糖心视频

Associate Professor

Department of Environmental Biology
459 Illick Hall

mdovciak@esf.edu
315-470-6459

Biosketch: Dr. Dovciak has been promoted to a full Professor starting September 1, 2025. He is also the 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 Vegetation Section's Chair, 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.

Dovciak Lab News:  and 

CV and Lab Homepage (somewhat out of date, sorry!)

Selected Courses Taught:

• Plant Ecology & Global Change 
• Flowering Plants: Diversity, Evolution & Systematics
• Tropical Ecology (Co-taught)
• Global Patterns of Forest Understory Diversity (Co-taught at Yale University & 糖心视频)
• 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. “” M. Dovciak (PI).
• National Science Foundation; $322,992; 2018-2023. “”. M. Dovciak (PI)

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

Selected 10 recent papers:

• Tourville JC**, Dovciak, M (2025). . Ecosystems 28, 50. doi.org/10.1007/s10021-025-00994-5.
• Gilvarg SC**, Leydet B, Dovciak M, Smith AMS, Miller DL, Luckhart S, Lashley MA, Vander Yacht AL (2025). , BioScience, doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biaf068.
• Zarfos MR**, Lawrence GB, Beier CM, Page BD, McDonnell TC, Sullivan TJ, Garrison-Johnston M, Dovciak M (2024). . Ecosystems 27, 1021–1039. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-024-00930-z
• Tourville JC**, Horton TR, Dovciak M (2024) . Ecological Monographs 94(4): e1634. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecm.1634
• Tourville J**, Publicover D, Dovciak M (2023) . Journal of Biogeography, 50, 1993–2007. DOI: 10.1111/jbi.14708
• Cortese AM**, Drake JE, Dovciak M, Cohen JB, Horton TR (2023) . Plant and Soil 493, 391–405. DOI: 10.1007/s11104-023-06237-7
• Finley D**, Dovciak M, Dean J (2023) . Biological Invasions 25, 2293-2307.
• Arias MG**, McGee G, Dovciak M (2023) . Biodiversity and Conservation 32:965–985.
• Berdugo MB**, Dovciak M, Kimmerer RW, Driscoll CT (2023) . Ecosystems 26, 909–923.
• Tourville J**, Wason J, Dovciak M (2022) . Journal of Ecology, doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.13993.

Selected 10 older high-impact papers:

• Wason JW**, Dovciak M (2017) . Global Change Biology, 23: 3335–3347.
• Alvarez-Yepiz JC**, Burquez A, Martinez-Yrizar A, Teece M, Yepez EA, Dovciak M (2017) . Oecologia 183: 607–618.
• Dovciak M, Brown J* (2014) . New Forests 45: 733–744.
• Frelich LE, Peterson RO, Dovciak M, Reich PB, Vucetich JA, Eisenhauer N (2012) . Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 367: 2955–2961.
• Halpern CB, Halaj J, Evans SA, Dovciak M (2012) . Ecol. Appl. 22: 2049–2064.
• Dovciak M, Halpern CB (2010) . Ecology Letters 13: 1300–1309.
• Dovciak M, Hrivnak R, Ujhazy K, Gomory D (2008) . Plant Ecology 194: 135-148.
• Dovciak M, Frelich LE, Reich PB (2005) . Ecological Monographs 75: 363–378.
• Dovciak M, Reich PB, Frelich LE (2003) . Can. J. For. Res. 33: 1892–1904.
• Dovciak M, Frelich LE, Reich PB (2001) . Journal of Ecology 89: 280–291.