Ecological Research

I am currently a Master’s student in the Earth Observation and Spatial Ecology Lab at the University of British Columbia, Okanagan Campus. My research with EOSEL seeks to understand the fine-scale variation in grizzly bear diet across British Columbia. Working with Dr. Bourbonnais, as well as with Dr. Garth Mowat and the British Columbia Ministry of Forests, I am using stable isotope analysis to estimate diet for over a thousand bears from around the province and create fine-scale predictive maps of diet using the results. In this work I hope to shed light on the underlying environmental drivers of bear diet and niche, as well as provide robust scientific baselines for grizzly bear management around the province.

My past research experience includes work with Dr. Ken Lertzman and the Forest Ecology and Management Lab at Simon Fraser University, and with the Ministry of Forests Research Program in Smithers, B.C.

My CV is available here.

Research Interests

Forest Ecology

My background is based in the study of the processes that drive forest development in western North America. I’m particularly interested in how different scales of disturbance history define the different forest types that occur through British Columbia, and how those processes vary across different environmental gradients. Past projects I’ve worked on include understory light environments using hemispheric canopy photography, wildfire rehabilitation, Whitebark Pine restoration, and ecosystem classification. I’ve spent much of my adult life working in the field on forest ecology and forestry related projects, including but not limited to soil and ecosystem identification, timber cruising, cutblock layout, and wildlife habitat projects.

Wildlife Ecology

My current Master’s work focuses on fine scale spatial variation in grizzly bear diet using stable isotope analysis. I use stable isotope analysis to identify black and grizzly bear diets and to investigate how different factors affect bear diet and niche. My work includes spatial analysis to understand how wildlife ecology varies across different environmental gradients. In the past, I have worked in the field on DNA-based bear population inventories, wildlife camera traps, and on bear-food identification studies.

The influence of human disturbance on Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) in the diet of American black bears (Ursus americanus) in two areas of coastal British Columbia, Canada

Habitat Biology

My greatest research interests centre on how forest structure drives wildlife ecology. The wide variety of forest types in British Columbia are home to many different wildlife species, some of which are able to flourish across wildly different forests. In all my work with wildlife, I am always considering how the underlying habitat structure drives species niche, population densities, and individual behaviour. In the past I have worked on projects that focus on how forest structure drives food availability for grizzly bears and caribou.