Christopher W. Dick

Fields of study

Tropical biodiversity, molecular ecology, plant evolution

Research

My lab investigates evolutionary processes that underlie the rich diversity of tree species in tropical forests. My current work is focused on (1) the historical biogeography and community assembly of tropical forests, (2) fine scale spatial
genetic structure and gene flow, and (3) specimen-based molecular tools for biotic inventory of diverse tropical forests. The graduate students and post-docs in my lab are broadly interested in molecular ecology, and have worked on topics ranging from molecular systematics, chemical ecology, trophic structure, and plant-
herbivore interactions in temperate zone and tropical systems.

Select publications

2026

Medellín-Zabala, D., J. L. M. Charboneau, O. M. Vargas, S. A. Smith, D. J. P. Gonçalves, A. S. Chanderbali, D. E. Soltis, P. S. Soltis, C. W. Dick (2026) Assembling the Neotropical tree flora: Andean uplift and the historical biogeography of the Brazil nut family (Lecythidaceae). Journal of Biogeography 53:e70225.

2024

Chave, J., C. Pouchon, U. Suescun, S. Lavergne, C. W. Dick, O. M. Vargas*, M. Heuertz (2024). Evidence for a Miocene pulse of diversification of the Brazil nut family (Lecythidaceae) in tropical America. Botany Letters 171: 537-551.

Becker, A. L., A. A. Crowl, J. L. Luteyn, A. S. Chanderbali, W. S. Judd, P. S. Manos, P. S. Soltis, D. E. Soltis, S. A. Smith, D. J. P. Goncalves, C. W. Dick, W. N. Weaver, N. Cellinese, P. W. Fritsch. (2024) A global blueberry phylogeny: evolution, diversification, and biogeography of tribe Vaccinieae (Ericaceae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 201: 108202

Carruthers, T., D. J. Pereira Goncalves*, P. Li, A. Chanderbali, C. W. Dick, D. Larson*, D. Soltis, P. Soltis, W. Weaver, S. Smith. (2024) Repeated shifts out of tropical climates preceded by whole genome duplication. New Phytologist 244(6):2561-2575

Vargas*, O., D. A. Larson*, J. Batista, X. Cornejo, B. Garcia-Luize*, D. Medellín-Zabala*, M. Ribeiro, N. P. Smith, S. A. Smith, A. Vicentini, C. W. Dick (2024) Reclassification of the Bertholletia clade of the Brazil nut family, Lecythidaceae, based on a phylogenetic analysis of plastome and target sequence capture data. Harvard Papers in Botany Vol. 29, No. 1, 2024, pp. 159–179.

Bemmels, J., A. Pérez Castañeda, R. Valéncia, C. W. Dick. (2024) Patterns in the genetic structure of 49 lowland rainforest tree species distributed on opposite sides of the northern Andes. Biotropica 56 (2) e13303

2023

Delavaux, C., et al. (2023) Mycorrhizal feedbacks influence global forest structure and diversity. Nature Communications Biology 6: 1066

Johnson, K., et al. (2023) A global approach for natural history museum collections Science 379 (6638): 1192-1194

Larson*, D. A., A. S. Chanderbali, O. Maurin, D. J. P. Goncalves*, C. W. Dick, D. E. Soltis, P. S. Soltis, P. W. Fritsch, J. J. Clarkson, A. Grall, N. M. J. Davies, I. Larridon, I. A. 

Kikuchi, F. Forest, W. J. Baker, S. A. Smith, T. M. A. Utteridge (2023) Phylogenetics and global biogeography of Primulaceae based on high-throughput DNA sequence data. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 182: 107702 (online version)

2022

Milton*, T., P. Assunção, N. Cabello, S. Mori, A. A. de Oliveira, P. Souza*, A. Vicentini, C. W. Dick (2022) Biomass and demographic dynamics of the Brazil-nut family (Lecythidaceae) in a mature Central Amazon rain forest. Forest Ecology and Management 509: 120058

2021

Gonzalez-Akre, E., Piponiot, C., Lepore, M., Herrmann, V., Lutz, J. A., Baltzer, J. L., Dick, C. W., Gilbert, G. S., He, F., Heym, M., Huerta, A. I., Jansen, P. A., Johnson, D. J., Knapp, N., Král, K., Lin, D., Malhi, Y., McMahon, S. M., Myers, J. A., … Anderson-Teixeira, K. J. (2021). allodb: An R package for biomass estimation at globally distributed extratropical forest plots. Methods in Ecology and Evolution 13 (2): 330-338.

Larson*, D. A., O. M. Vargas*, A. Vicentini, C. W. Dick (2021) Admixture may be extensive among hyperdominant Amazon rainforest tree species. New Phytologist 232: 2520-2534.

Sedio B. E., J. Marko, M. J. Spasojevic, J. Myers, S. J. Wright, M. D. Person, C. Hamssika, J. H. Dwenger, M. L. Prechi, C. A López, D. N Allen, K. J Anderson-Teixeira, J. L. Baltzer, N. A. Bourg, B. T. Castillo, N. Day, E. Dewald-Wang, C. W. Dick, T. Y. James, J. Kueneman, J. Lamanna, James A. Lutz, I. Mcgregor, S. M. Mcmahon, G. G. Parker, J. D. Parker and J. Vandermeer (2021) Chemical similarity of co-occurring trees decreases with precipitation and temperature in North American forests. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 9 (317): DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2021.679638

Dick, C. W. (2021) Genomic perspectives on Amazon tree diversity Molecular Ecology 30 (5): 1108-1109. https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.15831

Davies, S. J. et al. (2021) ForestGEO: Understanding forest diversity and dynamics through a global observatory network. Biological Conservation https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2020.108907

Nazareno*, A. G., L. Knowles, C. W. Dick, L.G. Lohmann (2021) By animal, water, or wind: Can dispersal mode predict genetic connectivity in riverine plant species? Frontiers in Plant Science 12: 626405. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2021.626405