Principle Investigator
Dr J Scott MacIvor
Assistant Professor
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Toronto Scarborough
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto St. George
Phone: 416-208-8191
Office: SY364 UTSC
email: scott(dot)macivor(at)utoronto.ca
macivorlab.ca
@jscottmacivor
Assistant Professor
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Toronto Scarborough
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto St. George
Phone: 416-208-8191
Office: SY364 UTSC
email: scott(dot)macivor(at)utoronto.ca
macivorlab.ca
@jscottmacivor
We are looking for differently skilled and highly-motivated people to join our lab. If interested, please contact us!
Post Doctoral Fellow
Dr. Alessandro Filazzola
Alex is a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Centre for Urban Environments, working with local conservation authorities to support urban biodiversity. He is broadly interested in the effects of extreme climate events on ecosystems. He is trained as a community ecologist, but frequently uses data science techniques to answer questions to protect and promote biological conservation.
Website
Google Scholar
PhDs
Charlotte de Keyzer co-supervised by Dr. James Thomson
My PhD research focuses on plant-pollinator interactions and understanding how these interactions, especially plant-pollinator phenologies, are altered by urbanization and climate change. I combine diverse methods to answer my research questions, including manipulative experiments in controlled environment chambers, advanced statistical modelling, and city-wide field observations through a network of citizen scientists.
Twitter
Website
Google scholar
Charlotte de Keyzer co-supervised by Dr. James Thomson
My PhD research focuses on plant-pollinator interactions and understanding how these interactions, especially plant-pollinator phenologies, are altered by urbanization and climate change. I combine diverse methods to answer my research questions, including manipulative experiments in controlled environment chambers, advanced statistical modelling, and city-wide field observations through a network of citizen scientists.
Website
Google scholar
Nicholas Sookhan
Urbanization is often linked to the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning (BEF). But urban areas are spatially heterogeneous and therefore may support BEF. My thesis explores how the amount and configuration of semi-natural habitat relates to pollinator diversity and service in urban areas. I’m also interested in the application of LiDAR data and UAV imagery to quantifying pollinator habitat quality in urban and peri-urban areas.
Google scholar
Garland Xie
Cities are hotspots for biological invasions, where non-native species degrade native biodiversity and ecosystem services. Urban green spaces in cities benefit people, but also act as a source (or sink) for invasive species. My thesis explores how invasive plants can establish and spread within and across a mosaic of different urban green spaces. I also get to try out new quantitative tools since I'm a big fan of data analysis :).
Twitter Linkedin
Github
Google scholar
Adriano Roberto co-supervised by Dr. Marney Isaac
Fertile crop land is being lost by growing urban spaces, and with the implementation of green infrastructure becoming central to urban policy, green roofs are a great way to recover that lost land. My thesis explores the effects of environmental stressors on plant diversity, resource facilitation and productivity of food crops on extensive green roofs. Outside of academia I enjoy gardening, hiking and rock climbing.
Google scholar
Masters ~~
Madison Marshall
Urban areas are heterogeneous landscapes, challenging the persistence of local biodiversity. Bees and wasps are central place foragers, relying on resources in the local landscape to build their nests and provision their offspring. My thesis investigates how the urban landscape affects cavity-nesting bee and wasp community diversity and foraging behaviour. You can find me in your neighbour’s backyard, engaging them in community science and taking lots of photos of bees!
Sisley Irwin
Wild bees benefit from local-scale habitat creation in urban green spaces and this is important because they are critical pollinators that visit native plants and contribute to food security. My thesis explores wild pollinator communities in The Meadoway, a 16 km Hydro-Corridor in Toronto. I work closely with the TRCA to develop plant-pollinator interaction networks in order to rank plants used in restoration and understand the role of management practices and urbanization in shaping communities.
Andrew Nichols co-supervised with Dr. Marney Isaac
Green Infrastructure such as green roofs have become an ever-increasing focus of sustainable urban design as they provide many ecosystem services. However, such ecosystem services are largely dependant on the overall health and productivity of both soil and plant components. My thesis aims to investigate soil carbon and nitrogen pools in green roofs, as well as the underlying processes of microbial nitrogen mineralization and its contribution not only to green roof nutrient cycling, but to the maintenance of plant health and productivity to maximize ecosystem services.
Patricia Prelich (MEnvSc)
To enhance species at risk conservation, more work needs to be done on investigating the resources which species at risk use. My project aims to expand and digitize the MacIvor lab synoptic pollen collection which contains pollen samples from different plant species within Ontario. Making the collection more accessible will allow for increased collaboration opportunities within the research sector and promote future research endeavours involving plant-pollinator interactions.
Check out my blog for cool pollen photos and more!
Undergraduate Honours Thesis Students (2019-2020)
Krishan Sivanathan
Traditional techniques used to measure pollen deposition require the removal of a flower's stigma, which causes the inability to draw a direct comparison between pollen deposition and reproductive success. My thesis explores how "stigmagraphs" and macrophotography can be used to quantify pollen deposition without the removal of the stigma and determine whether Lobelia siphilitica is pollen limited in a semi-natural urban green space. I enjoy working with others in the field and listening to music!
Current Research Technicians
Antonio Lorenzo
Shannon Underwood
Tim Lee
Shannon Underwood
Tim Lee
Alumni
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Defended!!
MSc (Ecology and Evolutionary Biology) 2018-2020 Julie Wang Masters of Applied Environmental Science 2020 Carolyn Thickett (Current: BEEc at YorkU) 2019 Miranda Klymiuk 2018 Galila Wondwessen 2017 Vickie Do |
Undergraduate honours thesis (BSc) 2019-2020 Shannon Underwood 2018-2019 Waqqas Khalid (Current: M Anth, UTSC) Zhuo Wei (Current: MStat UofT) Stephen Grabinsky (Current: NSERC USRA) Praveen Jayarajan 2017-2018 Bruce Malloch (Current: PhD., Western) Antonio Lorenzo (Current: MSc., UofT) Chet Greene Inkar Artygalina *UTSC top undergraduate award Kabir Plahay Mandy Yuen 2016-2017 Menilek Beyene (Current: PhD., UTSC) Vicky Nguyen (Current: Architecture) Caroline Mitchell 2015-2016 Anushree Bhatt Shameek Das |