Current Lab Members

	Person	Position	Research Focus
	JC Cahill	Like all academics, mostly seated.	There are so many questions to ask, I don't see the point in asking boring ones. So, I like to study whatever sounds fun and interesting. Currently: Plant behaviour, evolutionary biology, biocomplexity, community ecology, pollination biology, climate change, tri-trophic interactions, ecological genetics, competition.
	Justine Karst	Killiam Postdoctoral Fellow/Research Associate	My research investigates to what extent mycorrhizal interactions govern plant growth and community structure.  Can we understand how plants grow, where they occur and with which species they grow alongside in the absence of mycorrhizas? How important are mycorrhizas versus other ecological factors to plants? I approach these questions using a variety of empirical and analytical tools.
	Jon Bennett	PhD Candidate	I am interested in how the environment modifies interactions between plants and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi.  Specifically I am interested in the relative influence of the environment compared to which plants and fungi are involved.   I am also interested in how differences in these interactions affect other plant associated interactions such as those between plants and their pollinators.
	Samson Nyanumba	PhD Candidate	Chemical interactions among plants in a changing world.
	Tan Bao	PhD Candidate	Ecological genetics; Co-supervised with Mark Dale.
	Shannon White	PhD Candidate	I use our lab's strong background in theoretical ecology to understand anthropogenic effects on plant communities. My PhD thesis focuses on the interactive effects of climate change and grazing on native prairie in Western Canada, investigating responses from underlying community dynamics to implications for range production. I am also working on a number of collaborations, including using novel analytical tools to understand species invasion; Co-supervised with Edward Bork
	Stephen Mayor	PhD Candidate	I study broad scale community structure and assembly of boreal vascular plants and their diversity in response to anthropogenic disturbances.   I am currently investigating: Intermediate disturbance hypothesis, scales at which human disturbance impacts species diversity, relative roles of environmental filtering, competition, and dispersal on plant communities in disturbed vs intact landscapes, phylogenetic and phenotypic trait conservatism
	Gregory Pec	soon to be PhD Provisional Candidate	Common mycorrhizal networks, plant communities, and mountain pine beetle.
	Pamela Belter	MSc Student	In general I am interested in plant behaviour. My MSc thesis investigates species differences in belowground behaviours and how these behaviours are correlated to form root foraging syndromes. I aim to use these foraging syndromes to explain patterns of species distribution in the field.
	Amelie Roberto-Charron	Undergraduate	Plant-fungal interactions: Impacts of soil pH
	Gwen Roy	Undergraduate	Fitness consequences of leaf closure in the sensitive plant, Mimosa pudica
	Megan Maloney & Carina Kolenosky	Undergraduates	Does Mimosa display systemic or localized responses to disturbance?
	Kyle Knysh & Samantha Dunbar	Undergraduates	Impacts of an invasive earthworm on seed germination

Past Lab Members

Graduate Students

Gordon McNickle (PhD 2011) - PDF with Joel Brown, University of Illinois - Chicago

Behnaz Attaein (PhD 2009) - Professor, Iran

Eric Lamb (PhD 2007) - Assistant Professor, University of Saskatcewan

Steve Kembel (PhD 2007) - Research Associate, University of Oregon

Nat Cleavitt (Ph.D 2000) - Cornell University

 

Michael Clark (MSc 2010) - Entrepreneur, ecological restoration

Bryon Shore (MSc 2010) - Environmental consultant

Matthew Mitchell (M.Sc. 2006) - PhD student, McGill

Melissa Brown (M.Sc. 2004) - Consulting in Crow's Nest Pass

Malcolm Coupe (M.Sc. 2003) - Teaching in Nunavit

 

 

Undergraduate Students:

Independent Research (where did they go right after undergrad?)

Agnieszka Kotowska (Graduate student Guelph); Tara Steigletz (Graduate student UBC); Gerald Singh (Graduate student UBC); Glen Smith (Telus); Jocelyn Stacey (Law School, UCalgary); Nadeesha Fernando (Medical School, UA), Sarah Pinto (Graduate School, Guelph) Josh Haag (Graduate school, UMichagan); Terra Birkigt (Graduate school); Maggie Czan; Colleen Stevens; Laura Chittick; Jim Johanssen;

 

Technicians

Tianna Magnas, Katie Williams, Barret Jackson, Amanda Doyle, Jocelyn Stacey, Steve Roehr, Yumi Sato, Rosalie Cress, Kelley Dunfield, Danielle Gabruck, Dan Skyrpan, Doug Pouchel, Alex Rutherford, Jen Lusk, Oliver Barker, Christina Colenutt, Inga Hiiesalu, Jordan Hulecki, Monica Kohler, Meng Luo (Dennis), Kerilynn Mercier, Jon Misskey, Jon Nachtigall, Kylie Pawluk, Melanie Patchell, Troy Radtke, Megan Rice

 

Visiting Scientists:

Anne Wysgaard

Ping Wang (Visiting scholar 2007-2008) - Assistant Prof, State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Wetland Ecology and Vegetation Restoration, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Northeast Normal University, Changchun, China

Karita Kuikka (Visiting PhD)

 

High School Students:

Sylvia Ma, Mimmy Kamalashri, Lucia Daisog, Mary Hudson, Peter Roland