We Span The Great Divide.
Macroecology is about big processes over big spaces, so naturally the ACME LAB spans both sides of the Canadian Rockies. Much of our research is rooted in the Rocky Mountains, wild boreal forests, and rolling prairie parklands of Alberta.
Macroecology is about big processes over big spaces, so naturally the ACME LAB spans both sides of the Canadian Rockies. Much of our research is rooted in the Rocky Mountains, wild boreal forests, and rolling prairie parklands of Alberta.
East Side: InnoTech Alberta
|
I am Senior Research Scientist (Wildlife Ecology) with the Ecosystem Management Team at Innotech Alberta. Formerly the Alberta Research Council, we are a Government of Alberta agency geared 100% to research and advisory, rather than research and teaching like Universities. We provide research to solve some of the most pressing challenges in Alberta and across Canada.
At ITA I work with scientists Drs. Brian Eaton, Shauna-Lee Chai, Jim Davies, and Marian Weber, as well as a team of technicians and support staff. We make applied research happen on topics spanning applied ecology, conservation ecology, restoration ecology, biodiversity monitoring, geosimulation and land-use decision frameworks, and environmental economics. The beauty of ITA is its position within government . We work closely with ecologists and biologists in industry, Alberta Energy regulator, and Alberta Environment and Parks, including the Parks, Fish & Wildlife, Science & Monitoring, and Policy & Planning Divisions. The science we produce has a direct pipeline into decision making. We help make a difference! |
West Side: University of Victoria
|
On the Pacific side of the Divide, the ACME LAB partners with UVIC's School of Environmental Studies. I am Adjunct Professor there, and co-supervise a team of graduate students. It is a fantastic partnership where we bring expertise from each side of the coastal divide to solve shared conservation problems. It also gets me out on the ocean, one of my great passions.
We collaborate with Dr. John Volpe, Dr. Eric Higgs, Dr. Brian Starzomski (Environmental Studies), and Dr. Brad Anholt (Biology Department) as student co-supervisors and research partners. Our team at UVIC is a hand-picked group of dynamic, top-flight students working on aspects of conservation macroecology such as carnivore ecology, ungulate ecology, invasive species, habitat fragmentation, landscape genetics, mammal and bird community dynamics, and spatial scale concepts in complex ecosystems. Check out their good work. |
UVIC Partners
|
Alina C. Fisher. Alina is Research Manager for UVIC'S School of Environmental Studies. She makes the wheels turn and the music play. An unsung hero if ever there was one. She's an ecologist, a Master of Communications, does all our social media, is a Project Management Professional, and a pro bellydancer to top it all off. Alina is also a Ph.D. student in the School of Environmental Studies, examining how landscape change in mountain environments over the last century has affected mammalian communities.
|
ACME Researchers
|
Sandra Frey, Master of Science (2018). Sandra is ACME Lab's Research Associate, helping to lead our many programs. Sandra was an NSERC Scholar who studied carnivore community ecology with ACME, investigating how landscape development alters species' spatiotemporal activity patterns. Her 1st MSC paper was one of RSEC's Top 20 most downloaded papers in 2018. Sandra is the UWSS's Project manager for the Urban Boreal Deer Research Project, providing logistics and deftly capturing deer wandering the wilds of Oak Bay, Victoria She also speaks several languages and sings like an angel, apparently...
|
|
Dr. Cat Sun, Postdoctoral Fellow, UVIC ACME Lab & UBC WildCo Lab. Cat studies the spatial patterns of wildlife population density, distribution, and dynamics, using noninvasive survey methods and hierarchical models. She is researching multi-species density estimation across a range of altered landscapes in BC and Alberta using camera trap data. Cat received her M.S. (2014) and PhD (2019) from Cornell University. In her spare time, she can be found lovingly harassing her two cats - but also loves hiking and wildlife watching and so is looking forward to catching glimpses of coastal wolves and spirit bears.
|
|
Nicole Boucher, Ph.D. student, NSERC Scholar. Nicole studies moose calf survival and population dynamics in central British Columbia. Previously, she conducted her M.Sc. research on spatial and temporal variation of stable isotopes in polar bears and ringed seals. She has diverse ecological interests, and has researched stress in elk, urban connectivity, bioacoustics (if you ever need a bird identified by song, she's your person) and more! In her spare time, she enjoys reading, drawing, hiking, board games and keeping up with her two energetic dogs.
|
|
Alexandra Francis, M.Sc. student, NSERC Scholar. Alex studies the effects of salvage logging from the Mountain Pine Beetle on moose behaviour in the interior of British Columbia. She presently calls the SE corner of the Yukon Territory home while working as a Regional Biologist for Yukon Government. In her spare time away from all things ungulate, you can find her hiking, biking, or skiing her way around the north.
|
|
Katie Baillie-David, M.Sc. student, UVic Graduate Fellow. Using camera traps, Katie is researching mammal community response to predator control in the boreal forest of northeastern Alberta. She has previously been involved in bee research in Ontario agroecosystems and carnivore research in Malawi. In her spare time, Katie enjoys photographing nature, listening to film scores, and keeping up with the latest memes.
|
|
Laura Eliuk, M.Sc. student, NSERC Scholar. Laura is interested in predator management and predator-prey dynamics in modified landscapes in Alberta. She has a broad interest in field ecology, and has recently worked two seasons on the Kluane Red Squirrel Project in the Yukon studying behavioural ecology and ecological physiology in red squirrels. Laura has also worked in resource conservation with Parks Canada, with wolves in Minnesota, and has banded songbirds in Manitoba and the Yukon. She is from Winnipeg, MB, where she did her BSc. Hons. in ecology and conducted thesis research on trematode parasites and how they alter the behaviour of their snail hosts. In her spare time, she enjoys hiking, picking wild edibles, and photographing critters and plants.
|
|
Macgregor Aubertin-Young, M.Sc student, NSERC Scholar. Macgregor is investigating mammal community responses to landscape modification in northeastern Alberta. He has previously studied and described new species of hummingbird-affiliated mites from Peru. He has also studied grass hybridization and repurposed a machine learning technique to facilitate morphological studies of hybridization, as well as worked as a field technician studying birds in the South Okanagan. Beyond research, he is most often outside doing naturalist things with binoculars at hand, writing poetry or searching for the best bakeries.
|
Alumni
|
Nicole Heim, Master of Science (2015), NSERC Scholar. An avid and terrifying climber, she strapped dead beaver to her back and hiked in blizzards to mountaintops to study wolverine distribution in the Alberta Rockies. Crazy. Also, 4 peer-reviewed publications and counting. She now works as a Park Ecologist for the Government of Alberta.
|
|
Dr. Frances Stewart, Doctor of Philosophy (2018), NSERC and UVIC Scholar, UVIC Post-doctoral Fellow, indulged her fascination with all things fisher (the animal), animal behaviour, landscape genetics in complex fragmented landscapes, and rocking a toque. A fantastic scientist and prolific writer, Frances is now a Post Doctoral Researcher at UBC and Natural Resources Canada - Pacific Forestry Centre.
|
|
Siobhan Darlington, Master of Science (2018), NSERC Scholar. Siobhan researched white-tailed deer habitat selection and movement in the northeast boreal forest of Alberta in response to climate and landscape change, and predation risk. She now works for Foothills Research Institute researching deer responses to forest harvested environments.
|
|
Gillian Chow-Fraser, Master of Science (2018), NSERC and UVIC Scholar. Gillian studied caribou calf predation in response to predation risk and oil and gas development in the boreal, and wolverine response to and changing competition conditions in the Rockies. She is now Boreal Program Manager for CPAWS Northern Alberta.
|
Dr. Joanna Burgar, UVic Post-Doctoral Fellow, moved back to government after working as a Post-Doctoral researcher. She tackled hierarchical Bayesian models to estimate density, to help identify effects of landscape change and inform management. She remains a collaborator in our Wildlife CAMERA project, a collaboration with other Universities, government, and industry.