College of Agriculture & Natural Resources Department of Forestry

Laboratory: Tropical Forest Ecology

Research Interests

Tropical Community, Ecosystem, and Physiological Ecology. My research combines data from traditional forest plots, ecophysiological measurements, and LiDAR remote sensing to study the combined effects of size structure, light limitation, and physiological diversity on tropical forest dynamics and ecosystem processes, including biosphere–atmosphere interactions.

Selected Publications

Costa, F.R., Schietti, J., Stark, S.C. and Smith, M.N., 2023. The other side of tropical forest drought: do shallow water table regions of Amazonia act as large‐scale hydrological refugia from drought?. New Phytologist, 237(3), pp.714-733.

Stark, S.C., Breshears, D.D., Aragón, S., Villegas, J.C., Law, D.J., Smith, M.N., Minor, D.M., de Assis, R.L., de Almeida, D.R.A., de Oliveira, G. and Saleska, S.R., 2020. Reframing tropical savannization: linking changes in canopy structure to energy balance alterations that impact climate. Ecosphere, 11(9), p.e03231. 

Smith, M.N., Stark, S.C., Taylor, T.C., Ferreira, M.L., de Oliveira, E., Restrepo‐Coupe, N., Chen, S., Woodcock, T., Dos Santos, D.B., Alves, L.F. and Figueira, M., 2019. Seasonal and drought‐related changes in leaf area profiles depend on height and light environment in an Amazon forest. New Phytologist, 222(3), pp.1284-1297.

Stark, S.C., Leitold, V., Wu, J.L., Hunter, M.O., de Castilho, C.V., Costa, F.R., McMahon, S.M., Parker, G.G., Shimabukuro, M.T., Lefsky, M.A. and Keller, M., 2012. Amazon forest carbon dynamics predicted by profiles of canopy leaf area and light environment. Ecology letters, 15(12), pp.1406-1414.

SC Stark, Leitold V, Wu J, Hunter MO, Lefsky MA, McMahon SM, Parker GG, Shimabukuro MT, Castilho CV, Schietti J, Shimabukuro YE, Costa FRC, Brandão DO, Woodcock TK, Higuchi N, Camargo PB, Oliveira RC, and Saleska SR. Amazon forest carbon dynamics predicted by profiles of canopy leaf area and light environment. Ecology Letters 15(12), 1406–1414.

ML Friesen, JL Sachs, SS Porter, EJ von Wettberg, SC Stark, and E Martinez-Romero. 2011. Microbially Mediated Plant Functional Traits. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics 42(1): 23–46.

SC Stark, LP Bentley, BJ Enquist. 2011. FORUM: Response to Coomes & Allen (2009) ‘Testing the metabolic scaling theory of tree growth’. Journal of Ecology. 99(3): 741–747.

JA Banta, SC Stark, MHH Stevens, TH Pendergast, A Baumert, WP Carson. Light reduction predicts widespread patterns of dominance between asters and goldenrods. 2008. Plant Ecology 199: 65-76.

BJ Enquist, AJ Kerkhoff, SC Stark, NG Swenson, MC McCarthy, and CA Price. 2007. A general integrative model for scaling plant growth, carbon flux, and functional trait spectra. Nature 449: 218-222.

BJ Enquist, and SC Stark. 2007. Follow Thompson’s map to turn biology from a science into a Science. Nature 446: 611-611.

SC Stark, DE Bunker, and WP Carson. 2006. Evaluating a null hypothesis of exotic plant diversity with exotic and native species-area relationships. Ecology Letters. 9: 136-141.