanches and rockfall, with an emphasis on quantifying protection values and developing management strategies for more resilient forest ecosystems in the face of climate change. His work combines ecological modeling with practical forest management approaches.

His educational background includes:

• Doctoral studies at the Chair of Forest Economics and Forest Planning, University of Freiburg (since 2018)
• M.Sc. in Environmental Sciences at the University of Freiburg, specializing in GIS, statistics, and environmental modeling (2014-2017)
• B.Sc. in Environmental Sciences at the University of Freiburg and SLU in Umeå, Sweden, focusing on conservation and wildlife ecology (2010-2014)

His professional experience includes research positions at the Federal Forest Research Institute and SLU in Sweden, focusing on invasive tree species, plant disease detection, and ecological data analysis.