Principal Investigator: Dr. Mary I. O'Connor

​Associate Professor, Department of Zoology
Associate Director, Biodiversity Research Centre
Affiliate, Hakai Institute

University of British Columbia 
#4200-6270 University Blvd. 
Vancouver, B.C. Canada V6T 1Z4

CV

Phone: 604-827-5653
email: oconnor@zoology.ubc.ca

Check out the academic family tree!

Graduate Students

PhD Candidate: Joey Bernhardt

​I’m a second year PhD student in the Department of Zoology and the Biodiversity Research Centre at the University of British Columbia. My research is focused on the ecology and management of coastal marine ecosystems. I am interested in understanding how human drivers impact nearshore ecosystems and the effects on ecosystem services and human well-being. I combine field experiments, modeling, and collaborations with coastal communities to inform ecosystem approaches to marine management.

Check out Joey's personal website here.

PhD Candidate: Matt Siegle

Does sublethal stress at the individual level scale up to affect long term population dynamics? For my dissertation, I am using the splash pool copepod Tigriopus californicus to investigate the effect of thermal stress on reproduction and population growth. I am utilizing an interdisciplinary approach that encompasses biochemical techniques, organismal performance assays, and demographic modelling to characterize energy allocation tradeoffs during periods of heat stress, and the subsequent impact of this on long term population growth.

Matt is co-supervised by Rick Taylor

PhD Student: Coreen Forbes

​My research focuses on phenology (the timing of periodic seasonal events) in eelgrass communities. I am using field surveys and experiments to identify cyclical changes in community composition, what drives these changes and how climatic warming might alter ecological time.

PhD Student: Emily Adamczyk

I am interested in how phenology influences temporal dynamics in seagrass ecosystems. This information may help us find “windows of opportunity” to restore critical seagrass habitat. Additionally, I want to investigate how anthropogenic stressors, such as ocean acidification and climate change, affect seagrass biodiversity and ecosystem functions.

Check out Emily's personal website here.

Minako Ito

MSc Student: John Cristiani

I'm interested in the application of GIS and remote sensing technologies to study the distribution and abundance of eelgrass in British Columbia.  By analyzing spatial datasets of species distribution, physical properties, and resource use, I seek to understand landscape-scale patterns of occurrence and human impacts.  This work will help to identify marine areas of high conservation value to prioritize for management.  ​

MSc student: ​Mairin Deith
Co-supervised by Jedediah Brodie

Across the globe, many people rely on wild animals for sustenance. This is especially true in tropical rainforests, where bushmeat hunting provides a significant portion of rural peoples' diets. Due to population growth, increased forest access from logging, and the widespread use of firearms, hunted species that are relied upon for food and ecosystem services are disappearing from the forest. My graduate work focuses on developing reliable predictors of hunting pressure and using these predictors to test the efficacy of various sustainable hunting strategies. Specifically, I am exploring whether traditional resource management schemes can preserve muntjac deer, mouse deer, bearded pig, and pig-tailed macaque populations in Malaysian Borneo.

Postdoctoral Research Fellows

Jennifer M. Sunday, PhD

How do abiotic and biotic drivers affect species distributions through time? Can we connect across scales to understand organisms' distributional, ecological, and evolutionary responses to climate change? I aim to answer these questions by coupling ecological and evolutionary theory with empirical observations, including real-time responses to climate change.

​Check out Jenn's personal website here.

Patrick Thompson, PhD
Killam Postdoctoral Fellow

My research integrates theory and empirical methods to study how ecological communities reorganize under climate change. I wish to understand how changing landscape connectivity, food-web interactions, and adaptation combine to determine the structure and composition of future communities. By developing and testing theory on how these processes interactively modify the response of natural communities to environmental change, I hope to inform strategies for preserving biodiversity and ecosystem functioning as conditions change.

Check out Patrick's personal website here.

Undergraduate Students

Kimmy Hofer

I’m a 4th year (soon to be 5th year) undergrad interested in finding out what I’m interested in! Currently, I’m studying the effects of climate on populations of Daphnia in the lab, and hope to expand my research into evolutionary responses to latitudinal gradients. ​

Keila Stark, BSc Honours Student & Research Assistant 

​In marine environments where water movement facilitates species dispersal between sites, it is valuable to consider ecological communities as part of a larger network of interacting communities. My Honours research aims to determine the abiotic, biotic, and spatial factors that drive community assembly in eelgrass ecosystems through the lens of metacommunity theory.  I am also interested in the effect Marine Protected Areas have on the mechanisms driving community assembly.