WoRCS Laboratory

Working to Restore Connectivity and Sustainability Lab

About WoRCS Lab

We are a community of ecologists, conservation scientists and interdisciplinary scientists studying how to promote biodiversity conservation and sustainable land use in ‘working lands’ – the lands that humans use to produce food, fodder, fiber, livestock, and forest products.  We work on a wide variety of organisms, from micro-organisms in the soil to large mammals, in a wide variety of geographies, with projects in North and South America and Africa, and with an array of conservation partners. 

Lab News

12 July 2023

Read about WoRCS lab All Star Ilke Geladi in her UBC Graduate Student Profile!

Meet Our Students

12 July 2023

Congratulations to Ilke on winning a Public Scholarship Initiatives Award!!

10 July 2023

Alina and Vania presented their work analyzing connectivity pathways for mammals in Kenya at the International Association of Landscape Ecology 2023 World Congress!! Well done you two!!

27 April 2023

Ilke Geladi has won the Biology TA Award! Congratulations to Ilke! See the highlight of her work in this Teaching Spotlight article. 

17 April 2023

Many congrats to Gaurav for successfully defending his Master’s thesis!!

23 March 2023

Congratulations to James on getting accepted to the University of Toronto’s PhD program!

20 March 2023

Congratulations to Aaron for winning a 4-year Graduate Fellowship!

13 December 2022

Congratulations to James for successfully defending his Master’s thesis!! How does framing influence preference for multiple solutions to societal problems?

New publications

19 May 2023

Against the odds : Network and institutional pathways enabling agricultural diversification

Blesh, J., Mehrabi, Z., Wittman, H., Kerr, R. B., James, D., Madsen, S., Smith, O. M., Snapp, S., Stratton, A. E., Bakarr, M., Bicksler, A. J., Galt, R., Garibaldi, L. A., Gemmill-herren, B., Grass, I., Isaac, M. E., John, I., Jones, S. K., Kennedy, C. M., Kremen, C, 2023

One Earth, 1–13. LINK

01 May 2023

Semi-natural habitats on organic strawberry farms and in surrounding landscapes promote bird biodiversity and pest control potential

Garcia K., E M. Olimpi, L M’Gonigle, D S. Karp, E E. Wilson-Rankin, C Kremen, D J. Gonthier, 2023

Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 347:108353. LINK

01 April 2023

Exploring scenarios for the food system–zoonotic risk interface

Shepon A, T Wu, C Kremen, T Dayan, I Perfecto, J Fanzo, G Eshel, C D Golden,  2023

The Lancet Planetary Health, 7:4, e329-e335, LINK.

Lab Twitter

Joint Environmental & Social Benefits from Diversified Farming Systems: the Berkeley Backstory

"...a powerful argument in support of agricultural diversification" -- a blog post by Dr Claire Kremen @clairekremen

WoRCS lab member Aaron Skinner has won the Killam Doctoral Scholarship!!

These funds will help support Aaron's research on bird movement and diversity in silvopastoral systems in Colombia!!

Congrats Aaron!! @ASkinnerScience

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Land acknowledgement

Our lab is located on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territories of the Coast Salish Peoples, including the territories of the xwməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), Stó:lō and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil- Waututh) Nations, which now hosts the University of British Columbia Vancouver campus. Then as now, it has been a place of learning for many peoples. We are grateful for the opportunity to study, learn and create new knowledge here.

Partners

NGO partners

Funding partners

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to learn more about these organizations!