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.