Research Interests Keywords: land-sea connection, anthropogenic effects, fatty acids, stable isotopes, nutrition, and food web response
My thesis research aims to understand the connectivity and relationship between the land and sea, in particular in an urban environment. This involves creating fatty acid profiles for different urban (stormwater, treated & untreated wastewater) and non-urban (phytoplankton, aquatic plants, and freshwater) sources of organic matter. The key objective in my research looks to distinguish different inputs into Burrard Inlet & Indian Arm.
I will also be looking at how the food web uptakes the different inputs of organic matter by conducting fatty acid and stable isotope analysis on mussels, clams, and zooplankton across Metro-Vancouver. Both biochemical processes (fatty acids and stable isotopes) will also reveal how the food web responds to varying levels of urban intensities and periods of high anthropogenic input (e.g., during a heavy rainfall event leading to elevated volumes of stormwater outfall into the ocean).
