Faculty Profile
Martin Dovciak

Associate Professor

Department of Environmental Biology
459 Illick Hall

mdovciak@esf.edu
315-470-6459

Biosketch: Dr. Dovciak is an Associate Professor of Forest Ecology, Curriculum Coordinator for the Environmental Biology Major, and a National Science Foundation Mid-Career Advancement Awardee. He received his PhD from the University of Minnesota and post-doctoral training from the University of Washington, both in forest ecology, and his first degree, in forest engineering, from Technical University in Zvolen, Slovakia. He has held visiting appointments at the Yale School of the Environment, Brookhaven National Laboratory, and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), and he studied as an exchange student at Bangor University, UK, and Central European University in Budapest, Hungary. His current research focuses on responses of forest ecosystems and plant communities to various global change drivers and on ecological applications in forest ecosystem management. Dr. Dovciak has served the Ecological Society of America (ESA) from 2021 to 2023 as a Council member and the Chair of the Vegetation Section, and he currently serves as a Subject Matter Editor for Ecological Applications. 

Research Interests: Plant Ecology, Forest Ecosystems, Global Environmental Change, Biodiversity, Ecosystem Management and Restoration.

CV and Lab Homepage (somewhat out of date, sorry!)

Selected Courses Taught:

• Global Patterns of Forest Understory Diversity (Co-taught; offered at Yale University & ESF)
• Plant Ecology & Global Change
• Flowering Plants: Diversity, Evolution & Systematics
• Tropical Ecology (Co-taught)   
• Impacts of Deer on Forests Seminar (Co-taught)
• Natural Resource Management

Examples of Recent Grant Awards:

• Northeastern States Research Cooperative; $389,996; 2024-2027. “The effects of seed dispersal and seedling establishment limitations on climate-driven tree species range shifts in the northeastern U.S." M. Dovciak (PI), N. Kiel, L. Kenefic.
• Northeastern States Research Cooperative; $365,261; 2024-2027. “Using a functional trait approach to inform assisted migration for climate adaptation in the Northern Forest Region.” H. Asbjornsen (PI), J. Butnor, M. Vadeboncoeur, Jay Wason, M. Dovciak.
• USDA McIntire-Stennis Program; $245,158; 2023-2025. “Reversing mesophication and burning ticks: Prescribed fire’s role in a One Health approach to forest management in New York” A.L. Vander Yacht (PI), M. Dovciak, B.F. Leydet.
• National Science Foundation; $293,033; 2023-2025. “Data Science for Global Change -- Does Plant Diversity Imply Forest Resilience?” M. Dovciak (PI).
• National Science Foundation; $322,992; 2018-2023. “Linking Forest Regeneration, Plant Distributions, and Ecotone Dynamics in Changing Mountain Environments”. M. Dovciak (PI).
• USDA McIntire-Stennis Program; $61,784; 2018-2021. "Recent Changes and Future Trajectories of an Ecosystem at the Crossroads: Implications for Planning, Management, and Conservation of Long Island Pine Barrens". M. Dovciak (PI), T. Green, K. Schwager.

Selected Publications (* undergraduate, ** graduate, or *** postdoctoral mentee)

10 most recent papers:

• Zarfos MR**, Lawrence GB, Beier CM, Page BD, McDonnell TC, Sullivan TJ, Garrison-Johnston M, Dovciak M (2024). Environmental change drivers reduce sapling layer diversity in sugar maple-beech forests of eastern North America. Ecosystems (in press). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-024-00930-z
• Tourville JC**, Horton TR, Dovciak M (2024) Mycorrhizal fungi as critical biotic filters for tree seedling establishment during species range expansions. Ecological Monographs 94(4): e1634. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecm.1634
• Tourville J **, Publicover D, Dovciak M (2023) Forests on the move: tracking climate-related treeline changes in mountains of the northeastern United States. Journal of Biogeography, 50, 1993–2007. DOI: 10.1111/jbi.14708
• Cortese AM **, Drake JE, Dovciak M, Cohen JB, Horton TR (2023) Proximity to an old-growth forest edge and ectomycorrhizal tree islands enhance ectomycorrhizal fungal colonization of Betula lenta L. (black birch) seedlings in secondary forest soils. Plant and Soil 493, 391–405. DOI: 10.1007/s11104-023-06237-7
• Tourville JC **, Zarfos MR *, Lawrence GB, McDonnell TC, Sullivan TJ, Dovciak M (2023) Soil biotic and abiotic thresholds in sugar maple and American beech seedling establishment in forests of the northeastern United States. Plant and Soil 491, 387–400. DOI: 10.1007/s11104-023-06123-2.
• Finley D **, Dovciak M, Dean J (2023) A data driven method for prioritizing invasive species to aid policy and management. Biological Invasions 25, 2293-2307.
• Tourville J **, Dovciak M (2023) Small mammal granivory as a biotic filter for tree establishment beyond elevation range boundaries. Plant Ecology 224:435–447.
• Arias MG **, McGee G, Dovciak M (2023) Persistent effects of land-use history on myrmecochorous plant and epigeic ant assemblages across an ecoregional gradient in New York State. Biodiversity and Conservation 32:965–985.
• Berdugo MB **, Dovciak M, Kimmerer RW, Driscoll CT (2023) The roles of the moss layer in mediating tree seedling environmental stress, mercury exposure, and regeneration in high-elevation conifer forests. Ecosystems 26, 909–923.
• Tourville J**, Wason J, Dovciak M (2022) Canopy gaps facilitate upslope shifts in montane conifers but not in temperate deciduous trees in the Northeastern United States. Journal of Ecology, doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.13993.

10 most cited/impactful papers:

• Wason JW**, Dovciak M (2017) Tree demography suggests multiple directions and drivers for species range shifts in mountains of Northeastern United States. Global Change Biology, 23: 3335–3347.
• Alvarez-Yepiz JC**, Burquez A, Martinez-Yrizar A, Teece M, Yepez EA, Dovciak M (2017) Resource partitioning by evergreen and deciduous species in a tropical dry forest. Oecologia 183: 607–618.
• Dovciak M, Brown J* (2014) Secondary edge effects in regenerating forest landscapes: vegetation and microclimate patterns and their implications for management and conservation. New Forests 45: 733–744.
• Frelich LE, Peterson RO, Dovciak M, Reich PB, Vucetich JA, Eisenhauer N (2012) Trophic cascades, invasive species, and body-size hierarchies interactively modulate climate change responses of ecotonal temperate-boreal forest. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 367: 2955–2961.
• Halpern CB, Halaj J, Evans SA, Dovciak M (2012) Level and pattern of overstory retention interact to shape long-term responses of understories to timber harvest. Ecol. Appl. 22: 2049–2064.
• Dovciak M, Halpern CB (2010) Positive diversity-stability relationships in forest herb populations during four decades of community assembly. Ecology Letters 13: 1300–1309.
• Dovciak M, Hrivnak R, Ujhazy K, Gomory D (2008) Seed rain and environmental controls on invasion of Picea abies into grassland. Plant Ecology 194: 135-148.
• Dovciak M, Frelich LE, Reich PB (2005) Pathways in old-field succession to white pine: seed rain, shade, and climate effects. Ecological Monographs 75: 363–378.
• Dovciak M, Reich PB, Frelich LE (2003) Seed rain, safe sites, competing vegetation, and soil resources spatially structure white pine regeneration and recruitment. Can. J. For. Res. 33: 1892–1904.
• Dovciak M, Frelich LE, Reich PB (2001) Discordance in spatial patterns of white pine (Pinus strobus) size-classes in a patchy near-boreal forest. Journal of Ecology 89: 280–291.