News:

NEW PAPER: Demes, KW, RL Kordas, JP Jorve. 2012. Sites exposed to ferry traffic exhibit higher intertidal seaweed abundance and species richness. Hydrobiologia. Find it here.

Received the UBC Mobility award and a BRITE travel grant for a collaboration with Dr. Jenna Shinen in Chile.

The Vancouver area Marine Environment Research (MER) group website has been launched!! Check it out: mer.ubc.ca

COMMENT: Kroeker, KJ, RL Kordas, RN Crim, and GG Singh. 2011. Response to technical comment on ‘meta-analysis reveals negative yet variable effects of ocean acidification on marine organisms.’ Ecology Letters 14(9): E1-E2. Find it here.

Overview:

I am generally interested in how humans impact natural systems, with a focus on climate change. When greenhouse gases are released into the atmosphere, the earth warms and carbon dioxide is absorbed by the oceans (the latter is termed ocean acidification). Warming causes changes in patterns of rain and snowfall, which alters how much freshwater runs into oceans, changing salinity of seawater. In various aspects of my work, I’m looking at how warming, ocean acidification, and changes in salinity affect marine organisms. Though climate change research can be considered its own emerging field, I am interested in how these modern stressors fit into ecological theory.

I am currently a PhD candidate in zoology in the Harley lab and expect to finish my degree by spring 2013. During my PhD I have developed a novel method for heating organisms in the field and am looking at how warming affects patterns of abundance and diversity and species interactions. See my Research page for more details.