Northern Alpine Ecology

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Although mountains cover most of northwestern Canada, relatively little is known about these environments. Existing evidence suggests that the distribution and productivity of vegetation and mammalian herbivores in northern mountains will be extensively affected by climate change. The long-term objectives of my research program provide the context for a multidisciplinary research program focused on the dynamics of plant-herbivore-climate interactions in northern alpine ecosystems. In collaboration with a diverse group of students, university and government scientists, and northern partners, this research program will ultimately address the consequences of long-term change in northern mountain ecosystems. Existing field camp and research infrastructure in the Ruby Range mountains east of Kluane Lake in the southwest Yukon provides an opportunity to conduct intensive research into the processes that structure, sustain and alter these environments. Over the next decade several themes will be developed further, including (1) evaluation of demographic and behavioural responses of mammalian herbivores to inter-annual variation in resource availability, predation risk, seasonal phenology and extreme weather events; (2) measurement of responses of alpine vegetation to different levels of natural and experimental herbivory and variation in abiotic factors (especially snow), at physiological, demographic and community levels; (3) development of local, regional and global models to assess the influence of landscape-level processes (e.g. snowcover, treeline/shrubline dynamics, dispersal) on biodiversity at different scales; and (4) mechanisms for ensuring sustainability of northern tundra and alpine environments, through long-term monitoring, education, outreach, and integration of scientific and community-based knowledge.