PEOPLE & PROJECTS

Ian was a postdoctoral fellow investigating the impacts of natural and anthropogenic disturbances on woodland caribou habitat in west-central Alberta. He has broad research interests including behavioural ecology, zoology, animal behaviour, wildlife conservation, and agronomy. During his PhD, he focused on how predation risk influenced the spatial and foraging behaviour of small mammal species in Taiwan. Ian is an Assistant Professor at the National Taiwan Normal University.

Oliver’s research (MSc - June 2025) quantified the relationship between predator diet and caribou distribution across a gradient in apparent competition within the range of Northern Mountain caribou in NW BC and southern YT. He worked in partnership with Indigenous and non-Indigenous governments to support ongoing efforts to better understand the influence of landscape change on the future dynamics of Northern Mountain caribou.

Shannon’s PhD (August 2024) research was focused on the habitat ecology of Canada lynx in north central BC. Specifically, he investigated the response of lynx to environmental change associated with widespread and rapid forest harvesting as well as the ecological basis of surveys used to assess lynx populations. Shannon used a combination of non-invasive survey methods and GPS collars placed on individual lynx to address his research questions.

Shannon completed his BSc in Biology at the University of Alaska Southeast and his MSc at the University of Northern British Columbia. His research is conducted in and adjacent to the John Prince Research Forest (co-managed by UNBC, Tl’azt’en Nation, Nak’azdli Whut’en, and Binche Keyoh) where he has worked since 2012. 

Éloïse completed her MSc in December 2023 where she studied the habitat selection of boreal caribou in British Columbia and Québec. Her research explored how local weather interacted with anthropogenic disturbance to influence habitat selection.  

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Éloïse completed her bachelor's degree in Ecology at Université de Sherbrooke and completed her MSc at UQAR (Université du Québec à Rimouski) in partnership with UNBC.  

Hailing from Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Angus Smith graduated in 2022 with a MSc from UNBC. His work looked at the effect of an industrial winter road on the behaviour, stress physiology, and movement choices of barren-ground caribou. Despite many long days out on the Tundra he’d go back in a second! His research interests include the effect of habitat change on the movement and habitat selection of wildlife, and how modern technologies such as GPS collars and satellite imagery can be leveraged to address questions in ecology.

Cherie completed her PhD in 2020 and is a Geneticist with the Molecular Ecology Lab at the USGS Alaska Science Center.  She has a background in using genetics to research the relationship between enigmatic species and their environments.  While in the NWEC lab, she worked on a variety of research projects focused on the coastal tailed frog, a unique species endemic to the streams and forests of the Coastal and Cascade mountains of western North America.  Broadly, she used genetics to better understand the diversity of populations near the northern extent of the species’ range, as well as the feeding ecology of larvae.  She also studied environmental influences on larval density in their natal streams.  She loved the work because she got to know a unique species and spend time in the breathtaking Coastal Mountains of North America.

Hang was a postdoctoral fellow supporting a collaboration between UNBC and the BC Ministry of Forests. He examined long-term trends in forest and habitat change across riparian areas in BC. Results are informing an assessment of existing policy and regulation designed to maintain non-fish biodiversity adjacent to rivers, lakes, and wetlands. Hang now works as an Assistant Professor at the South China Agricultural University.

Lisa defended her PhD dissertation in April 2024. Her research focused on moose responses to anthropogenic forest disturbance. Specifically, she explored how forest change affected their diet, use of forest structure, and migration. She also assessed methods for estimating moose abundance using data from an aerial survey and camera traps.  

Originally from Seattle, Washington, Lisa completed her BA in biology at St. Olaf College in Minnesota. She then conducted research in the Indian Himalayas for a year on a Fulbright grant and completed her MS in biology at Texas State University. 

Suzanne completed an MSc (December 2023) focused on the spatial apparent competition between mountain caribou, white-tailed deer, and moose in west-central Alberta. She evaluated the seasonal overlap in resource selection among these species and the implications of this overlap for caribou survival.

Suzanne was originally from Calgary, Alberta, and completed her bachelor's degree at Montana State University studying Fish and Wildlife Ecology and Management. She has an over-arching interest in understanding how anthropogenic disturbance on the landscape influences wildlife behavior. 

Abby successfully defended her MA thesis in May 2022. She used a case-study approach and semi-structured interviews to understand the effectiveness of a federal program designed to support community-based Guardians programs. The funding was promised to “provide Indigenous Peoples with greater opportunity to exercise responsibility in stewardship of their traditional lands, waters and ice”. Communities from across Canada shared their definitions of "Guardianship" and experiences in developing and sustaining programs designed to support stewardship and monitoring of their lands.

David successfully defended his MSc thesis in February 2020. He used remote-cameras and stable isotope analysis to investigate habitat use and diet of martens in the unique ecological context of Haida Gwaii. He found that martens were more likely to be detected in landscapes with less logging and optimal amounts of road and forest edge habitat. He also found martens were more likely to be detected near marine shorelines; a result paralleled by the diet analysis, which showed a large proportion of marine invertebrates. David is passionate about integrated ecosystem-based management programs that improve protection of natural systems.