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People

Current Students | Former Lab Members

Current Students

 

Samuel Rycroft

For his PhD, Samuel is examining the resistance of legumes to frost

Tian Yang

For her PhD, Tian is examining root structural traits in the context of soil nutrient and water availability, and freezing

Jessica Stokes-Rees (co-supervised with Ian Scott)

For her MSc, Jessica is investigating the influence of cover crops on soil fauna

Ala Abdel Rahman (co-supervised with Ian Scott)

For her MSc, Ala is investigating the effect of cover crops and fungi on wire worm populations

Benjamin Souriol

For his MSc, Ben is examining long term cumulative vs. short term effects of warming and nitrogen deposition on soil nitrogen dynamics

Mathis Natvik

For his Ph.D, Mathis is examining the mechanisms explaining oak recruitment failure in old fields.

 

 

Former Lab Members

Spencer Heuchan (co-supervsied with Claudia Wagner-Riddle)

For his PhD, Spencer studied cover crops, soil frost and nitrogen retention

Rohitash Gupta

For his Hon. B.Sc., Rohitash explored latitudinal patterns in herbeceous legume abundance.

Breanna Craig

For her MSc, Breanna examined long term cumulative vs. short term effects of warming and nitrogen deposition on a herbaceous plant community

Erica Stroud

For her MSc, Erica examined long term cumulative vs. short term effects of warming and nitrogen deposition on soil carbon fractions and extracellular enzyme activity

Farhaan Kanji (co-supervised with Ed Topp)

For his MSc, Farhaan studied fungicide resistance in the environment

Jared Lapierre (co-supervsied with Claudia Wagner-Riddle)

For his MSc,  Jared explored the implications of a diverse cropping rotation and varibility in winter climate for soil nitrate leaching

Ricky Kong

For his Ph.D., Ricky investigated frost and drought tolerance in grasses.

Sanjay Nema (co-supervised with Krzystof Szczyglowski)

For his M.Sc., Sanjay studied mechanisms of nodulation in Rhizobia.

Jessica Kowalski

For her Hon. B.Sc., Jessica studies plant species composition along patch edges.

Alberto Torrez (co-supervised with Lining Tian)

For his M.Sc., Alberto studied histones and drought tolerance in Brachypodium.

Taylor Lowe

For her Hon. B.Sc., Taylor explored the influence of early-successional weeds on prairie restoration.

Jennifer Christie

For her Hon. B.Sc., Jenn explored the role of seed preparation in tallgrass prairie establishment.

Spencer Heuchan (co-supervised with Beth Gillies)

For his M.Sc., Spencer developed fertilizer coatings using triggered end-cap polymers.

Jingpu Song (co-supervised with Lining Tian)

For his Ph.D., Jingpu examined histone deacetylases (HDACs) and stress tolerance in Brachypodium.

Curtis Lubbe

For his Ph.D, Curtis examined variation in clonal strategies in the context of frost stress.

Holly Stover

For her Ph.D., Holly explored the relationship between soil heterogeneity, plant diversity and ecosystem function.

Yangxue Zhou (exchange student from Northwest A&F University, China)

For her Ph.D., Yangxue examined biochar effects on soil nitrogen retention over winter.

Julia Latacka (co-supervised with Ed Topp)

For her Hon. B.Sc., Julia explored the biofumication potential of Radish cover crops

Cara Summers (co-supervised with Stuart Fogel)

For her Hon. B.Sc., Cara examined the impacts of stimulants and sedatives on habitual and non-habitual nappers

Matthew Dyson (co-supervised with Scott Petrie)
For his M.Sc., Matt studied survival, habitat use and movement patterns of female wood ducks and broods at Long Point, Ontario.

Magda Konopka (co-supervised with Ed Topp)
For her M.Sc., Magda examined soil microbial community responses to veterinary drugs.

Catriona Catomeris (co-supervised with Greg Thorn)
For her Hon. B.Sc.., Catriona studied mycorrhizal community response to nitrogen addition in a tallgrass prairie.

Jennifer McPhee
For her M.Sc., Jenn examined plant community level responses to nitrogen addition in a tallgrass prairie / forest restoration.

Bryana McWhirter
For her M.Sc., Bry explored the establishment potential of early successional trees in the context of our long-term warming and nitrogen addition experiment (WINNTER).

Mathew Vankoughnett
For his Ph.D., Mat explored the interactive effects of soil freezing and N deposition on ecosystem processes over the plant growing season.

Eric Moise
For his Ph.D., Eric investigated the extent to which herbivore and detritivore responses to warming and nitrogen addition in our field experiment influenced the overall plant responses to these treatments.

Julia Thompson
For her M.Sc., Julia explored the influence of increasing temperature, increasing CO2, and drought on the growth and physiology of glyphosate-susceptible and –resistant giant ragweed biotypes. She also examined whether these environmental factors influence the recovery following glyphosate treatment.

Amy Farahbakhsh 
Amy conducted an Honours research project to examine interactions between nitrogen availability and freezing tolerance in grasses. 

Laura Borden 
Laura conducted an Honours research project to examine plant community level responses to nitrogen addition in a restored tallgrass prairie.

Andrey Malyshev
Andrey explored intraspecific variation in plant freezing tolerance along a latitudinal gradient for his M.Sc. 

Min Ku Kim
Min Ku used canopy assimilation chambers to examine the interactive effects of warming and nitrogen deposition on net carbon dioxide flux.

Alexandra Schwarz
Alex conducted an Honours research project to test for interactive effects among nitrogen addition and water addition on plant productivity.

Ryan Hutchings
Ryan conducted an Honours research project to examine seasonal changes in the feeding preferences of the slug Deroceras reticulatum.

Jennifer Hutchison
For her M.Sc. project, Jennifer focused on changes in primary production and plant species composition in response to the treatments in our long-term winter warming and nitrogen deposition field experiment. In addition to traditional estimates of primary productivity, she used spectral measures to obtain estimates of aboveground biomass.

Lindsay McCallum
Lindsay conducted an Honours research project, where she explored the factors influencing herbivory by Cepaea nemoralis (the banded wood snail) on Cirsium arvense (Canada thistle).

Paul Mensink
For his M.Sc. project, Paul explored the effects of invasive wood snails on plant litter decomposition and carbon and nutrient cycling. He was also interested in the factors that influence the abundance and feeding behaviour of these snails. 

Christine Moore
Christine conducted an Honours research project, where she used infrared and near infrared spectroscopy to infer leaf nitrogen content in the grasses Bromus inermis and Poa pratensis.

Terry Bell
Terry obtained a M.Sc. degree in our lab by examining seasonal changes in soil microbial biomass and enzyme activities in response to the treatments from our long-term winter warming and nitrogen deposition field experiment. 

Michelle Turner
For her M.Sc. project, Michelle quantified nitrate leaching losses and changes in net nitrogen mineralization in response to the treatments in our long-term winter warming and nitrogen deposition field experiment. She also used stable isotope tracers of nitrogen to determine the fate of nitrogen released in ecosystems over winter and during spring melt.

Amy Elliott
Amy conducted an Honours research project, looking at how the amplitudes of soil freeze-thaw cycles affect soil microbial activity.

Natalie Turrin
Natalie conducted an Honours research project, exploring changes in plant phenology and senescence in response to climate warming.

Germaine Joseph
Germaine obtained an M.Sc. degree in our lab, examining how soil freeze-thaw cycles contribute to nitrogen leaching losses in a temperate ecosystem. She also used stable isotope tracers of nitrogen to track the fate of nitrate added to the soil at different intervals from late fall through early spring.

Gena Braun
Gena worked as a technician in our lab, and focused on installing the infrastructure in the field for our long-term winter warming and nitrogen deposition field experiment. She previously obtained an M.Sc. in Biology from Western.

Lindsay Crawford
Lindsay conducted an Honours research project in our lab, exploring nitrogen losses from plant leaf litter over winter.

Jason Ross
Jason conducted an Honours research project in our lab, examining the uptake of nitrogen by plants at cold temperatures in hydroponic culture.

Taryn Taylor
Taryn was awarded an NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award to work in our lab. She developed methods for exploring soil freeze-thaw cycle effects using intact soil mesocosms and helped install and troubleshoot much of the start-up equipment in the lab.