About us

Global biodiversity science tackling local ecological challenges

what we aim towards

Our vision is to be a world leader in the science needed to monitor, understand, and manage the health and sustainability of Great Lake ecosystems.

The team

Featured

Dr. Kevin McCann

Director, Centre for Ecosystem Management

Kevin McCann is a mathematical ecologist that works on the relationship between biostructure and ecosystem function, stability, and sustainability. His lab combines theory and field work to look at how global change alters aquatic biostructure in Canadian Shield lakes, marine ecosystems, and floodplains. This research scales from genes to ecosystems and can be used to develop large scale perspectives on sustainability in a changing world.

Dr. Joey Bernhardt

Manager and Senior Research Associate, Centre for Ecosystem Management

I am an ecologist, and my research aims to advance our fundamental understanding of the drivers of biodiversity change and the consequences of these changes for human well-being.

My research advances a solution to this research challenge by studying the processes that unite all of life on Earth – the metabolic processes by which living systems uptake, store and convert energy, matter and information from their environments to grow and persist. I combine theory, experiments and synthesis to study how living systems change as the environment changes, and what these changes mean for human well-being.

Dr. Kayla Hale

Research Associate, Centre for Ecosystem Management

Kayla Hale is a theoretical ecologist that studies the structure and dynamics of complex networks of species interactions. Her research focuses on how different types of interactions – with consumers, resources, and mutualists – interface to affect ecological systems across scales, from organisms’ behavior to emergent ecosystem services like agricultural yield.

Dr. Amanda Cicchino

Research Associate, Centre for Ecosystem Management

Amanda is an integrative ecologist focused on understanding how organisms respond to environmental change. She uses thermal physiological, genomic, and computational approaches in her investigations of species vulnerability to gradual and rapid environmental changes. As a Centre for Ecosystem Management Postdoctoral Fellow in the Bernhardt Lab, Amanda is focused on answering how local spatial temperature variation can mediate – or exacerbate – organismal vulnerability to warming temperatures in the Great Lakes.

OUR ASSOCIATES

Coming soon!

STRATEGIC ADVISORY BOARD

Our Strategic Advisory Board (SAB) provides us with annual recommendations regarding the prioritization of our activities. These recommendations are rooted in the realms of research, teaching, and outreach. Current members of the Board include the following:

Heather Stirratt, Director (IJC)

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Andrew Muir, Director of Science (GLFC)

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Trisha Westman, Acting Director (OMNRF)

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Dave Brown, Director of Fish & Wildlife (OMNRF)

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Hilary Oakman, Acting Regional Director of Aquatic Ecosystems (DFO)

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Tricia Mitchell, Regional Director of Science (DFO)

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Ryan Lauzon, Program Supervisor of Fisheries Management (Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation)

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Dr. Jim Bence, Emeritus Faculty (QFC at MSU)

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Dr. Mazyar Fallah, Dean of the College of Biological Sciences (UofG)

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Dr. Robert Hanner, Professor (University of Guelph)

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Heather Stirratt, Director (IJC) - Andrew Muir, Director of Science (GLFC) - Trisha Westman, Acting Director (OMNRF) - Dave Brown, Director of Fish & Wildlife (OMNRF) - Hilary Oakman, Acting Regional Director of Aquatic Ecosystems (DFO) - Tricia Mitchell, Regional Director of Science (DFO) - Ryan Lauzon, Program Supervisor of Fisheries Management (Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation) - Dr. Jim Bence, Emeritus Faculty (QFC at MSU) - Dr. Mazyar Fallah, Dean of the College of Biological Sciences (UofG) - Dr. Robert Hanner, Professor (University of Guelph) -

An announcement pertaining to the appointment of our Strategic Advisory Board can be found here.