Amanda WikMESc Student
Yale School of the Environment CV EducationB.S., 2021, Simon Fraser University, Honours in Environmental Science (Applied Biology)
Current ResearchAs a master’s student at Yale, I am interested in researching the impacts of invasive species on wetlands along the New England (Connecticut to Southern Maine) seacoast. Specifically, I am interested in how the invasive European green crab affects native ecological communities in saltwater marches. Using carbon cycling as a metric, my goal is to understand how the functional relationship between invasive crabs and native species will be altered by climate change, by examining their interaction along a temperature gradient. This field of research will draw on my experience working with invasive species and researching aquatic ecosystems and carbon cycles, to address the effects of the additional environmental stressor of temperature.
Previous ResearchIn the Little Ecology Lab at Simon Fraser University, through a Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada Undergraduate Research Award, I worked under the mentorship of Dr. Chelsea Little to test whether Pacific salmon are umbrella species for ecosystem function in urban streams in Vancouver, BC, Canada. I examined how salmon restoration could benefit invertebrates and microbes that drive carbon cycling through organic matter decomposition. As part of this project, I spent a summer surveying stream and streambank habitat, deploying and collecting data from temperature loggers and cotton strip assays to measure decomposition. I also coordinated with volunteer and local groups to collect information on restoration activities.
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