Sharing Our Research
Where you can find us next:
2026 Annual Conference of the Canadian Society of Ecology and Evolution (CSEE)
May 2026 – Toronto, Ontario
Some of Our Past Conferences, Meetings, and Presentations:
68th National Forest Pest Management Forum
November 18-20, 2025 – Ottawa, Ontario
Panels:
- Fireside chat: Discussion on collaborating with Indigenous communities in forest stewardship and forest-pest management. Moderated by Dr. Stephen Schott
Workshops:
- Transforming risk management frameworks: Including social dimensions into risk management. Run by the TRIA GE3LS team
Oral Presentations:
- Aftermath of an Invasion: The Impact of Mountain Pine Beetle, Dendroctonus ponderosae (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae), Disturbance on Ground Beetle (Coleoptera: Carabidae) Communities in Western Alberta. Riley White (Evenden Lab)
- Consultation Systems Approaches to Free, Prior, and Informed Consent: Intent and Practices in British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan. Rebeccah Zerfas (Nguyen Lab)
Joint Meeting of the Entomological Societies of Canada and Alberta
October 5-8, 2025 – Calgary, Alberta
Oral Presentations:
- Echoes of an outbreak: Ground beetle (Coleoptera: Carabidae) responses to mountain pine beetle, Dendroctonus ponderosae (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae), disturbance in western Alberta. Riley White (Evenden Lab)
- Effect of mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae) disturbance to lodgepole pine forests on spider abundance and diversity. Ang Thompson (Evenden Lab)
- Mountain pine beetle pheromone production in the initial host switch from lodgepole to jack pine. Dr. Antonia Musso (Evenden Lab)
- Physiological consequences of early winter exposure in overwintering mountain pine beetle. Dr. Fouzia Haider (MacMillan Lab)
- Mountain pine beetle population phase but not density influences adult dispersal by flight in its expanded range. Dr. Maya Evenden
- Life signs below zero: Overwintering transcriptomic responses of the mountain pine beetle renal system. Rebecca Dean (MacMillan Lab)
- Insights on range expansion routes of mountain pine beetle from genetic and genomic data. Dr. Catherine Cullingham
- Examining the role of copy number variants in range expansion and adaptation in Dendroctonus ponderosae, using whole genome data. Caroline Grela (Cullingham Lab)
- Genomic regions influencing adaptation to extreme cold in the expanding native forest pest, Dendroctonus ponderosae. Zach Balzer (Coltman Lab)
- New woes rising: How chronic stressors progressively challenge insect physiology. Dr. Heath MacMillan *Plenary talk and recipient of the C. Gordon Hewitt Award
Forest Genetics 2025
August 11-15, 2025 – Ottawa, Ontario
Oral Presentations:
- Integrated analysis of conifer responses to biotic and abiotic stressors: meta-analysis and gene expression insights. Mina Sadeghiniaraki (Cullingham Lab)
- Does resilience to the mountain pine beetle come at a cost of reduced growth in lodgepole pine? Dr. Mel Lucas (Coltman Lab)
- Stakeholders’ Perceptions: Genetically Improved Tree Species for Enhancing Forest Resilience to the Impact of Mountain Pine Beetle. Obed Asamoah (Schott Lab)
- Identifying Local Environmental Adaptation in Jack Pine (Pinus banksiana) to inform Predictions of Maladaptation under Future Climate Conditions. Grace Gardner (Cullingham Lab)
Poster Presentations:
- Using Genomics to Estimate Jack Pine Resiliency to Mountain Pine Beetle in the Boreal Forest. Bianca Tassi (Cullingham Lab)
Society of Experimental Biology (SEB) Annual Conference
July 8-11, 2025 – Antwerp, Belgium
Oral Presentations:
- Life signs below zero: Overwintering transcriptomic responses of the mountain pine beetle renal system. Rebecca Dean (MacMillan Lab)
Poster Presentations:
- Energy dynamics in mountain pine beetle and emerald ash borer during overwintering. Dr. Fouzia Haider (MacMillan Lab)
Annual Meeting for the Canadian Society of Ecology and Evolution (CSEE)
July 6-9, 2025 – Sherbrooke, Quebec
Oral Presentations:
- Identifying Local Environmental Adaptation in Jack Pine (Pinus banksiana) to inform Predictions of Maladaptation under Future Climate Conditions. Grace Gardner (Cullingham Lab)
- Evaluating Population Genetic Clustering Methods Under Different Migration and Sampling Scenarios. Bianca Tassi (Cullingham Lab)
- Using whole-genome sequence data to detect putatively adaptive loci in expansion range mountain pine beetle. Zach Balzer (Coltman Lab)
- Examining the role of copy number variants in range expansion and adaptation in Dendroctonus ponderosae, using whole genome data. Caroline Grela (Cullingham Lab)
European Meeting for PhD Students in Evolutionary Biology (EMPSEB)
June 2-6, 2025 – Milovy, Czechia
Oral Presentations:
- Assessing adaptation as a driver of range expansion in a changing climate. Zach Balzer (Coltman Lab)
- Examining the role of copy number variants in range expansion and adaptation in Dendroctonus ponderosae using whole genome data. Caroline Grela (Cullingham Lab)
8th IUFRO International Workshop on Resistance Mechanisms and Breeding in Forest Trees
June 1-5, 2025 – Vernon, British Columbia
Oral Presentations:
- Not just lucky: genetic signatures differentiate progeny of mountain pine beetle-killed lodgepole pine from progeny of survivors. Dr. Janice Cooke
Poster Presentations:
- Balancing growth and defense: Investigating morphological traits in progeny of lodgepole pine attacked by mountain pine beetle. Lucas Iwamoto (Cooke Lab) ,*Awarded
- Characterizing lodgepole pine candidate mountain pine beetle host quality genes. Raymond Kwok (Cooke Lab)
- Comparing lodgepole pine defense responses against mountain pine beetle and Grosmannia clavigera. Duowen Pu (Cooke Lab)
- Assessing the role of volatile tree emissions on lodgepole and jack pine host quality for mountain pine beetle. Madelyn O’Hara (Cooke Lab)
Future of Forestry Think Tank #4
May 21-22, 2025 – Quesnel, British Columbia
Annual Meeting for the Canadian Society of Ecology and Evolution (CSEE)
May 26-29, 2024 – Vancouver, British Columbia
Symposiums:
- Bark Beetle Dynamics Under Global Change. Chaired by Dr. Micah Brush and Dr. Evan Johnson (Lewis Lab)
- Collaborating across disciplines in socio-ecological systems: a case study in mountain pine beetles. Chaired by Jenna Hutchen (Nguyen Lab)
Oral Presentations:
- Assessment of Mountain Pine Beetle’s range expansion using statistical models. Dr. Evan Johnson (Lewis Lab)
- Help or hindrance? Host defence and host quality affect mountain pine beetle behaviour in jack pine. Dr. Antonia Musso (Evenden Lab)
- Modelling long-term dynamics of mountain pine beetle in Alberta under climate change. Dr. Mark Lewis
- Landscape and windscape genetics of jack pine (Pinus banksiana). Dr. Mel Lucas (Coltman Lab)
- Characterizing the speed and severity of mountain pine beetle spread under climate change using a mechanistic model. Dr. Micah Brush (Lewis Lab)
- Energy-dependent behavioural response of mountain pine beetle to semiochemicals with implications for dispersal. Leanne Petro (Evenden Lab)
- From genomics to communities: if we understand it, will they use it? Dr. Catherine Cullingham
- Bridging across boundaries: navigating challenges in interdisciplinary collaboration. Dr. Valerie Berseth (Nguyen Lab)
- Strategies for communicating complex methods and results: examples from *omics. Dr. Rhiannon Peery (Cullingham Lab)
- Using genomics to measure range expansion and adaptation to assess mountain pine beetle persistence risk. Zach Balzer (Coltman Lab)
- A dynamic energy budget model to describe Mountain Pine Beetle under climate change. Kévan Rastello (Lewis Lab)
- A community-centered approach to conducting research. Jenna Hutchen (Nguyen Lab)
- Pathogen Resistance and Environmental Adaptation: Insights from Meta-Analysis and RNA-Seq in Conifers. Mina Sadeghiniaraki (Cullingham Lab)
Poster Presentations:
- Mitochondrial genomic analysis of North American bark beetles (Dendroctonus sp.) during novel range expansion. Caroline Grela (Cullingham Lab) ,*Awarded CSEE 2nd Place Student Poster Award
TRIA-FoR Annual General Meeting
May 15-16, 2024
Carleton University
Ottawa-Carleton Institute of Biology (OCIB) Symposium
April 29-30, 2024 – Carleton University
3-Minute-Thesis Presentations:
- Comparative genomic analysis of North American bark beetles (Dendroctonus sp.) to identify signatures of range expansion. Caroline Grela (Cullingham Lab)
Oral Presentations:
- Pathogen Resistance and Environmental Adaptation: Insights from Meta-Analysis and RNA-seq in Conifers. Mina Sadeghiniaraki (Cullingham Lab)
Poster Presentations:
- Using Genotype-Environment Associations to Incorporate Local Adaptation in Current and Future Species Distributions Models for Jack Pine (Pinus banksiana). Grace Gardner (Cullingham Lab)
15th Annual R.E. Peter Biology Conference
March 19-21, 2024 – University of Alberta
Oral Presentations:
- The effects of volatile tree emissions on detection of host lodgepole pine by mountain pine beetle. Madelyn O’Hara (Cooke Lab)
Poster Presentations:
- Characterizing genes that influence host quality of lodgepole pine to mountain pine beetle. Raymond Kwok (Cooke Lab)
- Morphological and dendrochronological traits distinguishing MPB-resilient and MPB-susceptible lodgepole pine families. Lucas Iwamoto Feitosa (Cooke Lab)
66th Annual Forest Pest Management Forum
November 28-30, 2023 – Ottawa, Ontario
Oral Presentations:
- Using Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis as a Method to Address Mountain Pine Beetle Management. Emma Neale (Schott Lab)
- Recovery of Ecosystems and Ecoservices Following a Mountain Pine Beetle Epidemic. Caroline Grela (Cullingham Lab)
- Using the Mountain Pine Beetle System to Demonstrate the use of Genomics to Understand Risk and Resiliency of Forests. Dr. Catherine Cullingham
fRI Research Federal-provincial Mountain Pine Beetle Research Forum
October 24-26, 2023 – Edmonton, Alberta
Oral Presentations:
- Modelling eastern spread risk of mountain pine beetle using host genetic ancestry. Dr. Catherine Cullingham
- The physiological costs and consequences of overwintering in mountain pine beetle. Dr. Heath MacMillan
- Modelling long-term dynamics of MPB in Alberta under climate change. Dr. Mark Lewis
- Assessment of eastern spread risk of MPB through studies on beetle dispersal. Dr. Maya Evenden
Poster Presentations:
- Living in a lonely world: Population phase-dependent dispersal of mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins). Dr. Antonia Musso (Evenden Lab)
- Enhanced receptivity of beetles to host semiochemicals. Leanne Petro (Evenden Lab)
TRIA-FoR Annual General Meeting
August 22-25, 2023
University of Alberta