1. Hakai Coastal Initiative’s Marine Food Webs Working Group
This is a collaborative research working group that aims to understand the structure and trophic pathways of planktonic food webs, and the implications for the productivity and nutritional quality of the food web base. The group members collectively work across and integrate between viruses, bacteria, microbial phytoplankton, protozoa, zooplankton, and fish. The temperate British Columbia coastal ocean is used as a model system. Methodological approaches include microscopy, molecular ecology, stable isotopes, and fatty acids.
Current Lab Personnel:
- Dr. Jakie Maud (PDF) – DNA analysis of zooplankton diets;
- Dr. Anna McLaskey (PDF) – stable isotope and fatty acid analysis of food web pathways and nutrition;
- Jessica Schaub (PhD student)- DNA, stable isotope, and fatty acid analysis of jellyfish trophic ecology;
- Dilan Sunthareswaran (Honours student) – regional variation in nutritional health and prey quality of micronekton in the BC coastal ocean;
- Dr. Andreas Novotny – molecular approaches to zooplankton diversity observation.
2. North Pacific Food Web Ecology
Examining the pelagic food web structure of the NE Pacific, from plankton to salmon. This project is a contribution to and supported by the International Year of the Salmon, and aims to resolve the trophic ecology of Pacific slamon species and the critical trophic pathways that support their high seas production.
Current Lab Personnel:
- Dr. Genyffer Troina (PDF)