Selective logging has affected or will affect a substantial proportion of the world’s remaining tropical forests. Selective logging only involves cutting down a subset of the most valuable merchantable trees, leaving behind standing forests, which can often support vibrant floral and faunal communities. However, historical efforts to quantify the biodiversity and carbon impacts of selective logging have often relied on localised ‘snapshot’ surveys that are unlikely to capture the cumulative effects of harvests over many decades.

My PhD focused on understanding the impacts of selective logging within tropical forests, and I maintain a strong interest in how the management of logged forests can be improved, both before and after harvests. Broadly, my interests within selectively logged forests include (i) understanding the cumulative effects of selective logging on different components of biodiversity over decadal timeframes and (ii) exploring what to do with the increasingly large areas of logged forests that no longer fall under active management, and thus face an increased risk of clearance.

This work mostly includes using fieldwork and field data to understand how species respond to different selective harvest regimes over time, including in Borneo, Amazonia, and the Congo Basin. I also maintain a strong interest in the consequences of restoration interventions (e.g. liana cutting and enrichment planting) within logged-over landscapes.