Martin Dovciak🌳🌱🌻
@dovciak-lab.bsky.social
🌱Ecology🌻Botany🌲Forests🌳Biodiversity🦋Mountains🏔️Climate🌦️Professor🌳NSF Mid-Career Award🍀Editor, Ecological Applications🎋Past Chair, ESA Vegetation (2021-2023)🍁 Fellow, Yale School of the Environment (Fall 2023).
https://www.esf.edu/faculty/dovciak/
https://www.esf.edu/faculty/dovciak/
Have you ever wondered if temperate🌳 & boreal🌲 tree seedlings🌱germinate & grow best in their own leaf litter, heterospecific litter, on moss, or on bare soil? If so stay tuned for more from Tee Atwater’s honors thesis experiment completed this Fall! @sunyesf.bsky.social @sunyofficial.bsky.social
November 6, 2025 at 8:35 PM
Have you ever wondered if temperate🌳 & boreal🌲 tree seedlings🌱germinate & grow best in their own leaf litter, heterospecific litter, on moss, or on bare soil? If so stay tuned for more from Tee Atwater’s honors thesis experiment completed this Fall! @sunyesf.bsky.social @sunyofficial.bsky.social
Excellent talk today on abrupt vs. slow forest 🌳🌲 change by @nathankiel.bsky.social @sunyesf.bsky.social given @syracuseup.bsky.social biology seminar series. It was super interesting to think of forest change drivers spanning climate zones & disturbance regimes from Yellowstone to the US Northeast
October 31, 2025 at 10:17 PM
Excellent talk today on abrupt vs. slow forest 🌳🌲 change by @nathankiel.bsky.social @sunyesf.bsky.social given @syracuseup.bsky.social biology seminar series. It was super interesting to think of forest change drivers spanning climate zones & disturbance regimes from Yellowstone to the US Northeast
Welcome our new lab member & MS student, Jenna Meyer! Jenna comes from Binghamton University where she studied how plant diversity affects ecological functions in lawns for her honors thesis. She is now switching to study plant communities at temperate-boreal forest ecotones @sunyesf.bsky.social
October 8, 2025 at 7:47 PM
Welcome our new lab member & MS student, Jenna Meyer! Jenna comes from Binghamton University where she studied how plant diversity affects ecological functions in lawns for her honors thesis. She is now switching to study plant communities at temperate-boreal forest ecotones @sunyesf.bsky.social
I enjoyed hosting Dr. Juan Corley, Ecological Applications Editor-in-Chief @ecologicalsociety.bsky.social & learning about novel insect-tree interactions of non-native North American trees & European insects in Argentina. Thanks Juan for great talk @sunyesf.bsky.social @sunyofficial.bsky.social❗️🌐🌎
October 3, 2025 at 3:34 PM
I enjoyed hosting Dr. Juan Corley, Ecological Applications Editor-in-Chief @ecologicalsociety.bsky.social & learning about novel insect-tree interactions of non-native North American trees & European insects in Argentina. Thanks Juan for great talk @sunyesf.bsky.social @sunyofficial.bsky.social❗️🌐🌎
Done! ✅ A new experiment now set up on our mountain 🏔️ forest 🌳🌲 site network in 4 Northeastern US states to test how seed rain, microsites, & herbivory interact to affect early stages of climate-induced tree migrations. Led by @nathankiel.bsky.social, a post-doc in our group @sunyesf.bsky.social 🌎🌐🧪
September 6, 2025 at 5:16 PM
Done! ✅ A new experiment now set up on our mountain 🏔️ forest 🌳🌲 site network in 4 Northeastern US states to test how seed rain, microsites, & herbivory interact to affect early stages of climate-induced tree migrations. Led by @nathankiel.bsky.social, a post-doc in our group @sunyesf.bsky.social 🌎🌐🧪
A lovely visit to Baltimore @ecologicalsociety.bsky.social meeting last week. So many great talks! Also great to see many colleagues+meeting new ones. A splendid day in the woods @ #SERC w/great info on #NEON. Our lab had 4 presentations & we are now ready for a new semester @sunyesf.bsky.social
August 18, 2025 at 6:27 PM
A lovely visit to Baltimore @ecologicalsociety.bsky.social meeting last week. So many great talks! Also great to see many colleagues+meeting new ones. A splendid day in the woods @ #SERC w/great info on #NEON. Our lab had 4 presentations & we are now ready for a new semester @sunyesf.bsky.social
Check out our lab’s presentations @ecologicalsociety.bsky.social meeting in Baltimore if you are interested in vegetation change over space or time under changing climate or disturbance regime. Lumbsden-Pinto: Tue, COS 046 (10:15am); Dovciak: Wed, COS 118 (3:45pm); Kiel: Wed, PS-29-046 (5pm) 🌎🌐🧪
August 11, 2025 at 5:33 PM
Check out our lab’s presentations @ecologicalsociety.bsky.social meeting in Baltimore if you are interested in vegetation change over space or time under changing climate or disturbance regime. Lumbsden-Pinto: Tue, COS 046 (10:15am); Dovciak: Wed, COS 118 (3:45pm); Kiel: Wed, PS-29-046 (5pm) 🌎🌐🧪
Our lab is represented at the @iavs5.bsky.social meeting by Rachel Hopkins who will discuss how elevational distributions of plants changed over 60 years with climate warming on the legendary Whiteface Mountain of New York State. If you can, check her talk out: Aug. 2, 1:30 PM, Spruce Suites.
July 30, 2025 at 10:46 PM
Our lab is represented at the @iavs5.bsky.social meeting by Rachel Hopkins who will discuss how elevational distributions of plants changed over 60 years with climate warming on the legendary Whiteface Mountain of New York State. If you can, check her talk out: Aug. 2, 1:30 PM, Spruce Suites.
#Mediterranean #Botany, Part 3. The Mediterranean open scrub (phrygana, garrigue) has a desert-like summer climate & it occurs on rockier & more disturbed sites than taller & denser Mediterranean maquis (macchia, chaparral). The plants here are fascinating! Do you know these few?
July 10, 2025 at 8:16 PM
#Mediterranean #Botany, Part 3. The Mediterranean open scrub (phrygana, garrigue) has a desert-like summer climate & it occurs on rockier & more disturbed sites than taller & denser Mediterranean maquis (macchia, chaparral). The plants here are fascinating! Do you know these few?
#Mediterranean #Botany, Part 2. Crete has a fun mix of hardy native trees such as the Mediterranean juniper & olive (top) as well as many trees introduced from across the world, some of which have been cultivated in Crete for centuries such as date palm & pomegranate (bottom). 🌎
July 9, 2025 at 9:30 PM
#Mediterranean #Botany, Part 2. Crete has a fun mix of hardy native trees such as the Mediterranean juniper & olive (top) as well as many trees introduced from across the world, some of which have been cultivated in Crete for centuries such as date palm & pomegranate (bottom). 🌎
#Mediterranean #Botany on #Crete - Katharo plateau & the Dikti range where Zeus was born: Kermes oak, Italian poppy & Garland daisy, Purple-star thistle, & Mediterranean cypress are just a few of many fun plants on the island that once nurtured the first European civilization. 🌎
July 3, 2025 at 5:52 AM
#Mediterranean #Botany on #Crete - Katharo plateau & the Dikti range where Zeus was born: Kermes oak, Italian poppy & Garland daisy, Purple-star thistle, & Mediterranean cypress are just a few of many fun plants on the island that once nurtured the first European civilization. 🌎
Excited to share that I’ve been promoted to Professor (full) @sunyesf.bsky.social starting Sept 1! It’s been a winding path across countries & continents. Thanks to my fantastic mentors, colleagues, & students who walked with me along the way. I could not have done it without you. 🥂
#ForestEcology🌎🌐
#ForestEcology🌎🌐
June 16, 2025 at 9:22 PM
Excited to share that I’ve been promoted to Professor (full) @sunyesf.bsky.social starting Sept 1! It’s been a winding path across countries & continents. Thanks to my fantastic mentors, colleagues, & students who walked with me along the way. I could not have done it without you. 🥂
#ForestEcology🌎🌐
#ForestEcology🌎🌐
Exciting day @ The Steere Herbarium @nybg.bsky.social with interns from @sunyesf.bsky.social. The interns will spend the summer at the herbarium assisting with the study of seed traits of neotropical dry forest trees 🌳 🌴 lead by @pablolopezbust.bsky.social from Virginia Commonwealth University 🌎🧪
June 9, 2025 at 11:33 PM
Exciting day @ The Steere Herbarium @nybg.bsky.social with interns from @sunyesf.bsky.social. The interns will spend the summer at the herbarium assisting with the study of seed traits of neotropical dry forest trees 🌳 🌴 lead by @pablolopezbust.bsky.social from Virginia Commonwealth University 🌎🧪
🌎🧪🌐 My amazing field team @sunyesf.bsky.social led by my CoPI & postdoc @nathankiel.bsky.social have just completed the first week of installing #Tomst sensors to quantify microclimate across temperate-boreal 🌳🌲forest ecotones on mountains in the northeastern US. Exciting and…more to come❗️
June 6, 2025 at 7:55 PM
🌎🧪🌐 My amazing field team @sunyesf.bsky.social led by my CoPI & postdoc @nathankiel.bsky.social have just completed the first week of installing #Tomst sensors to quantify microclimate across temperate-boreal 🌳🌲forest ecotones on mountains in the northeastern US. Exciting and…more to come❗️
Congratulations to Dr. Joanna Lumbsden-Pinto on receiving the Outstanding PhD Scholar Award & completing her PhD on pine barrens’ ecology (stay tuned for the papers!) @sunyesf.bsky.social. It was a pleasure to serve as Joanna’s advisor & to celebrate her many accomplishments this past week.
May 12, 2025 at 12:25 AM
Congratulations to Dr. Joanna Lumbsden-Pinto on receiving the Outstanding PhD Scholar Award & completing her PhD on pine barrens’ ecology (stay tuned for the papers!) @sunyesf.bsky.social. It was a pleasure to serve as Joanna’s advisor & to celebrate her many accomplishments this past week.
Trout Lily (Erythronium americanum) in full bloom this weekend in upstate New York. As a spring ephemeral, this species produces flowers, fruits, & seeds before temperate deciduous tree canopy above leafs out, & it dies back afterward.
April 21, 2025 at 12:27 AM
Trout Lily (Erythronium americanum) in full bloom this weekend in upstate New York. As a spring ephemeral, this species produces flowers, fruits, & seeds before temperate deciduous tree canopy above leafs out, & it dies back afterward.
These pretty new flowers of sharp-lobed hepatica (Hepatica/Anemone acutiloba) announce that true springtime arrived to Upstate New York at last. Did you know that the Cherokee used this plant to make tea to cure cough? Happy International Plant Appreciation Day! #Botany
April 13, 2025 at 6:18 PM
These pretty new flowers of sharp-lobed hepatica (Hepatica/Anemone acutiloba) announce that true springtime arrived to Upstate New York at last. Did you know that the Cherokee used this plant to make tea to cure cough? Happy International Plant Appreciation Day! #Botany
🎉 Congratulations to Rachel Hopkins on excellent MSc defense & seminar “Plants on the move: Tracking 60 years of vegetation shifts on Whiteface Mountain, New York State” @sunyesf.bsky.social. We celebrated hers & other lab members’ recent accomplishments @ Alto Cinco! Stay tuned for the papers! 🌲🪻⛰️
April 11, 2025 at 12:43 PM
🎉 Congratulations to Rachel Hopkins on excellent MSc defense & seminar “Plants on the move: Tracking 60 years of vegetation shifts on Whiteface Mountain, New York State” @sunyesf.bsky.social. We celebrated hers & other lab members’ recent accomplishments @ Alto Cinco! Stay tuned for the papers! 🌲🪻⛰️
🏆 Congratulations to our new MS student, Danny Wehner, for receiving Lowe-Wilcox Graduate Fellowship at @sunyesf.bsky.social @sunyofficial.bsky.social for his field research on the effects of mycorrhiza 🍄 on tree seedling 🌱 establishment across montane-temperate forest ecotones. Well done Danny!
April 10, 2025 at 4:09 PM
🏆 Congratulations to our new MS student, Danny Wehner, for receiving Lowe-Wilcox Graduate Fellowship at @sunyesf.bsky.social @sunyofficial.bsky.social for his field research on the effects of mycorrhiza 🍄 on tree seedling 🌱 establishment across montane-temperate forest ecotones. Well done Danny!
👏Very proud of my PhD student, Joanna Lumbsden-Pinto, who successfully defended her dissertation today on "Patterns & Drivers of Vegetation Change in Pine Barren Ecosystems in the Northeastern United States" @sunyesf.bsky.social @sunyofficial.bsky.social! Congratulations Dr. Lumbsden-Pinto 🏆🌎🧪
April 4, 2025 at 8:56 PM
👏Very proud of my PhD student, Joanna Lumbsden-Pinto, who successfully defended her dissertation today on "Patterns & Drivers of Vegetation Change in Pine Barren Ecosystems in the Northeastern United States" @sunyesf.bsky.social @sunyofficial.bsky.social! Congratulations Dr. Lumbsden-Pinto 🏆🌎🧪
Back from teaching Tropical Ecology in Panama. Students @sunyesf.bsky.social explored lush lowland rainforests, cloud forests, Caribbean & Pacific coasts, mangroves, rivers, dry forests & savanna, & they examined how native Embera & Kuna communities coexist with their environment & global society.
March 17, 2025 at 9:48 PM
Back from teaching Tropical Ecology in Panama. Students @sunyesf.bsky.social explored lush lowland rainforests, cloud forests, Caribbean & Pacific coasts, mangroves, rivers, dry forests & savanna, & they examined how native Embera & Kuna communities coexist with their environment & global society.
I enjoyed giving a presentation on "Forest Ecosystem Management in a Changing Environment" today in the Forest Management Hot Topics series organized by Erie County Bureau of Forestry & CC Environment. Thanks for having me & for the interesting & insightful discussion! 🌎🧪 @sunyesf.bsky.social
February 12, 2025 at 7:11 PM
I enjoyed giving a presentation on "Forest Ecosystem Management in a Changing Environment" today in the Forest Management Hot Topics series organized by Erie County Bureau of Forestry & CC Environment. Thanks for having me & for the interesting & insightful discussion! 🌎🧪 @sunyesf.bsky.social
I really enjoyed giving this 👇 webinar on forest 🌳🌲 ecosystems on our changing planet 🌎🌐 earlier today for the U.S. Society for Ecological Economics in the seminar series titled Putting Ecology into Ecological Economics. Thanks for having me & for the great questions! @sunyesf.bsky.social
December 13, 2024 at 10:03 PM
I really enjoyed giving this 👇 webinar on forest 🌳🌲 ecosystems on our changing planet 🌎🌐 earlier today for the U.S. Society for Ecological Economics in the seminar series titled Putting Ecology into Ecological Economics. Thanks for having me & for the great questions! @sunyesf.bsky.social
Another great end of the semester mini conference in the Flowering Plants class @sunyesf.bsky.social. Kudos to grad students for their wonderful presentations on their independent projects. Cool plants & cool topics. Thanks also to the audience for inquisitive questions. Well done all!
December 7, 2024 at 12:11 AM
Another great end of the semester mini conference in the Flowering Plants class @sunyesf.bsky.social. Kudos to grad students for their wonderful presentations on their independent projects. Cool plants & cool topics. Thanks also to the audience for inquisitive questions. Well done all!
Nice end to the last week hosting my former PhD student now Assoc Prof Dr Alvarez Yepiz @ Sonora Institute of Technology & visiting fellow @ Harvard University! Excellent talk on #climate change in dry tropical #forests & fun lab reunion @sunyesf.bsky.social. So glad to see former grads succeed!🧪🌎
November 25, 2024 at 10:08 PM
Nice end to the last week hosting my former PhD student now Assoc Prof Dr Alvarez Yepiz @ Sonora Institute of Technology & visiting fellow @ Harvard University! Excellent talk on #climate change in dry tropical #forests & fun lab reunion @sunyesf.bsky.social. So glad to see former grads succeed!🧪🌎