Current Lab Members
Postdoctoral Fellows
Graduate Students
Caroline Whitehouse
Caroline’s PhD research supported by the DIVERSE project focuses on how functional diversity could support forest resilience, with an emphasis on the boreal forest – a relatively low-diversity ecosystem highly vulnerable to climate change. Her MSc explored the reproductive biology of a cone-feeding insect pest in conifer seed orchards. She is a forest entomologist with Alberta Forestry and Parks, contributing to a provincial forest health program addressing forest insects and diseases, and climate change. Caroline’s PhD work aims to guide operational and policy changes for sustainable forest management and resilient forests in the context of climate change.
Jéssica Chaves Cardoso
Jéssica is a PhD candidate working on the NSERC IRC Ecosystem-Based Forest Management research program. She is exploring boreal forest resilience to climate change, with a specific focus on the growth resilience of aspen-spruce mixtures and pure stands to drought. She holds an MSc in Natural Resources and Environmental Studies (Forestry), and a BSc in Forest Engineering. Her experience ranges from working with tropical forests in Brazil to boreal forests in Canada.
Rim Maamouri
Rim is a Tunisian PhD student working on terrestrial laser scanning for understanding tree allometric variation and aboveground carbon storage in the boreal forest. She has a Bachelor's degree in forest engineering from the National Forestry School in Morocco and a postgraduate diploma in Sustainable Water Management from CIHEAM, Zaragoza-Spain. Rim is deeply passionate about understanding the effects of climate change on the boreal forest's carbon storage.
Joel Jensen
Joel is a forest ecologist studying forest biodiversity and ecosystem functioning under global change and forest management. He will split his time between the DIVERSE project and basic research into the effects of tree diversity on ecosystem function
Jesus Alapisco Davila
Jesus Alapisco Davila is a Master of Science student in Forest Biology and Management at the University of Alberta. His research examines the use of sheep grazing as a vegetation management strategy in regenerating boreal forests and explores how drone-based photogrammetry can be applied to assess vegetation responses to grazing. He completed a Bachelor of Science in Biology at the University of Sonora in Hermosillo, Mexico, where he specialized in Marine Biology.
Maxwell Schrimpf
Maxwell is a PhD student working on the DIVERSE Project which aims to adapt forests for climate change. He is primarily interested in stand dynamics of mixed species and climate effects on forests. Maxwell holds an MSc in Forestry from Mississippi State University and a BSc in Environmental & Natural Resources from The Ohio State University. He has also previously worked for the U.S. Forest Service, Montcalm Conservation District, and the Ohio Division of Forestry. His research focuses on shifting species ranges and how assisted migration may aid in extending traditional ranges to maintain biodiversity.
Lab Leader
Dr. Charles Nock
Dr. Nock is an assistant professor of ecosystem-based forest management in the Department of Renewable Resources at the University of Alberta. Charles's research interests are in forest ecology, global change, and the sustainable management of forests. Never one to shy away from adventure, Charles has spent time in Ontario, Austria, Quebec, and Germany in pursuit of knowledge of forest ecosystems. In 2018, he founded the Ecosystem-based Forest Management (EBM) lab. Charles holds an NSERC Industrial Research Chair that focuses on developing new knowledge and applications of EBM to forest ecosystems in Alberta.