Team

Lead Researchers

 

Andrew Hendry

Andrew Hendry
Program director
Redpath Museum, McGill University
Websiteandrew.hendry [at] mcgill.ca (email)

 

Andy Gonzalez

Andrew Gonzalez
Department of Biology, McGill University
Websiteandrew.gonzalez [at] mcgill.ca (email)

 

Frédéric Guichard

Frédéric Guichard
Department of Biology, McGill University
Websitefred.guichard [at] mcgill.ca [at] mcgill.ca (email)

 

Tanya Handa

Tanya Handa
Department of Biology, UQAM
Websitehanda.ira_tanya [at] uqam.ca (email)

 

Steven Kembel

Steven Kembel
Department of Biology, UQAM
kembel.steven_w [at] uqam.ca (Email)

 

Christian Messier

Christian Messier
Department of Natural Sciences, UQO
Websitechristian.messier [at] uqo.ca (email)

 

Alain Olivier
Alain Olivier
Department of Phytology, Université Laval
WebsiteAlain.Olivier [at] fsaa.ulaval.ca (email)

 

Catherine Potvin
Catherine Potvin
Department of Biology, McGill University
Websitecatherine.potvin [at] mcgill.ca (email)

 

Colin Scott
Department of Anthropology, McGill University
Website, colin.scott [at] mcgill.ca (email)

 

Daviken Studnicki-Gizbert
Daviken Studnicki-Gizbert
Department of History and Classical Studies, McGill University
Websitedaviken.studnicki-gizbert [at] mcgill.ca (email)

 

Panama Partners

STRI
Andrew Altieri
Research Scientist
Rachel Collin
Research Scientist
Hector Guzman
Research Scientist
Jefferson Hall
Research Scientist
Allen Herre
Research Scientist
Owen McMillan
Research Scientist
Rachel Page
Research Scientist
Mark Torchin
Research Scientist
Ben Turner
Research Scientist
Joseph Wright
Research Scientist

 

CoastEcoTimber logo
Image by CoastEcoTimber logo.

 

 

Alana Husby

President

 

 

 

More to come!

 

Other Partners

Some of our key partners include:

 

QCBS

 

More to come!

Current students

Holy Cronin
Untangling the dynamics of institutional innovation in the Burgeoning seaweed aquaculture sector

My research interests focus on relationships between human communities and marine environments with an aim to contribute to improving opportunities for sustainable development in coastal regions. As a doctoral student, my work investigates emerging seaweed aquaculture industries as dynamic social­-ecological systems. Seaweed farming represents a promising avenue for economic diversification in coastal communities while providing locally beneficial ecosystem services. Cultivation of seaweeds on ropes in the ocean requires no fresh water, arable land, or fertilizer and seaweed crops sequester carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus as they grow. To develop sustainably, the sector must navigate a mix of scientific, farming, entrepreneurial, market, and policy challenges. Successful emergence of environmentally sound regional seaweed industries thus requires thoughtfully customized and innovatively structured support. Using a mixed methods approach, my research examines the roles of leaders, social networks, and policy design in shaping the evolution of innovative new seaweed industries in Panama and the United States with the objective of distilling lessons for how to organize and channel coastal resources management and the development of sustainable industries more broadly.

University: McGill
Program: PhD in Geography. 
Supervisor: Brian E. Robinson, Department of Geography, McGill. Canada.
Co-Supervisor: Stanley Heckadon-Moreno and Ana Spalding

 

Nicole Knight
Functional diversity of herbivores in marine ecosystems

Herbivory is an integral component of nearly all ecosystems; it strongly influences the standing stock and diversity of plants, and permits the transfer of biomass from primary producers to higher trophic levels.  I’m interested in the foraging and digestive strategies employed by herbivores to maintain an energetically profitable plant-based diet, and how these strategies may be constrained by latitude and temperature.  I will be investigating this issue through my field work in Bocas Del Toro (Panama) as well as by building models and conducting meta-analyses of existing data.  I hope to apply this work to enhance our understanding of controls on species distributions, and how ecosystems respond to heat stress.

University: McGill
Program: PhD in Biology. 
Supervisor: Frederic Guichard, Department of Biology, McGill. Canada.
Co-Supervisor: Andrew Altieri, STRI. Panama.

 

Ananda Martins
Hybrid speciation in Brazilian Heliconius butterflies (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae)

Patterns of biodiversity and mechanisms involved in these patterns are some of the most fascinating evolutionary aspects to be studied. Recent genomics technology combined with morphological data allows us to shed light on the processes that govern diversification, as hybridization. The famous biologist Henry Water Bates studied Heliconius butterflies in the Brazilian Amazon and recognized the existence of intermediate phenotypes of two butterflies’ populations, proposing these were transition forms of two species – Heliconius melpomene and H. thelxiope. Nowadays these are treated as subspecies of H. melpomene and I intend to use these butterflies to test the hybrid speciation hypothesis in the same area Bates studied. Therefore, my main research questions are: a) is the north of Brazil a hybrid zone of Heliconius butterflies? b) Are the intermediate forms observed by Bates hybrids of H. melpomene melpomene and H. melpomene thelxiope?

University: McGill
Program: PhD in Biology. 
Supervisor: Rowan Barrett, Redpath Museum, McGill. Canada.
Co-Supervisor: Owen McMillan, STRI. Panama/ James Mallet, Harvard. USA.

 

Betzi Pérez
Population Structure and dynamic of humpback whales along the Pacific coast of Panama

My research is focused in obtaining a comprehensive understanding of the structure and dynamic of the humpback whales population in the Panama Pacific waters, the final destination for many whales coming from the Northern and Southern Hemisphere during their respective wintering season. For my research, I will combine photo-identification and genetic techniques, year-round, to complete the following objectives: 1) investigate the distribution and habitat use of the whales related to physiographic variables and assess the biological factors such as behavior and group composition to evaluate the importance of some areas along the Panama Pacific relative to other areas occupied by humpback whales, 2) determine the identity of the population and migratory behavior and evaluate the hypothesis that there is a temporal overlap and potential mix between the North and South Pacific populations, and 3) estimate the population size and structure of humpback whales across the Pacific of Panama.

University: McGill
Program: PhD in Biology. 
Supervisor: Andrew Hendry, Redpath Museum, McGill. Canada.
Co-Supervisor: Laura May-Collado, Universidad Maritima Internacional de Panama. Panama.

 

Jonathas Rodríguez Pereira
Disentangling the factors that influence the evolution of sexual selection

I am looking at to which extent genetically and ecologically divergent populations of the Trinidadian guppy (Poecilia reticulata) are reproductively isolated. Specifically, I am interested on which traits play a role in such process and whether female preference and male sexually selected traits relates to ecological and genetic divergence, and whether those factors influence the likelihood of diverging populations to fuse if they have the chance to freely interact. Overall, I investigate the evolution of reproductive isolation by means of assortative mating. Because, assortative mating might ultimately pave the way towards speciation, my research will potentially contribute to the understanding of how biological diversity arises.

University: McGill
Program: PhD in Biology. 
Supervisor: Andrew Hendry, Redpath Museum, McGill. Canada.
Co-Supervisor: Dawn T. Phillipp, UWI. Trinidad.

 

Andrew Sellers
Effect of upwelling derived nutrient-subsidies on algal-herbivore interactions in tropical intertidal communities

Flows of materials and organisms across ecosystems can deliver resource subsidies that influence community structure and trophic interactions in recipient communities; understanding the ecological consequences of resource subsidies is an important avenue of research in ecology. Marine upwelling events transport nutrient-rich water to coasts, and support areas of exceptional productivity. Those subsidies can have indirect consequences for herbivores, and influence algal-herbivore interactions. While the consequences of upwelling are well studied on temperate coasts, little is known regarding their effects on tropical coasts, where strong herbivory is thought to regulate algal abundance. Further, upwelling can increase both planktonic and benthic productivity, which support a functionally diverse assemblage of herbivores, including filter-feeders and benthic-grazers. The goal of my research is to understand how upwelling events influence algal-herbivore interactions in tropical intertidal communities in Panama, and determine whether herbivores with different traits and feeding strategies respond differently to upwelling events.

University: McGill
Program: PhD in Biology 
Supervisor: Brian Leung, Department of Biology, McGill. Canada
Co-Supervisor: Mark Torchin, STRI. Panama

 

Andréanne Lavoie
Conservation of agrobiodiversity in shaded cacao systems in Peru

My study will contribute to deepen the knowledge on biocultural diversity by focusing on the links between agrobiodiversity and cultural diversity in shaded cacao systems in Peru. Specifically, I will examine the impacts of those systems on: A) the agrobiodiversity conservation within the cacao value chain, and B) the creation and transmission of knowledge and know-how, and the maintenance of agricultural livelihoods. This work will be carried out in collaboration with Bioversity International (BI), a research institution affiliated to the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), who is closely involved on those issues. My research project will provide a better understanding of the potential of agroforestry as biocultural refuge.

University: Laval
Program: PhD in plant biology 
Supervisor: Alain Olivier, Department of plant science, Université Laval. Canada
Co-Supervisor: To be determined

 

Heather Stewart
Role of red mangrove Rhizophora mangle as a foundation species in determining biodiversity

Currently, our understanding of patterns and processes that influence adjacent habitats, movement corridors, community structure and biodiversity in mangroves is somewhat limited. To address these deficiencies, we can apply the theoretical framework of seascape ecology, which focuses on the interacting processes among marine landscapes (e.g., coral and sea grass) and predictions of ecological, life-history, and biodiversity patterns. By looking at factors affecting connectivity between mangroves and adjacent habitats, restriction of movement of fishes, and distribution of sessile fauna (e.g., mollusks, tunicates, sponges), this void can begin to be filled. My overall goal is to use red mangrove (Rhizophora mangle) as a model to understand how landscape-scale structure of biogenic habitats determines patterns of biodiversity. I am doing this by exploring the abiotic and biotic factors influencing mangrove community biodiversity through field survey, correlation, and experimental manipulation across a latitudinal gradient from Panama to Florida.

University: McGill
Program: PhD in Biology
Supervisor: Lauren Chapman, Department of Biology, McGill. Canada
Co-Supervisor: Andrew Altieri, STRI. Panama

 

Gabriel Yahya Haage
Testing Models of Lake Ecosystem Integrity and Water Partitioning

Lake systems offer many Ecosystem Services and their degradation is a grave concern.  This can result from human activities, including mining, mass agriculture and damming.  The ability to predict when a lake is being stressed and how this can affect the availability of Ecosystem Services is vital to understand. Interestingly, while many different models address this issue, explicitly or implicitly, they stem from different sectors of society and use different frameworks.  They can include social, economic and ecological information.  This project seeks to compare several such models.  This requires the collection of various types of data, and the use of several data collection methods.  My focus is on lakes in Canada and Panama, and I am predominantly interested in cases involving indigenous populations, as they are often not considered in such models.

University: McGill
Program: PhD in Natural Resources Science
Supervisor: Peter G. Brown, NRS, McGill. Canada
Co-Supervisor: TBD

 

Javier E. Ibarra Isassi
Using functional traits to understand community structure patterns and their impact on ecosystem functioning

Using a trait-based approach to understand community structuring and their effect on ecosystem functions has been a crucial topic in ecology for the past decades. Although functional traits of plants have been extensively studied in the context of community assembly and ecosystem functioning, those of animals remain poorly understood. First, there is no general consensus regarding which traits are most relevant for animals in either context. Second, this lack of consensus hampers animal ecologists from asking important questions about the drivers of community structure and ecosystem functioning on a global scale.  Due to the ubiquity of ants in terrestrial ecosystems, many studies highlight them as being ecosystem engineers, thus playing a key role in many ecosystem functions (directly or indirectly). In my research, I am (1) identifying morphological and life history traits that play a key role in community structuring and ecosystem functioning, (2) asking how these traits vary along broad scale environmental gradient, and (3) asking how changing the diversity of these traits in a community affect important ecosystem functions. More specifically, I am exploring whether ant traits follow any predictable patterns along environmental gradients, while also evaluating if the difference in functional composition influences arthropod community structure and, in turn, ecosystem functioning. To do this, I will be conducting field surveys with a standardized protocol along different environmental gradients. These field measurements will be complemented with existing global databases to expand my research to broader scales. With this study, I expect to expand our understanding of how the diversity of functional traits relate to the environment and structure communities, providing grounds to understand the mechanisms underpinning the link between animal functional diversity with ecosystem functions. Linking functional diversity patterns to ecosystem functions is key to developing better tools for the conservation of species beyond their taxonomical importance.

University: Concordia and UQAM
Program: PhD in Biology
Supervisor: Jean-Philippe Lessard, Concordia University, Canada; Ira Tanya Handa, UQAM, Canada.
Co-Supervisor: TBD

 

Camilo Gomez
The Value of the Sacred: Extraction of Natural Resources in Indigenous Territories. Culture, Spirituality, and Conflict in the Colombian Amazon

My research seeks to challenge assumptions about the separation of material from sacred aspects of indigenous territory in the Colombian Amazon, as resource extractive corporations and the State conceive it. Therefore, in order to explore human and other-than-human associations, my study examines current and historic relationships with extractive industries along with theories of Communicative Action, Social Construction of Knowledge, Political Ontology and the indigenous premise of Buen Vivir (Living Well), in the Colombian Amazon rainforest.

University: McGill
Program: PhD in Anthropology
Supervisor: Colin Scott. Department of Anthropology. McGill. Canada
Co-Supervisor: Margarita Serje. Universidad de los Andes. Colombia.

 

Lotte H Skovmand
Spatial and temporal correlations in gut microbiomes of the howler monkey (Alouatta caraya)

All multicellular organisms contain abundant and diverse microbiota, such as bacteria, archaea, fungi, and viruses, that can be beneficial to their host. A recent perspective proposes that host-microbe relationships should be studied as one entity, as their interaction with one another is crucial for adaption to changing environments. Specifically, variations in microbial communities are suggested to affect host fitness. My research investigates such diversity variations in gut microbiota of wild howler monkeys (Alouatta caraya). I am interested in how the external environment affects gut microbiome composition through diet, habitat changes, and species interactions. I also want to measure possible correlations between herbivore gut microbiota and plant communities, such as whether the microbiome correlates with diversity of plant secondary compounds. Finally, I hope to reveal spatial and temporal patterns that might further explain the role of host-microbe symbioses as a unit of selection. The project is carried out in collaboration with Estación Biológica Corrientes (EBCo) in Corrientes, Argentina.

University: McGill University
Program: PhD in Biology
Supervisor: Andrew Hendry, Redpath Museum, McGill, Canada
Co-Supervisor: Martin Kowalewski, Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales, Argentina

 

Angelly Vasquez-Correa
Origin of caste polymorphism in fungus-farming ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Myrmicinae: Attine)

In social Hymenoptera (Ants), the complexity of caste systems is marked by three major thresholds: the evolution of eusociality, the evolution of worker-queen dimorphism, and the evolution of polymorphic worker castes. Worker caste polymorphism in ants is a particular case of phenotypic plasticity because it is environmentally induced and its expression is regulated during development. My research is focusing on worker polymorphism of tropical ants as new model organisms to understand the diversification of a single worker caste into a complex system of morphological and behavioral subcastes. Specifically, my research examines the origin of caste variation in the polymorphic species of leaf-cutter ants and big-headed ants from an integrative framework, combining tropical ecology, phylogenetic comparative methods, and developmental biology.

University: McGill University
Program: PhD in Biology
Supervisor: Ehab Abouheif, Department of Biology, McGill, Canada
Co-Supervisor: William Wcislo and Owen McMillan, STRI, Panama

 

Marc-Olivier Beausoleil
The impact of anthropogenic activity on the evolution of Darwin’s finches on the Galápagos Islands

In order to understand how new species form through evolutionary processes in natural populations, I look at three key points: 1. how the unique morphology (e.g., the width of a bird’s beak) of individuals differentiate from each other because of divergent natural selection, 2. how the populations become reproductively incompatible, and 3. a genetic cause linking the phenotypes under divergent selection and the limit of reproduction between species. Using a long-term dataset of Darwin’s finches on the Galápagos Islands, I am linking these factors using a genotype-phenotype-fitness map. I use Mark-recapture models to infer the relationship between advantageous morphological variation and survival, a measure of Darwinian fitness. Next, I will use cutting edge molecular techniques to find the association between the morphology of the finches and genetic variation at the level of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). I will pursue this objective in two different sites: a natural site and a site influenced by human activity. By doing so, I will be able to test the effect of anthropogenic disturbance on the evolution of these species. Understanding the genetic basis of adaptive divergence will help to develop predictive models of the impacts of global change on the evolution of organisms. On the Galápagos alone, tourism is a major industry and human populations are increasing at a high rate. However, some islands are not colonized by humans and are reserved as protected areas. This mix of island types (human-affected and undisturbed) thus provides an excellent system to study the impact of human populations on the evolution of organisms. 

University: McGill
Program: PhD in Biology. 
Supervisor: Rowan Barrett, Redpath Museum, McGill. Canada.
Co-Supervisor: Owen McMillan, STRI. Panama

 

Daniel Schöning
Modelling forests as complex social-ecological systems

As human impact on the planet is rapidly increasing, forest governance and management more than ever face the difficult task of combining a multitude of different needs and objectives. This requires a more detailed understanding of how different functions are related to each other, and how trade-offs and synergies are generated. Conceptualizing forests as complex adaptive systems contributes to a bottom-up understanding of multifunctionality and, consequently, ecosystem service relationships. This understanding is required for novel management approaches that not only acknowledge but also take advantage of the inherent complexity of forested landscapes. More specifically, it allows interventions that not only respond to ecosystem service trade-offs and synergies present within a landscape, but that actively shape the relationships between services and influence the composition of ecosystem service bundles. In addition, a complex adaptive systems perspective on multifunctionality explicitly takes into account uncertainty as an inherent property of forests. This further integrates with management approaches that explore a range of possible future scenarios, and that account for imperfect knowledge about a forest system's current state and its direction of change.
Two multiple-use forests in Québec and Panama will serve as case studies to model social-ecological interactions. Bayesian networks will be used as a modelling tool to include available qualitative and quantitative data, as well as expert and stakeholder knowledge.


University: UQAM
Program: PhD in Forest Sciences
Supervisor: Christian Messier, UQAM/UQO, QC. Canada
Co-Supervisor: TBD

 

Daniel Reyes
Eco-evolutionary dynamics in Galapagos between Darwin’s finches and plants

I’m studying the evolutionary dynamics of Darwin’s finches and a plant species, Tribulus cistoides to address how this ecological interaction affects the evolution of these species. In this context, I am focusing on Tribulus to address the question: How are plants evolving in response to finches? To this end I will address the phenotypic variation in natural populations across islands, perform selection experiments based on mark and recapture to quantify the traits that are being selected by finches and quantitative genetics and genomics to see what the genetic basis of the phenotype variation are observed in Tribulus that could be related to the finch interaction. This would give us a new perspective on how species evolve and how important in their ecological interactions in the selection of specific traits.

University: McGill
Program: PhD in Biology. 
Supervisor: Andrew Hendry. Redpath Museum, McGill. Canada.
Co-Supervisor: Jaime A. Chaves. Colegio de Ciencias Biológicas y Ambientales, Universidad San Francisco de Quito. Quito. Ecuador

 

Francis van Oordt
Ecological dynamics in seabirds of the Peruvian Humboldt Current System

Seabirds are an excellent study group to understand optimal foraging and central place foraging theories, as they normally make long flights from their nests to find food in a patchy environment while caring for their eggs or feed their young. In the Peruvian Humboldt Current system, where some 100 species of seabird co-occur, about twenty species of seabirds are resident to this region, using the available resources year-long. One of the aims of my study is to describe foraging niche partitioning in the resident seabird assemblage using a stable isotope approach to understand resource use segregation. This technique is widely used among ecologists, but many times limited to a few indicators (bulk carbon and nitrogen isotopes). Expanding the calculation of niche metrics using a greater range of isotopes (e.g. sulfur, aminoacids specific, fatty acids, etc.) will give a better and more complete idea of niche segregation in this ecosystem. I will try also to detect foraging patterns and habitat segregation in the four species of piscivore seabirds (cormorants, boobies and pelicans) and how this is linked to physiological condition, stress and foraging effort and how these foraging components are associated to environmental disturbances in time in the Upwelling Humboldt Current System off the Peruvian coast.

University: McGill
Program: PhD in NRS.
Supervisor: Kyle Elliot, NRS, McGill. Canada.
Co-Supervisor: TBD

 

Johanna Andrea Martínez Villa
Effects of environmental and anthropogenic filters on functional composition in tree communities in tropical and temperate forest

My research focuses on understanding the effects of natural and anthropogenic filters on the functioning of tree communities. One of my goals is to study how climate change and environmental variation are changing the structure and functioning of the Andean forests across space and time in an elevational gradient. For this, I use the trait-based approach as a tool to study the effect of this climate variability on tree diversity. Another critical point of climate change is the accelerated rate of urbanization, and how urban development affects the tree functional diversity. Utilizing tropical and temperate cities as a natural laboratory, I try to understand how humans have changed the function and the structure of different types of forest. For this, I compare tree species in natural forest and urban environments in order to assess the functional intra-specific variability.

University: UQAM
Program: PhD in Biology
Supervisor: Alain Paquette
Co-Supervisor: Christian messier (UQAM), Alvaro Duque (UNAL)

 

Julia Briand
Understanding the impacts of anthropogenic stressors on the functional composition of Bocas del Toro coral reefs

Climate change and other anthropogenic drivers have a concentrated impact on oceanic biodiversity, often resulting in rapid compositional change. The coral reefs of the Bocas del Toro Archipelago in Panama are no exception. I am exploring how coral species assemblages in Bocas del Toro have shifted over a period of 15 years due to spatially and temporally heterogenous anthropogenic stressors. More specifically, I will assess the role of coral life-history strategies in characterizing ecosystem-level change through a trait-based approach. Conservation applications may arise as the relationships between coral functional traits and anthropogenically-driven change at different locations across Bocas del Toro are better understood.

University: McGill University
Program: MSc in Biology
Supervisor: Jennifer Sunday (McGill)
Co-Supervisor: Hector Guzman (STRI)

 

Victoria Glynn
Host-microbe co-evolution as a source of resiliency for Tropical Eastern Pacific corals

Stressful environmental conditions are becoming more prevalent under climate change, but organisms’ response mechanisms to abiotic stressors are widely unknown. Corals are some of the most threatened organisms, as up to one-third of species risk extinction this century. We can begin to ascertain how corals are able to persist under increasing environmental variability by taking a host-microbe co-evolution approach. Corals are a “meta-organism,” as within a single polyp all six kingdoms and three domains of life are in symbiosis with the host. In considering both the host and its symbionts, my research will explore how the synergy of (1) host genotype, (2) host phenotype, (3) host transcriptional response, and (4) microbiome community dynamics impact coral resilience to environmental stress. I will be scrutinizing these questions using Panama’s Tropical Eastern Pacific as a natural laboratory. Here, the region’s ecologically-dominant coral, Pocillopora damicornis, experiences drastic seasonal fluctuations in temperature, pH, oxygen, salinity, and nutrients, due to intense seasonal upwelling. In combining both controlled aquaria and field experiments, alongside implementing cutting-edge genomics tools, this exceptionally robust coral may provide insights for how other corals can persist in a warmer, high CO2 future.

University: McGill University
Program: Phd in Biology
Supervisor: Rowan Barrett (McGill)
Co-Supervisor: David Kline (STRI)

 

Maria Creighton
Determinants of extant species richness across primate clades

The Tree of Life shows an outstanding disparity in species richness across taxa with some lineages exhibiting impressive extant diversity while many others are depauperate. Within primates for instance, the aye-aye (genus Daubentonia) is a 51-million-year old clade composed of a single extant species. Meanwhile, closely related groups with more recent crown ages like sportive lemurs (genus Lepilemur) and mouse lemurs (genus Microcebus) contain dozens of species. So what leads to some lineages having such a large number of species, while others have relatively few? My thesis explores the evolutionary and taxonomic drivers of extant species richness across primates. Specifically, I explore how behaviour drives the emergence of new species, and how the application of popular species concepts can lead to biases in described species richness across lineages. Species are used as an important biological unit across many sub-disciplines of biology (e.g. conservation, ecology, zoology), making it important for us to understand the processes by which they arise.

University: McGill University
Program: MSc in Biology
Supervisor: Simon Reader (McGill)
Co-Supervisor: William Wcislo (STRI)

 

Adriel Michelle Sierra Pinilla
Metacommunity and functional dynamics of phyllosphere microbiome in tropical ecosystem

The leaf surface of tropical plants (phyllosphere) harbors a rich community of bacteria (including nitrogen fixing bacteria), fungi, algae, viruses, bryophyte, and lichen assembly, which influences the host and their environment. Given the global estimated size of the phyllosphere (approximate 109 km2 worldwide), the implications could be highly significant in local nutrient cycling and forest dynamics. Understanding how phyllosphere dynamics and functions will respond to habitat change, will help to create better conservation policies by taking into consideration a less conspicuous, albeit highly important component of tropical forest. My research project focuses on the metacommunity and functional dynamics of phyllosphere communities to understand how anthropogenic disturbances impacts species assembly and interactions at different hierarchical scales (within the host and forests). Specifically, I will investigate variation in the microbiome diversity, associated to epiphyllous bryophyte and lichen species within a host plant, and between forest fragment of different sizes and mature continuous forest. I will also investigate the phyllosphere microbiome ecosystem function (i.e., Nitrogen fixation) at large scale and how this is affected by habitat fragmentation in tropical forest.

University: Université Laval
Program: PhD in Biology
Supervisor: Juan Carlos Villarreal & Connie Lovejoy (LAVAL)
Co-Supervisor: Allen Herre (STRI)

Alumni

Stephen Clare
MSc in Natural Resource Science

Victoria Reed
MSc in Biology

Flor Santiago
MSc in Biology

Ivon Vassileva
MSc in Biology

Anne Sophie Caron
MSc in Natural Resources Science

Catherine Éva Ruest Bélanger
MSc in Forest Sciences

Marisol Valverde
MSc in Biology

Chloé Debyser
MSc in Biology

Brandon Varela
MSc in Biology

Chris Madsen
MSc in Biology

Jose Avila-Cervantes
Ph.D.  in Biology

Lèa Blondel
Ph.D. in Biology

Program Director
Andrew Hendry

Program Coordinator
Jose Avila Cervantes 
bess [at] mcgill.ca 

Administration

Program Director
Andrew Hendry

Program Coordinator
Jose Avila Cervantes

 

Funding provided by                   

NSERC/CRSNG
Image by NSERC/CRSNG.
     
McGill University
Image by McGill University.
       
UQAM
Image by UQAM.
        
U. Laval
Image by U. Laval.
       STRI

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