Welcome

We study the causes and consequences of biodiversity change. Several key questions motivate what we do:
  • How fast  is biodiversity changing and where?
  • How does biodiversity change impact ecosystems?
  • What are the costs and benefits to human society, and what can we do to prevent irreversible loss of biodiversity?
With the support of the Liber Ero Chair in Biodiversity Conservation we translate this research into knowledge for conservation and policy in Canada. We are particularly focused on the restoration of ecological connectivity in human-dominated landscapes. 

We recently started a spin-off company (Eco2Urb) that is applying our science to the design of ecological networks for cities, like Montreal.

I also support collaboration and training in biodiversity science via the Quebec Centre for Biodiversity Science, a large research network of 120 researchers and ~500 graduate students, we founded in 2009.
Lab News
On twitter @bio_diverse
  • New postdoctoral position available. See ad here.
  • September 2019: The lab's research project "No consistent effects of humans on animal genetic diversity worldwide" has been  accepted in Ecology Letters. Congrats to Katie, Vincent, Chloe and Ariel!
  • September 2019: We are part of the iDiv team that has a new paper coming out in: Blows, S. A., Supp, S. R., et al. (2019) The geography of biodiversity change in marine and terrestrial assemblages. Science
  • August 2019: Andy is now editor for Forum at Oikos
  • May 2019: Submitted our 2nd report to the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change quantifying the state of habitat fragmentation and connectivity of the Saint Lawrence lowlands in Quebec.
  • Congratulations to Val Lucet on receiving a FRQNT M.Sc. scholarship.
  • Congratulations to Chloe Debyser for completing her MSc: Dynamics of tree biomass, species diversity, and composition in a long‑term Amazonian forest fragmentation experiment.
  • Andy co-authored Nature in an Urban Century (link) a reported published by The Nature Conservancy, Future Earth and The Stockholm Resilience Centre.