Carly Ziter
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Degrees Received
B.Sc. (Honours, with distinction) Environmental Biology major, Statistics minor 2011 – School of Environmental Sciences, University of Guelph
Current Position
MSc. Candidate (started: 09/11) – Departments of Natural Resource Sciences and Biology, McGill University
Supervisors: Elena Bennett, Andy Gonzalez
Research interests
I grew up in southern Ontario, in a house surrounded by fields (usually corn, sometimes soy) punctuated by small woodlots. In my mind, this mix of farmland and forest wasn’t an “ecosystem”; it was just where we walked the dog. Now, I realize that these human-dominated landscapes are hard at work providing a multitude of ecosystem services we rely on. However, we often manage for only one or two services (i.e. food), while ignoring the other important benefits they provide. I believe we need to change our management strategies to ensure the provision of multiple services from our landscapes, while protecting biodiversity. To do this successfully, we still have much to learn about the interactions between services, biodiversity, and landscape structure.
I’m particularly drawn to forests. Forests are important for many reasons, but my MSc. work focuses on their contribution to climate regulation: the ability of fragmented forests to store CO2. I am interested in how carbon storage is affected by fragmentation patterns. Is it the size of the patch that matters most, or is connectivity to surrounding forests more important? Where I work, many of these fragments are private woodlots, managed for firewood or tapped for maple syrup – what role does this forest management play? Additionally, if we choose to manage for carbon, do we risk doing so at the expense of forest biodiversity, or can we manage for “win-win” scenarios, where both diversity and carbon storage are high?
I use a mixture of satellite data, field-based methods, and allometry to try and answer these questions in the Montérégie, QC. I hope the outcome of this research can influence management decisions, and help landowners recognize their contributions to conservation and ecosystem service provision.
Selected Awards
McGill Biology Graduate Excellence Fellowship - 2011
NSERC MSc. Alexander Graham Bell Scholarship (CGS) - 2011
University of Guelph School of Environmental Sciences Academic Prize (for highest cumulative GPA) - 2011
University of Guelph Beth Duncan Gold Medal – 2011
Ontario Biology Day Conference Best Oral Presentation in Ecology/ Evolution/ Biodiversity - 2011
University of Guelph Integrative Biology Undergraduate Thesis Scholarship - 2010
University of Guelph OAC Dean’s Scholarship for high average – 2009 & 2010
NSERC USRA – 2009
University of Guelph Board of Governors Scholarship - 2007-2011
University of Guelph Entrance Scholarship – 2007
Publications
Liss K*, Mitchell MGE*, MacDonald GK, Mahajan S, Méthot J, Jacob AL, Maguire D, Metson G, Ziter C, Dancose K, Martins K, Terrado Casanovas M & Bennett EM. In Press. Variability in ecosystem service measurement: a case study of pollination service studies. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment.
*these authors contributed equally to this work
Ziter, C., and MacDougall, A.S. In Press. Nutrients and defoliation increase soil carbon inputs in grassland. Ecology.
Ziter, C., Robinson, E.A, and Newman, J.A. 2012. Climate Change and Voltinism in Californian Insect Pest Species: Sensitivity to Location, Scenario and Climate Model Choice. Global Change Biology 18(9): 2771-2780.
Presentations
Ziter, C*, Bennett, E., and Gonzalez, A. 2012. The effects of forest fragmentation patterns on carbon stocks and biodiversity in the Monteregie, QC (Speed Talk), Annual Meeting of the Quebec Centre for Biodiversity Science, Montreal, QC
Ziter, C*, Bennett, E., and Gonzalez, A. 2012. Forest fragmentation, carbon storage, and biodiversity in the Monteregie. Curieux de Nature (Public talk), Mont Saint Hilaire, QC.
Ziter, C*, and MacDougall, A.S. 2011. Consumer and resource driven impacts on root dynamics and carbon sequestration in a degraded grassland ecosystem. Ontario Biology Day 2011, Wilfred Laurier University (Winner best talk in ecology/evolution/biodiversity)
Other Interests
Running, hiking, soccer (basically anything that lets me enjoy the great outdoors!); traveling;food and food-related issues; grass roots environmentalism;reading; volunteering; youth environmental education; polar sciences/issues; and more recently,working on improving my (fairly dismal) command of the French language!
Degrees Received
B.Sc. (Honours, with distinction) Environmental Biology major, Statistics minor 2011 – School of Environmental Sciences, University of Guelph
Current Position
MSc. Candidate (started: 09/11) – Departments of Natural Resource Sciences and Biology, McGill University
Supervisors: Elena Bennett, Andy Gonzalez
Research interests
I grew up in southern Ontario, in a house surrounded by fields (usually corn, sometimes soy) punctuated by small woodlots. In my mind, this mix of farmland and forest wasn’t an “ecosystem”; it was just where we walked the dog. Now, I realize that these human-dominated landscapes are hard at work providing a multitude of ecosystem services we rely on. However, we often manage for only one or two services (i.e. food), while ignoring the other important benefits they provide. I believe we need to change our management strategies to ensure the provision of multiple services from our landscapes, while protecting biodiversity. To do this successfully, we still have much to learn about the interactions between services, biodiversity, and landscape structure.
I’m particularly drawn to forests. Forests are important for many reasons, but my MSc. work focuses on their contribution to climate regulation: the ability of fragmented forests to store CO2. I am interested in how carbon storage is affected by fragmentation patterns. Is it the size of the patch that matters most, or is connectivity to surrounding forests more important? Where I work, many of these fragments are private woodlots, managed for firewood or tapped for maple syrup – what role does this forest management play? Additionally, if we choose to manage for carbon, do we risk doing so at the expense of forest biodiversity, or can we manage for “win-win” scenarios, where both diversity and carbon storage are high?
I use a mixture of satellite data, field-based methods, and allometry to try and answer these questions in the Montérégie, QC. I hope the outcome of this research can influence management decisions, and help landowners recognize their contributions to conservation and ecosystem service provision.
Selected Awards
McGill Biology Graduate Excellence Fellowship - 2011
NSERC MSc. Alexander Graham Bell Scholarship (CGS) - 2011
University of Guelph School of Environmental Sciences Academic Prize (for highest cumulative GPA) - 2011
University of Guelph Beth Duncan Gold Medal – 2011
Ontario Biology Day Conference Best Oral Presentation in Ecology/ Evolution/ Biodiversity - 2011
University of Guelph Integrative Biology Undergraduate Thesis Scholarship - 2010
University of Guelph OAC Dean’s Scholarship for high average – 2009 & 2010
NSERC USRA – 2009
University of Guelph Board of Governors Scholarship - 2007-2011
University of Guelph Entrance Scholarship – 2007
Publications
Liss K*, Mitchell MGE*, MacDonald GK, Mahajan S, Méthot J, Jacob AL, Maguire D, Metson G, Ziter C, Dancose K, Martins K, Terrado Casanovas M & Bennett EM. In Press. Variability in ecosystem service measurement: a case study of pollination service studies. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment.
*these authors contributed equally to this work
Ziter, C., and MacDougall, A.S. In Press. Nutrients and defoliation increase soil carbon inputs in grassland. Ecology.
Ziter, C., Robinson, E.A, and Newman, J.A. 2012. Climate Change and Voltinism in Californian Insect Pest Species: Sensitivity to Location, Scenario and Climate Model Choice. Global Change Biology 18(9): 2771-2780.
Presentations
Ziter, C*, Bennett, E., and Gonzalez, A. 2012. The effects of forest fragmentation patterns on carbon stocks and biodiversity in the Monteregie, QC (Speed Talk), Annual Meeting of the Quebec Centre for Biodiversity Science, Montreal, QC
Ziter, C*, Bennett, E., and Gonzalez, A. 2012. Forest fragmentation, carbon storage, and biodiversity in the Monteregie. Curieux de Nature (Public talk), Mont Saint Hilaire, QC.
Ziter, C*, and MacDougall, A.S. 2011. Consumer and resource driven impacts on root dynamics and carbon sequestration in a degraded grassland ecosystem. Ontario Biology Day 2011, Wilfred Laurier University (Winner best talk in ecology/evolution/biodiversity)
Other Interests
Running, hiking, soccer (basically anything that lets me enjoy the great outdoors!); traveling;food and food-related issues; grass roots environmentalism;reading; volunteering; youth environmental education; polar sciences/issues; and more recently,working on improving my (fairly dismal) command of the French language!