Indigenous Ecology Lab
Start date:
B.Sc. in Applied Biology, University of British Columbia
Food systems and food sovereignty, Indigenous ecologies, historical ecology, soil microbial ecology, plant-soil dynamics
I took Dr. Grenz’s Indigenous Ecologies class in the last year of my undergraduate degree and was profoundly impacted by her approach to ecological restoration and invasion ecology. I was also immensely inspired by her work and the work of others in the field of historical ecology; a field that, prior to that class, I didn’t even know existed. I reached out to Dr. Grenz when I was unsure what comes next – all I knew for certain was that whatever I do, it must be in service of communities and ecosystems, rather than science for the sake of science. Now, I am grateful for the incredible privilege of learning from and working alongside Dr. Grenz, my lab mates, and Kwiakah First Nation.
Trying new hobbies
Working alongside Kwiakah First Nation and guided by Kwiakah worldview, epistemology, and ontology; my proposed research will examine the influence of historic stewardship practices on the soil microbial ecology and plant community composition of forest stands of various ages — an emerging field termed ethno-soil microbial ecology (ESME). In understanding the rhizosphere ecology of ancestral forest gardens, in addition to cut blocks and old growth forest, my research aims to answer two questions: 1) how have historic Kwiakah forest stewardship practices shaped the ESME of the territory? and 2) how has industrial logging impacted the ESME of these forests over time?