Sebastiaan Luyssaert

Sebastiaan Luyssaert is an Associate Professor in the Systems Ecology department at the Faculty of Science, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. His research focuses on land surface processes, climate change impacts on ecosystems, and carbon cycle modeling. He specializes in integrating ecological data into land surface models like ORCHIDEE, with emphasis on forest dynamics, soil hydrology, and disturbance effects.

Key research interests include:

• Climate-vegetation interactions
• Forest management and carbon sequestration
• Soil hydraulic properties and vadose zone hydrology
• Disturbance ecology (fire, insects, windthrow)
• Model development for global environmental change

Recent work highlights innovative modeling approaches for:

• Radiative transfer in canopy systems
• Boreal shrub dynamics under warming
• Forest pest outbreak impacts
• Fire size climatic feedbacks

He teaches graduate courses in 'Ecosystem Modelling' and contributes to interdisciplinary projects addressing UN Sustainable Development Goals related to climate action and sustainable ecosystems. Supervision includes one PhD thesis on forest carbon dynamics.