2002

COURSES TAUGHT

Geography 102 - Introduction to Physical Geography: Climate and Vegetation (UBC)
Geography 101 - Geography of the Natural Environment (Auckland)
Environmental Science 101 - Environment, Science and Management (Auckland)

While a member of the Tree-Ring Lab at UBC, my Ph.D. research examined the effects of western hemlock looper defoliations on coastal BC forests. My reseach contained three main objectives: 1) to associate antecedent climatic conditions with western hemlock looper outbreaks; 2) to quantify the degree of mortality associated with a recent (2000-3) western hemlock looper outbreak in the Coquitlam watershed, just east of Vancouver, BC; and, 3) to reconstruct historical outbreaks that may have occurred before written records began in the early 1900's by comparing the tree-ring series of primary host trees (western hemlock) with secondary host trees (western redcedar) to detect periods of differential growth associated with species-specific defoliation by western hemlock looper. I earned my doctorate in 2007.

I also hold a Master's degree in forest ecology from Queen's Univeristy at Kingston, ON where I studied the impacts of adjacent land use on forest understorey vegetation. Prior to that, I completed a B.Sc. (first class Honours) at Queen's in their Environmental Science program, specializing in Biology. My Honour's thesis investigated the use of forest structural and compositional features as successional predictors of proximity to old-growth status.

I am currently doing a 2-year post-doc at the University of Auckland, in New Zealand, where I am studying intra-annual features of kauri (Agathis australis) tree-rings.