Trevor Lantz is a terrestrial ecologist who works at a variety of scales to understand environmental change in northern ecosystems. He and his students combine detailed field investigations, broad-scale change detection, spatial pattern analysis, and investigations focused on the traditional knowledge of local land users. By combining field investigations, regional mapping, and traditional knowledge, his research program seeks to link knowledge of key processes with data on landscape-level variation in critical drivers, and constraints. Current research projects in the western Arctic focus on permafrost degradation, storm surges, shrub encroachment, catastrophic lake drainage, anthropogenic disturbance, and community-based environmental monitoring.

Finn is a Research Assistant whose background stems in the environmental sciences. They have experience working with a variety of research teams across government and academia, including Simon Fraser University, the University of Northern British Columbia, and the BC Ministry of Forests.Their field work has involved everything from taking tree core samples in the subalpine on rugged backcountry trips to assessing wildfire burn severity and deploying weather stations in the Nechako Basin. Finn is excited to be utilizing their GIS skills to map permafrost thaw slumps across the Arctic as well as contributing to interview transcription with Inuvialuit and Gwich'in community members for the Arctic Landscape Ecology Lab.

Emma Street is a PhD student whose research explores traditional knowledge of permafrost in the Gwich’in and Inuvialuit Settlement Regions. Emma seeks to better understand thawing permafrost and the implications of the thaw in this region and contribute to observer-driver permafrost monitoring programs. Emma has a (Hons.) Bachelor of Social Science from the University of Ottawa in Anthropology and Environmental Studies and a Master of Environmental Studies from York University (Toronto) where her research focused on the social, cultural, and economic consequences of thawing permafrost in Churchill, Manitoba. Between degrees, Emma worked in federal politics and as an outdoor educator and high school English teacher. Outside of the lab, Emma can be found covered in craft supplies, flour, or dirt.

Meghan Hamp is a first-year PhD student in the Department of Environmental Studies, working with Dr. Trevor Lantz. Her research focuses on understanding the impacts of climate-related and anthropogenic disturbances on plant community composition and carbon storage across the across the Inuvialuit, and Gwich’in Settlement regions. The combined effects of climate warming and more frequent disturbances such as storm surges, tundra fires, and thaw slumps, as well as the increased the pressure of anthropogenic excavation activities are causing rapid shifts in tundra vegetation and soils. These ongoing changes are likely to have significant implications for a variety of ecological processes, including altered carbon cycling, impacted plant community composition, and altered ecosystem structure and functioning. Meghan’s goal for her PhD is to identify the determinants of tundra plant community and soil carb recovery and to develop a predictive framework that can inform decision making and ecological modelling.

Meghan is from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Saskatchewan. Her love of the tundra ecosystem began during her undergraduate degree when she had the opportunity to assist with fieldwork looking at seedling growth after wildfire in the Canadian and Alaskan boreal and tundra ecosystems. Meghan’s goal is to prioritize community concerns in the outcomes of her research to facilitate meaningful relationships and draw focus to research that is beneficial to communities who are directly impacted by climate change and climate-exacerbated disturbances in these areas. When she’s not studying, Meghan is outside climbing mountains and identifying plants with her dog, Willow.

Kate is a Masters student focusing on Inuvialuit and Gwich'in Indigenous and traditional knowledge of muskox. She grew up as a settler on the traditional territory of the Syilx Okanagan Peoples, where she first fell in love with her natural environment. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Linguistics from UBC, where she focused on language documentation and revitalization, as well as social influences on dialects and speech. Kate has since grown a passion for the ways in which ecology and language intersect, and how that connection can support both language revitalization and natural resource conservation. She has been working for Environment and Climate Change Canada since August 2020, where she is supporting the inclusion of Indigenous language and knowledge into the southern mountain caribou recovery strategy amendment. She has also worked on several projects supporting Indigenous nations in BC in their language revitalization efforts; specifically creating resources aimed at connecting Indigneous youth to the land through their language. Kate feels incredibly grateful to be able to combine her passions for language and the environment in her graduate studies. Outside of work, Kate can often be found running, cross country skiing, or generally being pulled up a mountain by her dog, Zoe.

Hailing from Belize, Pete is an avid outdoorsman, nature lover and problem solver. Having just recently completed his Undergraduate degree at Memorial University of Newfoundland in Geography and Biology, he seized the opportunity to apply his passion, and skills in GIS to pursue a Master’s Degree that looks at permafrost monitoring and melting patterns in the Arctic Landscape Ecology Lab. As if moving from Belize to Newfoundland wasn't enough, after six years there, he didn't think twice about taking the big leap from coast to coast, island to island to Victoria. Pete is well-rounded in all seasonal activities. Seldom seen without a camera in hand, he enjoys capturing the essence of wildlife in the natural landscapes we call home. Armed with a unique upbringing and perspective from living in vastly different places he hopes to use this to aid in problem solving and research.

Jackie grew up in Toronto dreaming of the ocean. She is a lover of sharks, rays, whales and anything aquatic. She has an interdisciplinary background in marine and freshwater biology and geography with a focus on the human dimensions of natural resource use, management, and conservation. As an applied environmental social scientist, Jackie is particularly interested in how social science methods and approaches can be used to improve the management and stewardship of aquatic resources. She’s done work in Brazil, Madagascar, Mexico, Peru, the Philippines, and Thailand, mainly focused on improving the sustainability and conservation outcomes of marine wildlife tourism. As a postdoctoral researcher, she is looking forward to working in partnership with the Gwich’in Renewable Resources Board to understand the impacts of environmental change on fishing livelihoods in the Gwich’in Settlement Area in the Canadian western Arctic.