Publications

†Authors contributed equally; Denotes mentee

  1. Gora, E.M., I.R. McGregor, H.C. Muller-Landau, J.C. Burchfield, K.C. Cushman, V.E. Rubio, G.B. Mori, M.J.P. Sullivan, M.W. Chmielewski, and A. Esquivel-Muelbert. Storms are an important driver of change in tropical forests. Ecology Letters
  2. Gora, E.M., H.C. Muller-Landau, K.C. Cushman, J.H. Richards, P.M. Bitzer, J.C. Burchfield, and S.P. Yanoviak. 2025. How some tropical trees benefit from being struck by lightning: evidence for Dipteryx oleifera and other large‐statured trees. New Phytologist 246: 1554-1566. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.70062.
  3. Araujo, R.F., E.M. Gora, C.H.S. Celes, S.P. Yanoviak, and H.C. Muller-Landau. 2025. Quantifying patterns of lightning-caused canopy disturbances via integration of drone imagery and field surveys. Biotropica. Available Online.
  4. Lawhorn, K, J.H. Richards, E.M. Gora, J.C. Burchfield, P.M. Bitzer, C. Gutierrez, S.P. Yanoviak. 2025. Insect and fungal dynamics on lightning-damaged trees in a lowland tropical forest. Ecology 106: e4521. doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.4521
  5. Narváez, P., S.P. Yanoviak, P.M. Bitzer, J.C. Burchfield, and E.M. Gora. 2024. Effects of urbanization on cloud-to-ground lightning strike frequency: a global perspective. Proceedings of the Royal Society Interface 21: 20240257. doi: 10.1098/rsif.2024.0257
  6. Gora, E.M., D.M. DeFillipis, and S.A. Schnitzer. 2024. Patterns and inferred causes of liana mortality in a tropical forest. Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 291: 20240808. doi: rspb.2024.0808.
  7. Delavaux, C.S., T.W. Crowther, J.D. Bever, P. Weigelt, and E.M. Gora. 2024. Mutualisms weaken the latitudinal diversity gradient among oceanic islands. Nature 627: 335–339. doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07110-y
  8. Gora, E.M. Dead wood cycling on Barro Colorado Island: stocks, fluxes, and the process of decomposition. 2024. In The First 100 Years of Research on Barro Colorado Island: Plant and Ecosystem Science. Helene C. Muller-Landau and S. Joseph Wright, editors. Smithsonian Contributions to Botany No. XXX. Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press.
  9. Yanoviak, S.P., E.M. Gora, C. Gutierrez, J.C. Burchfield, and P.M. Bitzer. The ecological effects of lightning in a tropical forest. 2024. In The First 100 Years of Research on Barro Colorado Island: Plant and Ecosystem Science. Helene C. Muller-Landau and S. Joseph Wright, editors. Smithsonian Contributions to Botany No. XXX. Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press.
  10. Adams, B.J., E.M. Gora, M.C. Donaldson-Matasci, E.J.H. Robinson, and S. Powell. 2023. Competition and habitat availability interact to structure arboreal ant communities across scales of ecological organization. Proc. Roy. Soc. B. 290:20231290.
  11. Barrera-Bello, Á.M., J.M. Lucas, and E.M. Gora. 2023. Suspended sections within downed deadwood are drier, have altered decomposer communities, and slower decomposition. Ecosystems. doi: 10.1007/s10021-023-00874-w
  12. Gora, E.M., S.A. Schnitzer, P.M. Bitzer, J.C. Burchfield, C. Gutierrez, and S.P. Yanoviak. Lianas increase lightning-caused disturbance severity in a tropical forest. 2023. New Phytologist. 238: 1865-1875.
  13. Richards, J.H., E.M. Gora, C. Gutierrez, J.C. Burchfield, P.M. Bitzer, and S.P. Yanoviak. 2022. Tropical tree species differ in damage and mortality from lightning. Nature Plants. 8: 1007–1013. doi: 10.1038/s41477-022-01230-x
  14. Gora, E.M., P.M. Bitzer, J.C. Burchfield, C. Gutierrez, and S.P. Yanoviak. 2021. The contributions of lightning to biomass turnover, gap formation, and plant mortality in a tropical forest. Ecology. 102: e03541. doi: 10.1002/ecy.3541
  15. Gora†, E.M., and A. Esquivel-Muelbert†. 2021. Implications of size-dependent tree mortality on tropical forest carbon dynamics. Nature Plants. 7: 384–391. doi: 10.1038/s41477-021-00879-0
  16. Gora, E.M., J.C. Burchfield, H.C. Muller-Landau, P.M. Bitzer, and S.P. Yanoviak. 2020. Pantropical geography of lightning-caused disturbance and its implications for tropical forests. Global Change Biology. 26: 5017– 5026. doi: 10.1111/gcb.15227
  17. Gora, E.M., H.C. Muller-Landau, P.M. Bitzer, J.C. Burchfield, S.P. Hubbell, and S.P. Yanoviak. 2020. A mechanistic and empirically supported lightning risk model for forest trees. Journal of Ecology. 108: 1956– 1966. doi: 10.1111/1365-2745.13404
    –Harper Prize finalist for best paper by an early career scientist
  18. Gora, E.M, and S.P. Yanoviak. 2020. Lightning-caused disturbance in the Peruvian Amazon. Biotropica. 52: 813-817. doi: 10.1111/btp.12826
  19. Parlato, B.P., E.M. Gora, and S.P. Yanoviak. 2020. Lightning damage facilitates beetle colonization of tropical trees. Annals of the Entomological Society of America. saaa015. doi: 10.1093/aesa/saaa015
  20. Yanoviak†, S.Y., E.M. Gora†, P.M. Bitzer, J.C. Burchfield, H.C. Muller-Landau, M. Detto, S. Paton, and S.P. Hubbell. 2020. Lightning is a major cause of large tree mortality in a neotropical forest. New Phytologist. 225: 1936-1944. doi: 10.1111/nph.16260 (co-first author)
  21. Lucas, J.M., E.M. Gora, A. Salzberg, and M. Kaspari. 2019. Antibiotics as chemical warfare across multiple taxonomic domains and trophic levels. Proc. Roy. Soc. B. 286: 20191536. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2019.1536 (Cover)
  22. Gora, E.M., and J.M. Lucas. 2019. Dispersal and nutrient limitations of decomposition above the forest floor: evidence from experimental manipulations of epiphytes and macronutrients. Functional Ecology. 33: 2417-2429. doi: 10.1111/1365-2435.13440
  23. Adams, B.J., Gora, E.M., and S.P. Yanoviak. 2019. Do lianas shape ant communities in an early successional tropical forest? Biotropica. 51: 885-893. doi: 10.1111/btp.12709
  24. Gora, E.M., J.M. Lucas, and S.P. Yanoviak. 2019. Microbial composition and decomposition rates vary with microclimate from the ground to the canopy in a tropical forest. Ecosystems. 22(6): 1206-1219. doi: 10.1007/s10021-019-00359-9 (Cover)
  25. Gora, E.M., R.C. Kneale, M. Larjavaara, and H.C. Muller-Landau. 2019. Dead wood necromass in a moist tropical forest: Stocks, fluxes, and spatiotemporal variability. Ecosystems. 22(6): 1189-1205. doi: 10.1007/s10021-019-00341-5
  26. Gripshover, N., S.P. Yanoviak, and E.M. Gora. 2018. A functional comparison of swimming behavior in two temperate forest ants (Camponotus pennsylvanicus and Formica subsericea) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Annals of the Entomological Society of America 111(6): 319-325. doi: 10.1093/aesa/say026.
  27. Gora, E.M., E.J. Sayer, B.L. Turner, and E.V.J. Tanner. 2018. Decomposition of coarse woody debris in a long-term litter manipulation experiment: a focus on nutrient availability. Functional Ecology 32(4): 1128-1138. doi: 10.1111/1365-2435.13047.
  28. Gora, E.M., P.M. Bitzer, J.C. Burchfield, S.A. Schnitzer, and S.P. Yanoviak. 2017. Effects of lightning on trees: a predictive model based on in situ electrical resistivity. Ecology and Evolution 7: 8523–8534. doi: 10.1002/ece3.3347.
  29. Lucas, J.M., E.M. Gora, and A. Alonso. 2017. A view of the global conservation job market and how to succeed in it. Conservation Biology 31(6): 1223-1231. doi: 10.1111/cobi.12949.
  30. Yanoviak, S.P., E.M. Gora, J.M. Burchfield, P.M. Bitzer, and M. Detto. 2017. Quantification and identification of lightning damage in tropical forests. Ecology and Evolution 7(14): 5111-5122. doi: 10.1002/ece3.3095.
  31. Gora, E.M., N. Gripshover, and S.P. Yanoviak. 2016. Orientation at the water surface by the carpenter ant Camponotus pennsylvanicus (De Geer, 1773) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Myrmecological News 23: 33-39. doi: 10.25849/myrmecol.news_023:033
  32. Gora, E.M. and S.P. Yanoviak. 2015. Electrical properties of temperate forest trees: a review and quantitative comparison with vines. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 45(3): 236-245, doi: 10.1139/cjfr-2014-0380.
  33. Yanoviak, S.P., E.M. Gora, J. Fredley, P.M. Bitzer, R.M. Muzika, and W.P. Carson. 2015. Direct effects of lightning in temperate forests: a review and preliminary survey in a hemlock-hardwood forest of the northern United States. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 45(10): 1258-1268. doi: 10.1139/cjfr-2015-0081.
  34. Gora, E.M., L.L. Battaglia, H. Schumacher, and W.P. Carson. 2014. Patterns of coarse woody debris volume among 18 late-successional and mature forest stands in Pennsylvania. Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society 141(2): 151-160. doi: 10.3159/TORREY-D-13-00066.1.