John Caspersen studies human impacts on the structure, composition, and function of forest ecosystems, as well as the interactions between forest ecosystems, the global carbon cycle, and climate. His goal is to understand how the production of wood, fibre and fuel can be balanced with the continued provision of other ecosystem services, including the maintenance of biodiversity, storage of carbon, and mitigation of climate change. Most of his research employs some combination of field work, modelling, remote sensing, life cycle analysis, and analysis of forest inventory data. Current research topics include:

• Balancing wood production with other forest ecosystem services
• Increasing the utilization of forest biomass for the production of energy
• Managing forests to mitigate climate change
• Anticipating the response of forests to climate change
• Remote sensing of forest structure and composition