<![CDATA[O'Connor Lab - Unifying Ecological Understanding Across Scales - Blog]]>Thu, 16 Apr 2026 02:14:27 -0700Weebly<![CDATA[An Ode to My Undergrad Research by Gwen Griffiths]]>Tue, 01 Dec 2015 20:57:27 GMThttp://oconnorlab.weebly.com/blog/an-ode-to-my-undergrad-research-by-gwen-griffiths
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Seagrass with (left) and without (right) heavy smithora load

​Nutrient enrichment stimulates algal blooms
That steal all the light and leave seagrass in gloom
Some meadows are heartier than others
And not all algae species are like their brothers
So its important to understand what controls the algae we see
So we can save seagrass systems for future you and me
I work with seagrass algal epiphytes:
Algae that grows in seagrass at certain sites
Specifically a red one named Smithora
It really is a beautiful type of flora
Smithora grows in seagrass in certain places but only some
And I began to wonder if it matters where the seagrass is from
​I switched seagrass between places with smithora in full swing
To places where there was no algae-not a single algal thing
What I found was quite interesting
It sent my scientific senses a whirring
Smithora that has started to sprout
Won’t leave when you move it about
But a blade that was normally completely green
When placed near smithora becomes no longer clean
Clearly something is amiss
How could smithora do this?
Well that is the question I would like to address
But unfortunately school has me under considerable stress
So while I’m learning about evolution and stats
I’ll keep thinking about those seagrass quadrats
Yearning for the day when research isn’t on the side
And I can fully enjoy those late night low tides
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​Gwen and Neha in the field
]]><![CDATA[The O’Connor Lab Takes on the Western Society of Naturalists, 2014]]>Mon, 17 Nov 2014 03:41:57 GMThttp://oconnorlab.weebly.com/blog/the-oconnor-lab-takes-on-the-western-society-of-naturalists-20141
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The O’Connor lab at WSN! From left to right: Nicole Knight, Jen Sunday, Natalie Caulk, Mary O’Connor, Coreen Forbes, Joey Bernhardt and Matt Siegel. 

It isn’t often that the whole lab gets the chance to attend a conference together so this year’s WSN meeting was a special event for the O’Connor lab. Natalie, Nicole, Matt, Mary, Joey and Coreen all made the 4 hour trek from UBC (Vancouver, Canada) to Tacoma Washington, the host city for this year’s conference. It was definitely worth the border delays!

WSN is a yearly meeting of ecologists held in various western American cities. Despite the name, attendees come from all over North America and beyond (I met a number of people from European, Asian and Australian Universities). UBC, SFU and UVic were also well represented due to our proximity to Tacoma. Being a newbie to this conference, I was surprised by its strong marine focus (not that I’m complaining!).

The conference was kicked off with an exciting bit of controversy that many of us didn’t even know existed! Michael Soulé, the “godfather of conservation” spoke of the importance of unaltered wild places and what is lost when conservation efforts are watered down to meet human demands. Katie Arkema, of The Nature Capital Project, Peter Kareiva, of The Nature Conservancy, and Patrick Christie, a social scientist from the University of Washington, shot back claiming the only way forward is to integrate human needs tightly into conservation efforts. There were suggestions that giant invasive rats are just as good as native fauna if functional biodiversity is maintained. The Nature Conservancy *may* have been lumped into charities for people (and not the environment) and traditional conservationists,  or “you people”,  were referred to as interesting study subjects. While good points were raised all around, I came away feeling a sad nostalgia for Soulé’s traditional conservationist viewpoint which seems to largely be a thing of the past.

In the coming days there were well over 100 student and researcher talks. The bar is set high at WSN! I was absolutely overwhelmed by the quality of the research and presentation. Most talks were strongly rooted in ecological and evolutionary theory and were also very interesting from a natural history perspective. Though I may be a little biased, I was especially impressed with the amazing work coming out of the O’Connor and Harley labs. Nicole, our amazing “undergraduated” lab manager, set eelgrass ecologists’ fears to rest with her talk on the neutral effects of the introduced eelgrass species, Zostera japonica, on epifaunal diversity. Natalie gave a flawless account of her experiments exploring the effects of warming on the edibility of algal resources. Joey treated audiences to an interesting and unique perspective using functional traits to predict the nutritional content of seafood. Matt made us laugh with some unexpected results of warming on a population of Tigriopus californicus copepods and of course Mary gave us a thought provoking perspective on warming and trophic structure. I, on the other hand, only had the incredibly difficult task of choosing which one of the simultaneous 6 talks to attend every 15 minutes. Life is so hard sometimes! 

                -Coreen

]]><![CDATA[Unwritten rules of getting in and getting on in grad school (in ecology).]]>Sat, 15 Nov 2014 19:56:22 GMThttp://oconnorlab.weebly.com/blog/-unwritten-rules-of-getting-in-and-getting-on-in-grad-school-in-ecologyGENERAL STUFF
1.         Start early (but it’s never too late). 

2.         Find out what graduate school is really like. There are many unwritten rules and unstated expectations and realities. Talk to graduate students and professors about the activities and expectations of graduate school. Ask specifically what are the expectations and goals that might not be represented in a program guide. For example,
-              Grad school (and research) is hard work. It’s not a 9-5 job, and there typically isn’t much room for a major additional time commitment such as a job or a varsity level sport.
-              You will spend large amounts of time and energy devoted to writing, reading, thinking, learning, and feeling outside your comfort zone. You must do all this relatively independently.
-              Grad school also involves lots of time outside or in the lab, studying your system or your species, creating insights, collaborating, and feuling your passion for science.

3.         Think deeply about why you want to go to grad school in ecology. There are may reasons why people choose to go to graduate school, including a love of nature, a curiosity about research, love of science and desire for more training in scientific methods. Masters programs vary widely in terms of their emphasis on research, coursework, skill development, etc. Having a clear reason that you can articulate will help you choose the right program, supervisor and project, and help you get through the hard times in the middle of grad school. 

SOME COMMENTS SPECIFIC TO RESEARCH TRACK MASTERS AND PHD PROGRAMS
I will comment here on research-oriented masters and PHD programs. This program emphasizes research, not classes. The objective of graduate work is to lead a research project and produce a peer-reviewed publication.

Yes, a peer-reviewed publication. In research, there are expectations and standards set by the culture of the field you are joining. These expectations often substantially exceed the expectations formally outlined in a degree program on the university website or in the department handbook. For example, a typical MS program requires a thesis, written and submitted in a specific university format. However, to get a job or get into a good PHD program in ecological research, the expectation is actually that you have published (or are in the advanced stages of publishing) you work in a peer-reviewed scientific journal. The higher your sights on PHD programs, the better journal you want to get your work into. (Your mentors can guide you in the publication process).

Getting into a MS or PHD program. 
There is the program (e.g., UBC Zoology) and then there is the lab you join. The program has criteria for application, usually listed on the website. You need to follow these guidelines, including deadlines. But you also need to identify a supervisor whose lab you could join. This is a serious step that can take months. You want to find a supervisor who has space in their group for a new person. You want a supervisor and lab group that fits well with your interests and goals; a group who can help you achieve your goals and a group to which you bring something that will help them achieve their goals. A good fit might include
                  Research interests – do you want to do the kind of work the group does?
                  Professional goals – are your goals aligned with what the supervisor expects and can mentor?
                  Personality – can you get along with these people?
                  Experience. Do you have any experience with any part of the research? This is not necessary, but even some areas of common ground can help you and the supervisor evaluate whether you are a good fit. 
                  Independence*.  Have you demonstrated independence, motivation and the ability to complete major projects independently? A supervisor will be looking for this as they evaluate fit.

*a note on independence: Success in science requires independence and motivation to complete a project on a timeline. External deadlines are rare in science, yet scientists (and grad students) are expected to complete work in a timeline fashion. Supervisors are looking for evidence that applicants can do this, and the evidence they are looking for is for productivity outside of coursework. Classes provide deadlines.  Supervisors are looking for evidence of independent scholarship and leadership, where you had to apply a range of skills to complete a project. A large class project might suffice, but much better is a volunteer or directed studies research project in a research lab.

FUNDING. First, the good news: you get a salary while you’re in grad school. Yes, they pay you. Now, the bad news. It’s not much. But, you should not need to take out loans. More good/bad news: the money for your salary can come from a variety of sources, and the availability of funds can limit the ability of a supervisor to accept students. Knowing a little about how funding works, and that it’s important, can help you ask questions in the interview process, and understand when opportunities may or may not be available. Here are a few notes on how students might be funded.  
a)         Fellowships: Many countries, universities and departments offer fellowships to support graduate studies. You should ask potential supervisors, check websites, talk to grad students to find out about these. You should apply for any fellowships for which you are eligible, and ask for help with these applications. Find graduate students who have been successful with fellowships, ask for their advice.
b)        Supervisors may have funding from a grant to support a student doing a particular project. They will usually offer this if it’s available and relevant; very often supervisors do not have this kind of funding.
c)         Teaching assistant (TA) or research assistant (RA) positions. Many departments offer these positions to support students. At some universities, you can support yourself entirely on these positions. At other universities, these provide partial support, and additional salary is required from a fellowship or the supervisor. Discuss these options with each potential supervisor, grad students and departments to which you apply.

Bottom line: you have the best chance of getting into the program/lab you want if you have solid research experience and co-authorship on a peer-reviewed paper. Good letters of recommendation from a professor with whom you’ve worked (volunteered) are also important.

So, get involved in research early and often!
a)         volunteer in a lab. Graduate students almost always need a little help.
b)        Seize opportunities to help grad students with sample processing, field-work, literature review. This is a great way to get authorship on a paper.
c)         Learn R
d)        Work on your writing: develop good, regular writing habits.
e)         Don’t be shy! Approach researchers, ask questions, listen carefully and, most importantly, think creatively about what you love.

Good luck!
Here are some links to other articles and explanations of expectations for grad school: 
Charles Mitchell's lab at UNC. Charles provides great advice that applies not only to his lab, but to any top ecology group.
Stearns and Huey's Modest advice for graduate students. 

Expectations for my lab. If you’re interested in applying to work with me, here is an overview of my expectations, and what I will explore as we chat about grad school:
1)        You have done research and have some written product. Could be a report or thesis, but ideally is co-authorship on a paper.
2)        You can articulate why you want to go to grad school, why you want to join my group, and what are your thoughts for after grad school.
3)        You can discuss one or two research problems that really interest you and that you have thought about.
4)        You can work independently yet also can be an active contributor to our lab group.

]]><![CDATA[Life as an O'Connor Lab Alum]]>Thu, 16 Jan 2014 18:28:21 GMThttp://oconnorlab.weebly.com/blog/life-as-an-oconnor-lab-alumPicture
Greetings current, past, and possibly future lab members!

I just wanted to write a short blog post about my adventures since leaving the O’Connor Lab and UBC. For those of you that don’t know my name is Stephanie and I was a volunteer and undergraduate student researcher with the O’Connor Lab from June 2011 to December 2012. Shortly after finishing my Bachelor’s in Marine Biology I accepted a graduate position with the Baird Lab at the Canadian Rivers Institute at the University of New Brunswick. I am now living in Fredericton and working towards my Master’s degree in biology (specifically aquatic ecology). I am currently working on a biomonitoring project associated with Environment Canada’s Integrated Monitoring Plan for the oil sands and Genome Canada’s Biomonitoring 2.0 [links below if you are interested]. I am looking to standardize a protocol for sampling periphyton in macrophyte-dominated wetlands and integrate the use of next-generation sequencing DNA analysis technology in environmental monitoring. After starting at UNB in May 2013 I was lucky enough to start a preliminary field season that summer. I spent 2 months in beautiful Fort Smith, NWT sampling in Wood Buffalo National Park. During my time in NWT I encountered black bears, wood buffalo, pelicans, sandhill cranes, and even a member of the elusive ‘Wolves of Wood Buffalo.’ It was definitely a change from encountering the usual culprits of sea stars, mussels, and barnacles on the West Coast.  On the horizon I have the presentation of my research proposal, the Joint Aquatic Sciences Meeting this May in Portland, and another field season. I am certainly looking forward to spending some more time in the Northwest Territories as well as adding some sites in the Peace-Athabasca Delta. Hopefully, you all are having your own grand science adventures. Thank you to Mary and all the O’Connor lab members circa 2012 – I wouldn’t be where I am now without your support!

Biomonitoring 2.0: http://www.biomonitoring2.org/

Steff 

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