Profile

• Time Zone

  Pacific

  
  
• Organization

  The University of British Columbia

  
  
• Role

  Scientist Mentor: I will mentor teams of students online

  
  
• Research Interests (300 words)

  We are in the midst of a biodiversity crisis, and Biodiversity is an essential component to sustaining life on earth. My research focuses on the natural processes that structure biodiversity patterns across scales of space and time. specifically, i am investigating how the movement of individuals, their resource requirements, and interactions with individuals of other species all interact to influence local diversity metrics. I am also FASCINATED BY the effect of randomness on species' ability to persist in different environments and how random and deterministic processes may interact to affect the survival and distribution of different species across landscapes. I love working with plants to answer my questions about the ecological and evolutionary mechanisms that support biodiversity.

  
  
• Profile Question 1

  What is the coolest thing you have discovered or learned about plants?

  
  
• Answer the question you selected for profile question 1 here (300 words):

  Plants have memory! They may not have brains like you and me, but they have special physiological mechanisms that can help them remember stressful events (e.g. drought, frost, etc.) so that they can respond appropriately to similar stresses again in the future.

  
  
• Profile Question 2

  What lessons have you learned in your career about how science works?

  
  
• Answer the question you selected for profile question 2 here (300 words):

  It is almost impossible to definitively determine the true nature of life or the world around us. Our understanding of how the world works is primarily based on probabilities and it takes a really really really long time to move from making observations to developing theories to understanding the laws of nature.

  
  
• Profile Question 3

  Do you have advice for students about preparing for a science career?

  
  
• Answer the question you selected for profile question 3 here (300 words):

  Read as much as you can as often as you can and talk to other smart people who are interested in the same topics as you, never be afraid to ask questions (how else are you going to learn?), and start embracing the concept of failure. Failing is hard to grapple with but it happens to every good scientist (frequently) and it is often the best teacher you will ever have.

  
  
• Help represent the outreach efforts of your societies. Please click all those organizations you are a member of:

  Canadian Society for Ecology and Evolution

  
  
• Capacity: How many teams at a time are you comfortable working with?

  2

  
  

Recent Posts

Plant-eating water people (PEWP) Jessica Kowalski Apr 7, 2022

Hello team! 

I just wanted to check in and see how the experiment is going - have you had any of your seeds exposed to white light germinate? What stage in project are you on now? Have you observed anything weird/unexpected?

Excited to…

more

Hello team! 

I just wanted to check in and see how the experiment is going - have you had any of your seeds exposed to white light germinate? What stage in project are you on now? Have you observed anything weird/unexpected?

Excited to hear from you!
Jess

Plant-eating water people (PEWP) Jessica Kowalski Mar 24, 2022

Looks like your germinants are growing! Have you noticed any differences among the seeds receiving white light yet? 

Plant-eating water people (PEWP) Jessica Kowalski Mar 18, 2022

Ooo very interesting! The photosynthetic machinery in plants tend to use certain wavelengths of light the best (blue to red) and there are other wavelengths that they can't use that may actually delay or prevent germination. White light…

more

Ooo very interesting! The photosynthetic machinery in plants tend to use certain wavelengths of light the best (blue to red) and there are other wavelengths that they can't use that may actually delay or prevent germination. White light contains all wavelengths, so your seeds exposed to the white light could be delayed because of the inhibitory wavelengths that are present. They may still germinate, but just take longer than your other seeds exposed to the different coloured lights or they could not germinate at all, depending on the light intensity. My guess is they are just delayed but will germinate eventually - from what I have read it can sometimes take up to 2 weeks!