{"id":282,"date":"2022-05-27T11:15:16","date_gmt":"2022-05-27T18:15:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca\/paleoecolab\/?page_id=282"},"modified":"2023-10-26T15:44:48","modified_gmt":"2023-10-26T22:44:48","slug":"about-me","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca\/paleoecolab\/about-me\/","title":{"rendered":"About me"},"content":{"rendered":"

Terri Lacourse, Ph.D.<\/span><\/h4>\n

I am currently Professor in the Department of Biology<\/a><\/span> and Centre for Forest Biology<\/a>,<\/span><\/span> at the University of Victoria<\/span><\/a>. I am also Curator of the UVIC Herbarium<\/a><\/span>. Before starting at UVic, I was a NSERC Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of New Brunswick and University of British Columbia, and a STINT Research Associate at Stockholms Universitet with Barbara Wohlfarth<\/a><\/span>. I completed a PhD in Paleoecology (2004) with Rolf Mathewes<\/a><\/span> at Simon Fraser University and a Master’s in Paleoecology (1998) with Konrad Gajewski<\/a><\/span> at the University of Ottawa.<\/p>\n

My research interests and expertise are in palynology, and forest and peatland paleoecology.\u00a0My main area of research is the development and dynamics of\u00a0temperate forest and peatlands\u00a0since the last glaciation. This research relies primarily on\u00a0techniques such as high-resolution pollen\u00a0<\/span>analyses of radiocarbon-dated lake sediments and peat, and focusses on identifying the ecological (e.g., life history) and environmental (e.g.,\u00a0climate change) factors that drive species abundances, species\u00a0interactions, forest development, and peatland carbon accumulation. I have a\u00a0genuine fondness for statistics, in particular multivariate ordination techniques and age-depth models, and for introducing students to the wonderful world\u00a0of applied biostatistics.<\/p>\n

I teach two main courses at the University of Victoria:<\/p>\n

BIOL 330: Study Design and Data Analysis<\/span>
\nSample Course Outline<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/h5>\n

This course provides an introduction to the statistical analysis of biological data, experimental design and sampling design. Laboratories emphasize numerical analysis of biological data sets in R.<\/p>\n

We start with the basics (e.g., when to use a median instead of a mean, P-values, t-tests,\u00a0ANOVA), and then dive into regression, factorial designs, GLMs, ANCOVA, and\u00a0permutation testing. We end by focussing on how statistical significance\u00a0can be manipulated and I try to teach students how to \u201ctalk back\u201d to statistics.<\/p>\n

BIOL 457\/557: Paleoecology & Environmental Change<\/span>
\nSample Course Outline<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/h5>\n

This course focusses on the fundamental principles of paleoecology with emphasis on species, community and ecosystem responses to environmental change over the past 2 million years and especially\u00a0the period since the last glaciation.\u00a0Course topics include\u00a0the use of fossil remains to infer ecological dynamics and paleoenvironmental\u00a0conditions, late Pleistocene megafaunal extinctions, and the application of paleoecological data\u00a0in conservation and ecological management.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Terri Lacourse, Ph.D. I am currently Professor in the Department of Biology and Centre for Forest Biology, at the University of Victoria. I am also Curator of the UVIC Herbarium. Before starting at UVic, I was a NSERC Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of New Brunswick and University of British Columbia, and a STINT Research … <\/p>\n

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