Sonja Vospernik

Sonja Vospernik is an Associate Professor at the Institute of Forest Growth, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna. With a career spanning 2000–2022 at BOKU, she specializes in empirical forest growth analysis using dendrometer, tree ring, and forest inventory data. Her work focuses on growth responses to climate change and interspecific/intraspecific competition, with applications in forest management and wood quality modeling. She teaches forest growth and mensuration at bachelor, master, and doctoral levels.

• Education: Dipl. Ing. (2000), Dr. nat. techn. (2005)
• Habilitation: Forest Growth (2016)

Her research interests include:

• Climate sensitivity of tree growth
• Species interaction in mixed forests
• High-elevation forest dynamics
• Statistical modeling of forest systems
• Wood quality and damage assessment

Recent publications emphasize soil-climate interactions, species mixture effects, and machine learning applications in forest growth analysis. She has received the Thurn und Taxis Award (2005) for forestry research. Her advising includes 18 theses on topics like bark stripping, growth modeling, and forest biodiversity. She serves as Associate Editor for Trees - Structure and Function and Reviewer for multiple journals.