His research focuses on forests and the carbon cycle, including forest productivity, changes in tree physiology and ecosystem processes with disturbance and recovery, carbon allocation, the effects of global change, plant respiration, ecosystem respiration, soil carbon and nitrogen interactions, decomposition of soil carbon, and coordination of carbon, water, and nutrient cycles. Mike has led or participated in field research studies in the US (Colorado, Wyoming, Hawaii, New Mexico), Costa Rica, Canada, Brazil, New Zealand, and Australia. He led the first comparison of forest ecosystem process models as part SCOPE Project “Global Change: Effects on coniferous forests and grasslands”. Mike also serves as an editor for Tree Physiology, is on the editorial review board of Plant, Cell and Environment, and is chair of the International Union of Forestry Research Organization’s working group on Canopy Processes.