Lab News
New Director, Forestry Programs in Daniels. As of 1 July 2019, Prof. Sandy Smith will be incoming Director of Forestry Programs in the Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape & Design. This is a new position created following the merger of these two Faculties to administer forestry's graduate (PhD, MScF, MFC) programs in the Graduate Department of Forestry and its undergraduate (BSc, BA) programs in the Faculty of Arts & Science. |
Toronto Ravines: In Deep. Great job Eric (Davies) on your recent contributions to the showcase article by Lisa Owens Viani in the USA Landscape Architecture Magazine (Sept 2019). Looks like our American colleagues are ahead of us in recognizing the value of ecological integrity in Toronto's unique ravine landscapes. |
Faculty of Forestry joins the John H Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape & Design. It's final! The merger of Canada's first two professional schools in Architecture and Forestry at the University of Toronto creates a completely new, innovative approach to sustainability. This is the first time in North America that the broad scope of forest science is being seen as a necessary underpinning to building and landscape design. It is a unique educational aspiration for the application of carbon capture and climate change mitigation to the global challenge of sustainability. |
It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Dr. Isabel Bellocq, our esteemed colleague and dear friend of the Smith lab.
Her working visits to Toronto each summer enabled us to share her knowledge and pleasure in scientific research, as well as her deep commitment to mentoring the next generation of field ecologists. Isabel was formally appointed to the Dept of Ecology, Genetica & Evolution, Faculty of Exact & Natural Sciences, University of Buenos Aires, & IEGEBA (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina, but had a deep-rooted connection to the Faculty of Forestry, University of Toronto as Adjunct Professor. Her publications have impacted conservation perspectives across two continents, and was ahead of its time in terms of biogeographic gradients (latitudinal and urban) and forest-agricultural effects on bird and insect biodiversity. Uniquely, CONICET has made international note of her passing HERE. She will be deeply missed.
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Life of a Dead Tree by Marc Dion (USA) - Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA)
Great gallery show about the intersection between science and the arts in Toronto. Using the body of a white ash tree recently killed by invading emerald ash borer, this work explores what lives on a dead tree and asks who gets to study it.
Great gallery show about the intersection between science and the arts in Toronto. Using the body of a white ash tree recently killed by invading emerald ash borer, this work explores what lives on a dead tree and asks who gets to study it.
Declines in Insect Abundance & Diversity: We Know Enough to Act Now!
New research study with not-so-new news: Given the centrality of insects to terrestrial ecosystems and the human food chain, Forester, Pelton & Black's recent May 2019 paper emphasizes the imperative need to act on the quantified global decline in insects.
New research study with not-so-new news: Given the centrality of insects to terrestrial ecosystems and the human food chain, Forester, Pelton & Black's recent May 2019 paper emphasizes the imperative need to act on the quantified global decline in insects.
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International Women's Day: Celebrating Women in Forestry.
Inspirational stories of leadership for a healthy home planet.
Congratulations to Dr. Justin Gaudon who successfully completed his PhD thesis on
"Natural Enemies of Wood-boring Beetles in Northeastern Temperate Forests and Implications for Biological Control of the Emerald Ash Borer (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) in North America". On to his PDF at rare Research Reserve in Cambridge, Ont. - Stay connected Justin!
"Natural Enemies of Wood-boring Beetles in Northeastern Temperate Forests and Implications for Biological Control of the Emerald Ash Borer (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) in North America". On to his PDF at rare Research Reserve in Cambridge, Ont. - Stay connected Justin!
Insects Disappearing from our Textbooks!
The Anthropocene: Recent revelations that the world's most diverse living organisms are being lost from our education.
The Anthropocene: Recent revelations that the world's most diverse living organisms are being lost from our education.
Great Day at Sunnybrook Hospital.
Many thanks to Peter Kuitenbrouwer, Emily Weatherston, Qianli Yu & Carla Timm for the great presentation of their Urban Forest Management Plan to the CEO, Dr. Andy Smith & the Leadership Committee at Sunnybrook Hospital yesterday 26 March. First sunny day to get out and enjoy the 4000+ trees growing in partnership for greater health on the main campus. |
CONGRATS to the Smith Lab's 7 MFC STUDENTS who completed their Final MASTERS CAPSTONES this Dec:
Aurora Lavender - 2018. Incorporating best practices for pest management into urban forestry strategies in southern Ontario: A municipal comparison and a feasible gypsy moth (Lymantria dispar L.) monitoring program design. 50 pp.
Carla Timm - 2018. Biocontrol for dog-strangling vine (Vincetoxicum rossicum): Longevity and egg maturation of Hypena opulenta (Lepidoptera: Erebidae). 47 pp.
Jessica Corrigan - 2018. Preparing Ontario for an invasive disease: A review of oak wilt management strategies in the Great Lakes Region of the United States. 28 pp.
Truc-Lam Tran - 2018. Planting trees in low-income communities in Toronto: A look at the pilot TCHC planting and stewardship initiative. 65 pp.
Mallory Thacker - 2018. LEAF's Adopt-A-Street-Tree program: Impacts on urban tree health and the driving social factors of community-based urban forest stewardship. 58 pp.
Peter Kuitenbrouwer - 2018. Can a healthy forest form part of the cure at one of Canada's busiest hospitals? A report on the healing opportunity of the trees and woodlots of Sunnybrook hospital, Bayview Campus. 51 pp.
Zhuoran Gong - 2018. Impact of emerald ash borer (EAB) under private and public management in downtown Toronto's urban forest. 45 pp.
Toronto Ravines in the UK news! Global interest in using ecological science to revitalize our ravines.
Annual Holiday Lab Lunch at the Red Room!
Congrats to Prof Smith - 2018. Awarded the Community Builder Award by the Harbord Village Residents' Association (HVRA) for supporting the community's tree inventory, management plan (with Prof. Emeritus Andy Kenney), and emerald ash borer response plan between 2007 and 2018. A priceless gift for HVRA and the City beyond.
Congrats to Tim Skuse who successfully defended his MScF thesis in July on "Manipulating Phenotypic Plasticity to Improve Population Establishment of a Classical Biological Control Agent (the Psyllid, Aphalara itadori Shinji) for Invasive Knotweeds"! Already started work at AAFC-Lethbridge in biocontrol!
Congratulations to Justin Gaudon who successfully defended his departmental PhD thesis on "Natural Enemies of Wood-boring Beetles in Northeastern Temperate Forests and Implications for Biological Control of the Emerald Ash Borer (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) in North America". On to the Senate 25 January 2019 - Good luck Justin!
Congratulations to Tim Skuse who just successfully defended his MScF thesis on "Manipulating Phenotypic Plasticity to Improve Population Establishment of a Classical Biological Control Agent (the Psyllid, Aphalara itadori Shinji) for Invasive Knotweeds"! Already started work at AAFC-Lethbridge in biocontrol!
Hot off the press! Congratulations to Janani Sivarajah, her first paper out in PlosOne this year 2018!
Welcome Dr. Ian Jones who joins us from University of Florida as our newest Post-Doc. Lukas will be a hard act to follow but Ian is already immersed in DSV biocontrol!
Bon voyage Lukas, off with family to your new position as Research Scientist with CABI in Delemont, Switzerland!
Congratulations to Dr. Rhoda deJonge on the arrival of Willa's little sister Johanna Nell de Zoete August 8th!
The Toronto Ravine Revitalization Study 1977-2017 is finally out thanks to the enthusiasm and hard work of all the team (Eric Davies, Alex Stepniak, Anqi Dong, our four French interns and the three key private citizens who donated their time). Click here for the Report.