Welcome to the Cahill Lab of Experimental Plant Ecology

From Left to Right:  Bryon Shore, Tan Bao, Jon Bennett, Mike Clark, JC Cahill, Shifty McGee, Shannon White, and Samson Nyanumba

Research in the lab addresses a diversity of fundamental questions in plant ecology. We take a broad approach to research, with interest in plant behavioural ecology, competition, plant-pollinator interactions, insect and mammalian herbivory, evolutionary and functional ecology, climate change, and mychorrhizae.  Here is a word cloud designed from the words in the abstracts of papers the lab has published:   We generally use experimental approaches in both natural communities (e.g. native grasslands), and mesocosms (e.g. growth rooms and greenhouses) to test questions at the levels of the individual, population, and community.  We incorporate techniques of molecular ecology into many of our studies.

Interested in Joining the Lab?

The lab is currently full, and thus no specific positions are available. However, I am always interested in hearing from outstanding candidates.

Interested postdoctoral researchers:  There are funding opportunities available through the University of Alberta to Canadian and International applicants, in addition to NSERC PDF and NSF Postdoctoral Awards. 

Interested graduate students:  At this time I am only able to consider applicants who have, or are likely to obtain, their own external funding (e.g. NSERC).   The department also offers large cash supplements to NSERC PGS-M and PGS-D award holders who enrol for graduate studies in our department.

My lab is a dynamic environment in which students are given the opportunity to explore personal interests, while also expected to contribute to a positive lab culture.  Students regularly collaborate on research projects external to their theses, and have the opportunity to learn a diversity of ideas and techniques.  My personal philosophy is to bring smart people into the lab, help them a bit, but mostly try to stay out of their way.  If you are independent, ambitious, and have (or are likely to secure) external funding, I encourage you to contact me.

Interested undergraduate students:  I greatly enjoy the opportunity to work with undergraduate students.  I have hosted dozens of 498 and 499 projects, routinely have summer NSERC USRA students in the lab, and regularly hire summer assistants.  I believe that research students should do research, and not simply wash dishes.  As a result, I have a strong track record of undergraduate publications in journals such as Ecology, Journal of Ecology, and Functional Ecology.  If you are interested in DOING research as an undergraduate, feel free to contact me.

Lab News

Evelyn Jensen's, undergraduate research result in her being first author on a paper in The American Naturalist!

JC's second edition of Ecology: Concepts and Applications (Canadian Edition) has just been published

Tan Bao Received one of the top teaching awards on campus

Justine Karst is leading a new project investigating linkages among mountain pine beetles, trees, and common mycorrhizal networks - recently funded with an NSERC Strategic Grant

Stephen Mayor has joined the lab as a PhD student

Gord McNickle  has defended his thesis, and is now an NSERC PDF with Joel Brown.  Congrats!

Shannon White passed her candidacy exam! 

JC has been 'accelerated', by winning an NSERC Discovery Grant Accelerator Supplement in the 2009 competition!  Yikes, time for more coffee!

Recent Publications from the lab

Molles MC & Cahill JF. 2011. Ecology: Concepts and Applications, Canadian 2nd Edition. McGraw-Hill Ryerson.

Jensen EL, Dill LM, Jr JFC. 2011. Applying Behavioral-Ecological Theory to Plant Defense: Light-Dependent Movement in Mimosa pudica Suggests a Trade-Off between Predation Risk and Energetic Reward. The American Naturalist 177: 377-81

Taggart JM, Cahill JF, McNickle GG, Hall JC. 2011. Molecular identification of roots from a grassland community using size differences in fluorescently labelled PCR amplicons of three cpDNA regions. Molecular Ecology Resources 11: 185-95

Kotowska AM, Cahill JF, Keddie BA. 2010. Plant genetic diversity yields increased plant productivity and herbivore performance. Journal of Ecology 98: 237-45

Cahill JF, McNickle GG, Haag JJ, Lamb EG, Nyanumba SM, Clair CCS. 2010. Plants integrate information about nutrients and neighbors. Science 328: 1657-57

Wang P, Stieglitz T, Zhou DW, Cahill JF. 2010. Are competitive effect and response two sides of the same coin, or fundamentally different? Functional Ecology 24: 196-207

McInenly LE, Merrill EH, Cahill JF, Juma NG. 2010. Festuca campestris alters root morphology and growth in response to simulated grazing and nitrogen form. Functional Ecology 24: 283-92

Coupe MD, Stacey JN, Cahill JF. 2009. Limited effects of above- and belowground insects on community structure and function in a species-rich grassland. Journal of Vegetation Science 20: 121-29

Lamb EG, Kembel SW, Cahill JF. 2009. Shoot, but not root, competition reduces community diversity in experimental mesocosms. Journal of Ecology 97: 155-63

McNickle GG, Cahill JF. 2009. Plant root growth and the marginal value theorem. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 106: 4747-51

McNickle GG, St Clair CC, Cahill JF. 2009. Focusing the metaphor: plant root foraging behaviour. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 24: 419-26

Mitchell MGE, Cahill JF, Hik DS. 2009. Plant interactions are unimportant in a subarctic-alpine plant community. Ecology 90: 2360-67

Reid, T.A., A. Navabi, J.F. Cahill, Jr., D. Salmon, and D. Spaner.  2009.  A genetic analysis of weed competitive ability in spring wheat.  Canadian Journal of Plant Science 89:591-599.