The Bartels Research Lab at UNBC
Lab Members
Samuel Bartels, Principal Investigator
Samuel Bartels is fascinated by the structural organization and biological composition (including trees, shrub and herbaceous species, fungi, bryophyte, and lichen communities) of forests and terrestrial ecosystems and conducts investigations into how their diversity, species interactions, and functions are impacted by environmental changes caused by humans.
Current lab members
Julia Bizon, MSc. (2023- )
Originally from Phoenix, Arizona, and having completed her BSc in Biology at UBC Vancouver, Julia is slowly making her way North. She is interested in the impacts of human land use and climate change and is focused on solution-based approaches to the rapidly changing environment. For her master's project, she is studying ecosystem memory and ecological restoration of wildlife forage and understory diversity in a young pine monoculture plantation in Central-Interior BC. Her project concerns regrowth of understory vegetation after disturbance, with a focus on the efficacy of forest management practices to support wildlife.
Sarah Rivers, MSc. (2024- )
Sarah graduated with a BSc in Resource Science at the University of Saskatchewan and has spent the last ten years specializing in botany and wildlife biology within western and northern Canada. Her desire to help facilitate sustainable conservation initiatives in Canada through informed science has brought Sarah back to university to pursue her Masters. Her research interests focus on post-disturbance ecosystem recovery and habitat conservation for sensitive wildlife. Sarah’s master’s project will study the restoration efficacy of disturbed forested environments, in relation to woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus) habitat and forage requirements in northern British Columbia.
Graeme Neto, BSc. ( 2024- )
Assessment of growth performance and quality indicators of planted stock at UNBC's Christmas Tree Farm
Mariah Kampman, BSc. ( 2024- )
Biochar use in forest ecosystems: opportunities for British Columbia's forests
Cooper Shea, BSc. ( 2024- )
Assessing the viability of winch-assist harvesting within the sub-boreal spruce zone of British Columbia
Matthew Caine, BSc. ( 2024- )
Post-harvest wildlife habitat assessment
Past members/ Alumni
Master of Science (MSc)
Simran Gill, MSc. (April 2024). Testing nitrogen and iron based compounds as environmentally safer alternative to control broadleaf weeds in turfgrass.
Bachelor of Science (BSc)
Lainie Shandro, BSc. 2024. A review of management responses to spruce beetle and mountain pine beetle in British Columbia.
Nolan Buchi, 2023. The role of silviculture in mitigating the adverse effects of drought in British Columbia's forests.
Gareth Anderson, BSc. 2022. Fire risk potential of different coarse woody debris retention techniques in British Columbia.
Graeme McGuffie, BSc. 2022. Ecological benefits of trembling aspen retention in silvicultural brushing operations in British Columbia.
Chiara Chirico, BSc. (Thesis) 2022. Interactions among understory forest vegetation layers along a harvesting disturbance gradient in boreal mixedwood forests.
Jennifer Kubos, BSc. 2021. The effects of riparian management on ecology of small streams in British Columbia.
Samantha Nuyens, BSc. 2021. Live free or grow hard: Is British Columbia’s free growing standard compatible with modern forest values and stewardship principles?