Prof Christopher DG Harley (Chris’ Webpage)
Chris is an ecologist who has been at UBC since 2005. He and his students study marine benthic ecosystems, with a focus on the effects of climatic warming, ocean acidification, and other aspects of global change. In his research, he blends experiments and observations in the lab and field to test novel hypotheses. He tries to bring this approach to Biol 326 by structuring labs around unanswered scientific questions, by getting students out into the field as often as possible, and by providing students the opportunity to see where their curiosity will lead them.
Prof Alyssa Gehman
Dr. Sandra Emry
Sandra is a data science and teaching postdoctoral fellow based at the University of British Columbia. She is broadly interested in the effects of environmental stressors on marine communities supported by foundation species (eg. barnacles, mussels, algae). She enjoys being in the field in all types of weather, especially when she can bring her two sons and golden retriever along.
Teaching Assistants:
Sophie Johnston (she/her)
Josh Yang (he/him)
Former Teaching Assistants:
Amelia Hesketh – she/her (personal website http://www.ameliahesketh.com)
Amelia is a PhD candidate in the Harley lab. In her research, she investigates how natural and anthropogenic environmental gradients (e.g. temperature, pH) affect foundation species and facilitative processes in the intertidal zone. Amelia likes teaching courses where students gain confidence in conducting scientific research and leave with transferable skills. Outside of work, you can find Amelia running, hiking, diving, knitting, playing board and tabletop games, and undertaking DIY household projects with a great deal of confidence but varying levels of success
Jessica Li (she/her)
Jessica is an undergraduate honours student in the Harley Lab. Her project explores the interactive effects of salinity and temperature on the local intertidal sea star, Evasterias troschelii. She hopes to be able to add to the library of knowledge on this understudied species while gaining a better understanding of how stressor combinations might affect both organism survival and performance. When she is not in the lab, Jessica loves to crochet, cross-stitch, read, and walk (or swim) at the beach!
Jessica Kennedy
Jess is a MSc student in the Harley lab and the Marshall lab. Her research focuses on intertidal mussel freeze tolerance. Little known fact: intertidal mussels are able to survive being frozen (as are many other sessile intertidal inverts from Arctic and temperate climates), however we have almost no idea how these organisms are able to survive the extreme stress of freezing. So, Jess hopes to shed some light on this question through her research. In her spare time Jess likes listening to podcasts, reading, and baking!
Madeleine Abbott (twitter @mad_abbott)
Madeleine is an undergraduate honours student in the Harley lab. Her research explores the host-parasite relationship between hermit crabs and rhizocephalan parasites. She is interested in how rhizocephalans affect host behaviour and thermal tolerance, as well as what determines the distribution of these parasites in the field. As a former BIOL 326 student, she is excited to be involved in the course again! When she isn’t busy wrangling hermit crabs, she enjoys hiking and horseback riding.
Miranda Andersen
Miranda is an undergraduate student in the Harley Lab. For her honours thesis, she is describing the ecological relationships of the orange-striped green anemone, Diadumene lineata, a widely distributed clonal species that has been introduced to the coastal habitats of British Columbia. Through this work, she hopes to gain an understanding of how D. lineata effects indigenous species, while spending lots of time in the field. Miranda can’t get away from the water, swimming, kayaking, and diving are some of her favourite activities!
Former Teaching Assistants:
Evgeniya (Jane) Yangel (twitter @EvgeniyaYangel)
Jane is a second year Master’s Student in O’Connor and Parfrey labs at UBC. She wants to understand how climate change affects the diversity of aquatic microbes and ecosystem functions that they provide. Jane’s research looks at the effects of warming on bacterial diversity and wether those effects can be offset by introduction of organismal dispersal between the lakes. Outside of school, Jane loves spending time in the outdoors, hiking, snowboarding and playing volleyball. She is very excited about teaching BIOL 326 and wants to spread the love towards all the cool invertebrates and microscopic creatures living in the wild!
Graham Brownlee (twitter @GrahamBrownlee)
Graham is a masters student in Chris Harley’s lab. He is interested in how physiology and species interactions can help predict catastrophic changes in marine communities. For his research, he will study how producer and consumer species in eelgrass ecosystems respond to climate change, how this impacts their interactive balance and whether we can predict where shifts from producer- to consumer-dominance, or vice-versa, may occur. Beyond school, Graham likes to dive, ski, rock climb and be in the outdoors!
Fiona Beaty (twitter @fionabeaty)
Fiona is a masters student in Chris Harley’s lab. She is interested in how local adaptation to marine environments may impact species responses to climate-linked stressors. For her research, Fiona will study the physiological and ecological responses of two populations of a predatory marine snail to ocean acidification and ocean warming. Fiona is super excited to teach this semester, and pumped to learn about her students and from them! Outside of research she loves to bike, rock climb, read, and explore the city’s music scene.
Cassandra Konecny (twitter @CassKonecny)
I am a masters student and Ocean Leader fellow in the Harley Lab at the University of British Columbia. I am studying how climate change and increased thermal variability will impact tidepool communities. Outside of my research I am also an avid diver and all-things-outdoors type person. I love being in the field, playing with geospatial data, counting invertebrates, and sharing my passion for the ocean with others. I am excited for an awesome semester of asking questions, exploring biological systems, teaching and learning! If you aren’t bored of me yet, you can read more here!
Natalie Westwood (Natalie’s Instagram)
Natalie is a PhD student working with Diane Srivastava. Her research focuses on forest fragmentation in the neotropics and its impact on aquatic decomposer communities in treeholes in Costa Rica. The main focus of her research looks at top-down and bottom-up effects, although she occasionally dabbles in bromeliads. Natalie is always excited to watch students become fascinated with different parts of ecology and create their own questions. When she is taking a break, you can find her swimming, doing yoga, badly dancing, or binging Netflix with a bag of chips.
Sandra Emry
Sandra is an MSc student supervised by Chris. She is broadly interested in how anthropogenic change is affecting coastal communities. Her research is focused on looking at how seaweeds will respond to multiple stressors, and identifying tipping points in individuals and whole communities. Sandra’s favourite part of ecology is getting out and doing field work, rain or shine! Courses that allow students to see firsthand how natural systems work are always the most memorable. Otherwise, you can find Sandra hiking in the mountains, or swimming in the ocean with her best friend and golden retriever, Ruby.
Kat Anderson (Kat’s Webpage, @KatMAnderson)
Kat is a PhD candidate working with Chris. Her research interests focus on looking at how climate change impacts the relationship between an herbivore (vegetarian snail, crab, urchin, etc) and its food and then how this change in relationship impacts the way entire ecosystems may look in the not too distant future. Kat’s teaching interests focus on getting students feet wet, both figuratively and quite literally. She is drawn to courses that bring students out into the field where they can experience plants and animals in their natural setting. She also has a passion for helping student’s design and execute their very first experiments, helping them become generators of new scientific knowledge. When not doing or teaching science, Kat is an avid knitter, board game enthusiast, and hot yoga addict.
Matt Siegle
Matt is a PhD candidate working with Mary O’Connor and Rick Taylor. His primary research interest is integrating data across different levels of biological organization to answer novel questions. Matt’s PhD research focuses on the effects of heat stress on energy balance and subsequent effects on fitness. His goals as a teacher are to make students better writers and better communicators. When actively avoiding doing science, Matt likes to catch and eat fish, and is an aspiring wood worker.
Megan Vaughan (2014; Megan’s Webpage)
Megan is a MSc candidate in the Harley lab. Broadly, she is interested in the application of science to conservation and management issues in coastal ecosystems. Her research uses laboratory experiments to test the effects of ocean acidification on species interactions in marine invertebrate communities. She enjoys sharing her passion for marine ecology with students, particularly in the field and in the lab, as well as mentoring students who wish to pursue a career in science. Megan is also an avid scuba diver and all-around nature lover.
BIOL 326: Experimental biology of invertebrates 