This project is led by Ph.D student Sherry Young and Dr. David Hik whom are based at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada.
Project Leader
Sherry's education started in France as an undergrad in Biology-Ecology. She did a Master Degree in Terrestrial Ecology in Sweden with a specialty in boreal and arctic ecosystems (Interview). After several student research projects emphasising on northern plant-mammal interactions and land-use changes due to climate change, she started using camera traps to study changes in plant and mammal phenology (Publication). In 2018, Sherry joined the Snow Leopard Trust (SLT) in Kyrgyzstan for a year to help with camera trapping (Field Blog) as well as participating in raising awareness through public talks in Bishkek, Europe and Central America. Sherry took advantage of this time to build a research project on mountain ecosystem resilience and snow leopard conservation. She is now enrolled at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada, where she is based and patiently waiting for the pandemic to be under control to get back to the field in Kyrgyzstan.
Sherry is part of the Soapbox Science and the 1MWIS platforms which equally promote women scientists and the research they do. She is also involved in the anti-harassment, the health and safety (THSC) and the communication (MMC) committees of the Teaching Support Staff Union (TSSU) at SFU. Most recently, she became Head of Communications for the Snow Leopard Network.
She can be reached at sherry_young@sfu.ca
Project Supervisor
David is a Professor of Ecology and Associate Dean (Academic) in the Faculty of Science at Simon Fraser University. His research is focused on studies of the structure and dynamics of plant and animal populations and their interactions. He works mostly in mountain, northern and arid environments, where landscape heterogeneity, climate change, and seasonal variability have a strong influence on ecological processes. Through a variety of long-term and/or large-scale observations and experimental studies, his work has contributed to new understanding about the ecological consequences of a warming planet; the development of strategies for conserving biodiversity; and opportunities for maintaining and restoring disturbed ecosystems. Much of his long-term work has been focused in the southwest Yukon; and other research projects are conducted in the Rocky Mountains (Alberta and BC), and internationally in Iceland and Costa Rica. A second general area of inquiry is focused on the science-policy interface, knowledge translation, Open Science, and the resilience of social-environmental systems.
Previously, he held the Canada Research Chair in Northern Ecology at the University of Alberta, was Executive Director of the Canadian International Polar Year Secretariat, and served as President of the International Arctic Science Committee. David is a Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society and a recipient of the RCGS's Martin Bergmann Medal for Excellence in Arctic Leadership and Science. In 2017 he co-created a new, massive open online course, “Mountains 101”, which is currently the #1 ranked environmental science MOOC in the world.
He can be reached at dhik@sfu.ca
Committee Member
Chelsea is a community ecologist based at SFU that adresses topics in spatial and ecosystem ecology. She considers how communities of organisms assemble, the interactions are between organisms of similar and different trophic groups, and how their traits contribute to ecosystem function. Much of Chelsea's work takes place in watersheds, addressing community assembly and dispersal through river networks and the effects of landscape composition and structure on terrestrial-aquatic linkages. Research encompasses techniques as varied as laboratory experiments, field experiments, observational data, geostatistical modeling, simulations, and data synthesis
Chelsea is also an avid skier and adventurer. You can find out more about Chelsea on her website.
Committee Member
Jonathan is a professor at SFU with a specialty in Aquatic Ecology and Conservation. His research focuses on the ecology and conservation of aquatic systems. Water is crucial for life, but are often heavily impacted by human activities. Jonathan's general interests include biodiversity, watersheds, species interactions, biogeochemistry, subsidies, ecosystem engineers, disturbance, and global change. He does much of his work in the freshwaters that Pacific salmon call home and so, not surprisingly, work quite a bit on this group of ecologically important species. He aims to do research that has conservation and management implications, using a combination of field experiments, field observations, and modeling.
You can discover more about Jonathan's research here.
Committee MemberCole is a conservation biologist and wildlife ecologist with broad interests in using sience to inform biodiversity conservation, environmental management, and human-wildlife coexistence. His recent work has focused primarily on the ecology, management and monitoring of terrestrial mammal communities in the transforming landscapes of western Canada. Cole maintains diverse research interests in ecological methodology, carnivore conservation, and human-wildlife relations around the world.
In 2017, he started the Wildlife Coexistence Lab (WildCo) at the University of British Columbia, where he is a Canada Research Chair in Terrestrial Mammal Conservation and an assistant professor in the department of Forest Resources Management.
You can discover more about Cole, his research and lab here or in the video on the right.
