Eric Zenner

Eric K. Zenner, Ph.D., serves as Associate Professor of Silviculture in the Department of Ecosystem Science and Management at The Pennsylvania State University’s College of Agricultural Sciences. He directs the Zenner Silviculture & Applied Ecology Lab, focusing on the operational implementation of forestry knowledge to meet societal objectives for forests, including ecosystem services such as clean water, wildlife habitat, recreational opportunities, sustainable timber supply, and visual aesthetics. Zenner earned his Ph.D. in Quantitative Forest Ecology and M.S. in Applied Statistics from Oregon State University in 1998, an M.S. in Forest Science from the same institution in 1995, and a B.S. in Forest Management from Fachhochschule für Forstwirtschaft Rottenburg in 1990. He is a member of the graduate faculty in Penn State’s Forestry program.

His research expertise encompasses forestry, silviculture, forest ecology, and disturbance ecology, with academic interests in forest structure, old-growth forests, uneven-aged management, natural regeneration, vascular community ecology, and forest-wildlife interactions. Zenner investigates the integration of ecological and utilitarian forest values, linking forest structure to understory and overstory dynamics and biodiversity. Key areas include partial disturbances and post-disturbance establishment dynamics, uneven-aged management and regeneration, wildlife habitat, mimicking late successional forest structural components through partial cuts to foster multi-cohort mixed-species stands resilient to natural disturbances, and quantifying forest structure for cross-ecosystem comparisons to inform management practices aligned with societal goals. His scholarly contributions include over 3,000 citations and an h-index of 33. Selected publications feature 'Quantifying the vertical diversification development stage of old-growth Douglas-fir to derive stage-specific targets for restoration silviculture' (Zenner & Peck, 2021, Canadian Journal of Forest Research), 'Mangrove regional feedback to sea level rise and drought intensity at the end of the 21st century' (Mafi-Gholami, Zenner, & Jaafari, 2020, Ecological Indicators), 'Patchiness in old-growth oriental beech forests across development stages at multiple neighborhood scales' (Zenner, Peck, & Sagheb-Talebi, 2019, European Journal of Forest Research), 'Development of tree size distributions in Douglas-fir forests under differing disturbance regimes' (Zenner, 2005, Ecological Applications), and 'Social vulnerability: A driving force in amplifying the overall vulnerability of protected areas to natural hazards' (2025, Heliyon).

Professional Email: eric.zenner@psu.edu