Research @ ACE Lab
Photo: Scott Nielsen
Jacqueline Dennett working in the boreal forest of northern Alberta.
Our Research

At any given moment, over a dozen graduate students and staff at the Applied Conservation Ecology Lab are actively engaged in research projects big and small, weaving together multitudes of ideas and disciplines for the greater goal of understanding and conserving our natural heritage. The breadth of our research topics defies easy explanation and summarization.

For example, if someone were to ask if we had focal species groups, among us would chorus a reply: of course! Some folks here study various invertebrates. Some folks here study certain species of rare plants. Yet more have written thesis after thesis on the ecology of the grizzly bear. And we have lab members who are studying amphibians, furbearers, bison...

Do we have a geographic focus? This is easier to answer. Though we have had graduate students engaged in conservation as far abroad as the jungles of South America and the ranges of Africa, our research often takes place close to its roots here in and around Alberta, in all its habitats and ecosystems, from the rocky mountains to the lake islands; from the boreal forests to the open grasslands.

Below you will find the three themes we build our research around, from which you can explore our current and past projects.

Wildlife Ecology
Animals in their Environment
Biodiversity
Many Species, Many Systems
Biogeography
The Big Picture
 
Current Projects
Alberta, Canada
Grizzly bears: social dimensions
South Canadian Rockies, Canada
Grizzly bears: ecosystem engineers
Banff, Yoho & Kootenay National Parks, Canada
Grizzly bears: fire & food productivity
EMEND, Northwest Alberta
EMEND: Forestry and Amphibians
Western Boreal Forest, Canada
Detection and translocation of boreal rare plants
Western Boreal Forest, Canada
Linear disturbances and bishop's cap
Alberta, Canada
Landscape biodiversity & forest dynamics
Alberta, Canada
Fruiting shrub ecology
Alberta, Canada
Low-cost UAV-SFM for conservation
Western Boreal Forest, Canada
Songbirds and in-situ oil sands projects
Western Boreal Forest, Canada
Forest fires and boreal birds
Alberta & British Columbia
Grizzly bears: population regulation and habitat
EMEND, Alberta
Ecology of boreal and saw-whet owls in Alberta
Ronald Lake, Northern Alberta
Wood bison: Trade-offs in summer habitat use
North America
Climate refugia for North American trees & songbirds
Western Boreal Forest, Alberta
Forest fragmentation and butterflies
EMEND, Alberta, Canada
Plants, mammals & variable retention harvesting
Lake of the Woods, Ontario
Island butterfly
biodiversity & biogeography
Southeastern Alberta, Canada
Grassland birds & linear disturbances
Glacier National Park, Montana, USA
Grizzly & black bears: dietary niche partitioning
Northeast Alberta, Canada
Seismic line forest recovery
Northeast Alberta, Canada
Monitoring ground lichens with UAVs
Alberta, Canada
Grizzly bears: testing surrogacy & umbrella effects
Alberta, Canada
Grizzly bears: landscape carrying capacity
Swan Hills, Alberta
UAV Forest Genetics Survey Trails
Alberta, Canada
Grizzly bear carrying capacity