A complete list of my publications may be found here.  
Please contact me for a pdf of publications not immediately accessible on that list: mmetz  ' at '  lclark  ' dot '  edu

Maintenance of Tropical forest Diversity
Seedling Dynamics

Many of the most prominent hypotheses about the maintenance of tropical forest diversity describe processes that occur early in a plant’s life history. To understand the role that seedling dynamics play in determining forest composition, I have conducted detailed monitoring of regeneration within the long-term forest dynamics plot in the hyper-diverse Yasuní National Park, Ecuador since 2002. In this research, I ask how the abiotic environment, biotic interactions, and spatiotemporal variability influence seedling dynamics and the consequences for forest diversity.
  • Metz, M. R. 2012. Does habitat specialization by seedlings contribute to the high diversity of a lowland rainforest? Journal of Ecology.100(4):969-979. abstract
  • Queenborough, S. A., M. R. Metz, T. Wiegand, and R. Valencia. 2012. Palms, peccaries and perturbations: widespread effects of small-scale disturbances in tropical forests. BMC Ecology. 12:3. pdf
  • Metz, M. R., W. P. Sousa, and L. R. Valencia. 2010. Community-wide, density-dependent seedling mortality promotes species coexistence in a highly diverse Amazonian rainforest. Ecology. 91(12):375-3685. abstract
  • Metz, M. R., L. S. Comita, Y. Chen, N. Norden, R. Condit, S. P. Hubbell, I. Sun, N. Supardi B. M. N., and S. J. Wright. 2008. Temporal and spatial variability in seedling dynamics: a cross-site comparison in four lowland tropical forests. Journal of Tropical Ecology. 24(1): 9-18. abstract

Habitat Specialization and Amazonian diversity

I have been collaborating with Paul Fine and colleagues to examine the role of environmental gradients and biotic interactions in the evolution of species diversity in Amazonian forests.  This work has focused on the steep habitat differences experienced across forests of different soil types (white sand vs. clay or brown sand).  Specialization to different soil types has evolved independently multiple times in plant lineages.  The structural, compositional, and productivity differences among these habitat types also lead to high turnover in herbivore and bird faunas.
  • Lokvam, J., M. R. Metz, G. R. Takeoka, L. Nguyen, and P. V. A. Fine. 2015. Habitat-specific divergence of procyanidins in Protium subserratum (Burseraceae). Chemoecology. 25(6):293-302. abstract
  • Fine, P. V. A., M. R. Metz, J. Lokvam, I. Mesones, J. M. Ayarza Zuñiga, G. P. A. Lamarre, M. Vasquez Pilco, and C. Baraloto. 2013. Insect herbivores, chemical innovation and the evolution of habitat specialization in Amazonian trees. Ecology. 94(8):1764:1775. abstract
  • Álvarez Alonso, J., M. R. Metz, and P. V. A. Fine.  2013. Habitat specialization by birds in western Amazonian white-sand forests.  Biotropica. 45(3):365-372. abstract

Plant Functional Traits

In several collaborative projects, I am investigating how differences among species in functional traits influence forest diversity and dynamics.
  • Queenborough, S. A., M. R. Metz, L. R. Valencia, and S. J. Wright. 2013. Demographic consequences of chromatic leaf defence in tropical tree communities - do red young leaves increase growth and survival? Annals of Botany. 112(4):677-684. abstract
  • Kraft, N. J. B*, M. R. Metz*, R. S. Condit, and J. Chave. 2010. The relationship between wood density and mortality in a global tropical forest dataset. New Phytologist. 188(4):1124-1136. abstract

Long-term Variation in Reproduction and recruitment

How do fruiting, flowering and seedling dynamics vary among years?  Are there signals of directional changes related to global change?  Together with Nancy Garwood (Southern Illinois University), Helene Muller-Landau (STRI), Renato Valencia (PUCE, Ecuador), Joe Wright (STRI) and Jess Zimmerman (University of Puerto Rico), we are amassing long-term datasets of plant reproduction and seedling recruitment across sites in Puerto Rico, Panama, and Ecuador, which differ in seasonality, diversity, and disturbance regime.  The same methods are used at each of these sites and at several other sites that are part of the Center for Tropical Forest Science at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.  More on the project and our findings is available at our collaboration's website.
  • Metz, M. R., L. S. Comita, Y. Chen, N. Norden, R. Condit, S. P. Hubbell, I. Sun, N. Supardi B. M. N., and S. J. Wright. 2008. Temporal and spatial variability in seedling dynamics: a cross-site comparison in four lowland tropical forests. Journal of Tropical Ecology. 24(1): 9-18. abstract

Pathogen-mediated changes to diversity 
Oomycetes and regeneration dynamics in old-growth Forests

In southwestern Washington, my most recent research project, funded by NSF’s “Dimensions of Biodiversity” program, examines how pathogens influence forest regeneration and diversity in their native range in an old-growth Pacific Northwest forest where the species diversity is more amenable to manipulative experiments than in the tropics.​

Ecology of AN Emerging Infectious Disease
Pathogen-Mediated changes to forest diversity

Coastal California forests have experienced extensive mortality from Phytophthora ramorum, the causal agent of sudden oak death (SOD).  This mortality is concentrated in a few key hosts, leading to long-term transformations of forest diversity and dynamics. 
  • Metz, M. R., K. M. Frangioso, A. C. Wickland, R. K. Meentemeyer, and D. M. Rizzo. 2012. An emergent disease causes directional changes in forest species composition in coastal California. Ecosphere. 3(10):article86. open access pdf
  • ​Kozanitas, M., M. R. Metz, T. W. Osmundson, M. Socorro Serrano, and M. Garbelotto. 2022. The epidemiology of Sudden Oak Death disease caused by Phytophthora ramorum in a mixed bay laurel-oak woodland provides important clues for disease management. Pathogens. 11(250). abstract

Disturbance Interactions

SOD is a novel biotic disturbance in a system shaped by several historically occurring disturbances such as wildfire. The addition of much disease-killed woody material impacts fire severity and forest recovery and the interaction of these two disturbances leads to cascading effects on other species in the forests.
  • Cobb, R. C. and M. R. Metz. 2017. Tree diseases as a cause and consequence of interacting forest disturbances. Forests. 8:art147. pdf
  • Johnstone, J. F., C. D. Allen, J. F. Franklin, L. E. Frelich, B. J. Harvey, P. E. Higuera, M. C. Mack, R. K. Meentemeyer, M. R. Metz, G. L. W. Perry, T. Schoennagel, and M. G. Turner. 2016. Changing disturbance regimes, climate warming, and forest resilience. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. 14:369-378. abstract
  • Beh, M. M., M. R. Metz, S. J. Seybold, and D. M. Rizzo. 2014. The novel interaction between Phytophthora ramorum and wildfire elicits elevated ambrosia beetle landing rates on tanoak, Notholithocarpus densiflorus. Forest Ecology and Management. 318:21-33. abstract
  • Metz, M. R., J. M. Varner, K. M. Frangioso, R. K. Meentemeyer, and D. M. Rizzo. 2013. Unexpected redwood mortality from synergies between wildfire and an emerging infectious disease. Ecology. 94(10):2152-2159. pdf  Featured in Conservation Magazine’s Conservation This Week and  NSF’s Discovery series.
  • Beh, M. M., M. R. Metz, K. M. Frangioso and D. M. Rizzo.  2012. The key host for an invasive forest pathogen also facilitates the pathogen’s survival of wildfire in California forests. New Phytologist. 196(4):1145-1154. abstract
  • Metz, M. R., K. M. Frangioso, R. K. Meentemeyer and D. M. Rizzo. 2011. Interacting disturbances: Wildfire severity affected by stage of forest disease invasion. Ecological Applications. 21(2):313-320. pdf