Contact & People

Research Interests: Investigating regulation of monoterpene metabolism, and developing genetic diagnostic markers for lavender plants.

Research Interests: Examining the effects of biosolids application on grassland songbird nest density, nest success and food availability in central British Columbia.

Research Interests: TBD – gut mycobiome

Research Interests: Developing and implementing a life cycle Sustainability Assessment Platform (SAP) for the Canadian egg industry. The tool will serve as a decision support mechanism for Canadian egg farms by assessing their sustainability performance across various relevant indicators and in relation to different industry benchmarks. The platform will also help farmers analyse the mitigation potential associated with different sustainability best practices and green technologies and help the Egg Farmers of Canad

Research Interests: Life cycle analysis of alternative uses of wood chips in orchards and vineyards.

Research Interests: Network modeling of the impact of the mountain pine beetle (MPB) epidemic in BC at a social and ecological level. Assessing and modelling the resilience of landscape-scale social-ecological systems to MPB outbreaks and disturbances in general.

Research Interests: Evaluating how the secondary metabolites of non-native mustards alter soil fungal communities.

Research Interests: Study of the relationship between functional diversity, connectivity and resilience of coral reef communities with the use of a model framed with a complex systems science approach

Research Interests: Exploring the chemistry of inflorescences from Breadfruit, a tropical fruit tree that grows well in many countries plagued by mosquito-vectored diseases, for their ability to repel mosquitos that carry diseases.

Research Interests: Using molecular markers to evaluate the hybridization of Sockeye Salmon and Kokanee (Oncorhynchus nerka) in Lake Skaha.

Research Interests: Using network theory to assess the connectivity between ecosystem services and the resilience of multifunctional landscapes.

Research Interests: Study of the cellular and molecular mechanism of neuronal remodeling in mammals and Drosophila Melanogaster.

Research Interests: Development of a sustainable poultry feed formulation decision support tool for Canadian Egg Farmers.

Research Interests: Enhancing wolf monitoring methods in the Kootenay region.

Research Interests: Investigating the productivity and fruit quality of sweet cherry using deficit irrigation and orchard floor amendments on newly and previously established orchards in the Okanagan Valley.

Research Interests: The effect of diet modification on clinical disease activity, the gut microbiome and immune response in inflammatory bowel disease.

Research Interests: Using a toxicogenomic approach to evaluate the detoxification of nicotine in agricultural insect pests.

Research Interests: Studying grapevine seedling establishment in respect to using rootstock selection and inoculation by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi to increase tolerance to pathogens and environmental stress.

Research Interests: Identify the effect of microbial inocula on cannabis growth and biochemical properties.

Research Interests: Grapevine virus epidemiology. Research affiliate at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Summerland Research and Development Center

Research Interests: Life cycle assessment of renewable energy and waste valorization options for Canadian egg supply chains and development of a regionally-resolved technology deployment decision support tool.

Research Interests: Population ecology of small mammals, snowshoe hares, and red squirrels in post-fire and clear-cut landscapes in BC.

Research Interests: Investigating possible effects of invasive AMF to the surrounding ecosystem. Under which factors they establish, persist and spread and what effect do they have on native plants and soil biota.

Research Interests: Determining biological and epidemiological characteristics of pathogenic fungi isolated from sweet cherry in the Okanagan.

Research Interests: To investigate multi-species biofilms, and evaluate the biofilm formation, and the role of the viable but non culturable state in multi-species biofilms on leafy greens. Furthermore, the multi-species biofilms will be evaluated using confocal microscopy, ddPCR and qPCR.

Research Interests: Studying vineyard microbiology and fermentation flavor compounds.

Research Interests: Studying the interactive effects of mites and cougars on California bighorn sheep in the south Okanagan Valley; Developing a bighorn sheep connectivity and disease exposure-risk model with spatial ecology.

Research Interests: Examining migration ecology of core and peripheral populations for riparian species that breed in the south Okanagan.

Research Interests: Elucidating the role of dispersal and diversity patterns in freshwater diatoms.

Research Interests: Population genetics of naturally-occurring Saccharomyces uvarum yeast in Okanagan vineyards.

Research Interests: Ectomycorrhizal community assembly and exoenzyme production in response to an edaphic gradient of phosphorus abundance and form.

Research Interests: investigate whether the addition of different concentrations of sulfur dioxide at crush will affect the population/community dynamics of wine yeast participating in alcoholic fermentations of Pinot Gris at a Kelowna winery, as well as the subsequent sensory characteristics of these wines.

Research Interests: Improving regeneration method for Cannabis sativa L.

Research Interests: Effects of climate change on the invasive non-native plant spotted knapweed (Centaurea stoebe) and the seed-feeding biological control insects Larinus spp. and Urophora spp.

Research Interests: Examine the effect of root system variability on the plant responsiveness to arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). Evaluate the reliability of root system as a predictor of the mycorrhizal response.

Research Interests: Screening and characterization of native fungal and bacterial biological control agents for use in the control of Grapevine Trunk Diseases.

Research Interests: Prospection and characterization of antimicrobial peptides in plants.

Research Interests: Urban bat population research in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Research Interests: Investigation of structural and regulatory genes responsible for terpene biosynthesis in Lavandula.

Research Interests: Studying the population genetics of Western Rattlesnakes to help inform conservation management.

Research Interests: Employing life cycle assessment to quantify GHG emissions and energy costs of irrigation in the Okanagan.

Research Interests: Developing a predictive model of human-large carnivore interactions and their outcomes by studying multi-use landscapes in western Canada.

Research Interests: Assess human-induced trophic cascades on farmlands; identify changes in predator diet and movement patterns in response to non-lethal predator control measures; identify key variables that predict caracal kill site selection on farmlands.

Research Interests: Landscape ecology of mycorrhizal fungi and their interactions with tree ranges.

Research Interests: Investigating the impacts of wildfire on martens (Martes americana) and fishers (M. pennanti) to improve management of fire-prone forests and promote recovery of these ecologically sensitive carnivores on burned landscapes; modeling marten and fisher selection of post-fire habitats using telemetry and snow tracking data; assessing female reproductive success and kit survival in burned areas using remote cameras.

Research Interests: Spatially resolved life-cycle (LCA) modelling of Canadian field crop production systems.

Research Interests: Mule deer responses to landscape change in southern British Columbia.

Research Interests: Following nitrogen relationships between ectomycorrhizal fungi and pine seedlings germinating after wildfire or clearcutting.

Research Interests: The inflammatory crosstalk between gut and heart under high-fat diet.

Research Interests: Life cycle assessment of nitrogen efficiency strategies for the Canadian Egg Industry.