Research
I strive to conduct solutions-oriented research focused on identifying sustainable and equitable pathways to conserve and enhance biodiversity and ecosystem services in freshwater landscapes.
To foster a more sustainable and equitable future I believe we need good information about how the social-ecological systems we live in function, as well as drive to make positive changes to those systems. Research is a powerful tool to generate such information. This is why I am deeply committed to conducting scientific research, and using my findings to help create momentum to foster positive change that benefits a diversity of people, species, and places.
Broadly, my research is focused on better understanding interactions between people and the incredible ecosystems supported by Earth - including the wide array of species that inhabit these systems. I am interested in how different types of actions we humans take affect the Earth's ecosystems, and how we too are affected by the ecosystems we live in. Specifically, I work to help uncover all the diverse ways that different types of people, living in different places, benefit from the Earth's ecosystems, and which actions we can collectively take to help sustainably and equitably protect as many of those benefits as possible, all the while conserving biodiversity. I do this work in all kinds places, but with a special interest in Canada's freshwater ecosystems, as they are my home and I care deeply about the conservation of these landscapes and the ecosystem services and biodiversity they support.
I believe that this type of research is important because ecosystems provide people with numerous benefits that are essential for our well-being and that of other species. However, if we take those benefits for granted they may not be around forever. Often referred to as "ecosystem services", the benefits provided to people by ecosystems range from the provision of clean drinking water, to the availability of areas to recreate in or experience a sense of place in, to the role ecosystems play regulating numerous processes upon which we all rely, such as the pollination of agricultural crops. As human population increases demand for these benefits is also increasing. Yet, many of these benefits are already threatened, inequitably distributed, or unsustainably delivered. Action must therefore be taken to help secure their long term sustainable and equitable provision. Research investigating the outcomes of current landscape management strategies, as well as research that assesses and develops new approaches to social-ecological systems management is critical to help identify pathways forward for sustainable and equitable service provision and biodiversity conservation. I actively contribute to this body of research through the following three main research themes:
Broadly, my research is focused on better understanding interactions between people and the incredible ecosystems supported by Earth - including the wide array of species that inhabit these systems. I am interested in how different types of actions we humans take affect the Earth's ecosystems, and how we too are affected by the ecosystems we live in. Specifically, I work to help uncover all the diverse ways that different types of people, living in different places, benefit from the Earth's ecosystems, and which actions we can collectively take to help sustainably and equitably protect as many of those benefits as possible, all the while conserving biodiversity. I do this work in all kinds places, but with a special interest in Canada's freshwater ecosystems, as they are my home and I care deeply about the conservation of these landscapes and the ecosystem services and biodiversity they support.
I believe that this type of research is important because ecosystems provide people with numerous benefits that are essential for our well-being and that of other species. However, if we take those benefits for granted they may not be around forever. Often referred to as "ecosystem services", the benefits provided to people by ecosystems range from the provision of clean drinking water, to the availability of areas to recreate in or experience a sense of place in, to the role ecosystems play regulating numerous processes upon which we all rely, such as the pollination of agricultural crops. As human population increases demand for these benefits is also increasing. Yet, many of these benefits are already threatened, inequitably distributed, or unsustainably delivered. Action must therefore be taken to help secure their long term sustainable and equitable provision. Research investigating the outcomes of current landscape management strategies, as well as research that assesses and develops new approaches to social-ecological systems management is critical to help identify pathways forward for sustainable and equitable service provision and biodiversity conservation. I actively contribute to this body of research through the following three main research themes:
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Documenting the effects of existing landscape management practices on freshwater biodiversity and ecosystem service provision. Using a combination of existing and field-based data my research investigates how anthropogenic development (e.g. forestry, agriculture, industry and associated infrastructure) affects watershed biodiversity and ecosystem services across broad landscapes. I am also interested the effects of actions taken to help conserve biodiversity and ecosystem services (e.g. assigning protection status to a particular region, implementing policies to reduce environmental impacts). The findings from this research help shed light on trade-offs and synergies associated to current management practices, and what actions can be taken to minimize trade-offs, all the while promoting sustainable and equitable ecosystem service provision, and biodiversity conservation.
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Working with stakeholders and community members to facilitate the co-development of locally relevant environmental management strategies. Working with inter-disciplinary teams to combine mixed methodologies inspired from social and ecological sciences, I collaboratively conduct research that engages stakeholders and community members to better understand how they benefit from the landscapes they live in, and what actions can be taken to improve those benefits, all the while conserving biodiversity. The findings from this research can help identify positive pathways toward more sustainable and equitable futures. To ensure the relevance of these research findings, in this type of project, I work with communities from start to finish to determine locally relevant objectives, participants, methods, and outputs. If this kind of work is of interest to you or an organization you are working with, don't hesitate to reach out!
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Developing immersive multi-disciplinary educational approaches to connect diverse people to social-ecological systems management. For research about social-ecological systems to have a positive impact, people need to care about it. Immersive experiential educational experiences can help achieve that goal, but there is still much work to do in developing and implementing approaches that help connect youth to research in meaningful ways that are adapted to the specific contexts those youth live in. Working collaboratively with the Matawa Education and Care Centre, based out of Thunder Bay, I help facilitate research on freshwater ecosystems in the territories of Matawa First Nations. This research focuses on working with Matawa youth to collect meaningful social-ecological data for collaborating Matawa First Nations, all the while developing effective land-based approaches to teach environmental sciences. The approaches rely on a combination of Indigenous Ecological Knowledge and Western scientific knowledge and have strong potential to help inform science-education strategies in other contexts, including University education.
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If you'd like to get an even more detailed idea about the research I do, check out my publications page.
Thank you to all the funding organizations that make this work possible!
Header photo by Jake Dyson
