Climate change threatens life on Earth as we know it and requires urgent action. Oceans are central to climate change. Not only do they regulate global climate and absorb most of the heat released by humanity, they also offer a portfolio of solutions to help combat climate change.
Motivated by our passion for the ocean, and recognition that climate change now threatens marine ecosystems and coastal communities around the world, we are working to advance understanding of the impacts of climate change in the ocean, and to inform and catalyze effective ocean conservation solutions.
We are marine scientists with diverse expertise in ecology, evolution, statistics, modelling, molecular biology, paleoecology, scientific diving, and more. United by our pragmatic optimism and our collaborative spirit, we are relentless in our pursuit of innovative science to robustly answer the questions we care most about.
Working in partnership with academic, eNGO, First Nations and government collaborators, we apply a suite of tools - field observations and experiments, molecular analyses and bioinformatics, stable isotopes, interviews, historical ecology, meta-analyses, and synthesis of large data sets using statistical models - to answer these and other pressing ocean climate change questions. We are committed to making science a more equitable, diverse and inclusive enterprise, to open science and data sharing, and to engagement with the public and policy-makers aimed at enhancing climate change understanding and action.
Lab News
Julia is interviewed for two articles surrounding the current global coral bleaching event. Check them out on our media page!, April 2024
Our kelp team has a new paper out! Check out former post-doc, Sam Starko’s, newest paper and the article the team wrote for The Conversation!, April 2024
We are hiring! Do you want to work in kelp restoration and blue carbon research then check out this job ad and apply by April 15th!, March 2024
We start off the new year by welcoming Prof. Kelton McMahon, a visiting professor from the University of Rhode Island for the next six months. And to Sara Hudda, a co-op student from Dalhousie University. We are excited to have both of them with us for the next few months!, Jan 2024
PhD student, Matt Csordas’ first paper came out today on the cutest kelp, Postelsia palmaeformis, showing that despite marine heatwaves in the past years, the population has remained stable at its northern range. Check it out here for more info (or on our publications page for the PDF)!, October 2023
We had a ton of fun doing team building activities and the adventure course at WildPlay this past weekend for our annual retreat! Check out the photos of what we got ourselves into here., October 2023
Our newest paper from Kiritimati is out! Led by former Post-Doc, Sam Starko, this paper highlights impacts of marine heatwaves previously unknown. Check out the article in The Conversation written by Sam and Julia, the Radio Canada coverage, or the UVic article covering the paper., August 2023
Photo Credits: Kiritimati coral reef (Kieran Cox), Kelp & boat (Kevin Bruce), Estuary (Michael Snyder), Kelp (Goya Ngan), Julia sampling coral (Kristina Tietjen), Kelp (Goya Ngan), BC coast (Kristina Tietjen)
“We stand now where two roads diverge but unlike the roads in Robert Frost’s familiar poem, they are not equally fair. The road we have long been traveling is deceptively easy, a smooth superhighway on which we progress with great speed, but at its end lies disaster. The other fork of the road - the one less traveled by - offers our last, our only chance to reach a destination that assures the preservation of the earth.”
— Rachel Carson, Silent Spring