Annick St-Denis

Postdoctaral fellow in forest ecology

Universisté du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)

Christian Messier

Interests and Expertise

Functional diversity, urban forest, ecosystem services

Short description of Project

SylvCiT: A decision support tool to increase functional diversity and improve the resilience of urban forests to global changes

A diverse urban forest is more resilient to global changes such as outbreaks of exotic insects, increased drought events or winter warmth. The forest will be more resilient if it is diverse not only in terms of number of species and structure, but also in terms of functional traits. Species with different biological characteristics (traits) are more likely to react differently to disturbances.

In collaboration with graduate students in computer science (under the supervision of Marie-Jean Meurs, UQAM), my project aims to contribute to the development of a new intelligent tool, SylvCiT, in order to improve the planning of tree plantations in the city. By using georeferenced tree inventories, the tool presents a portrait of the urban forest (specific richness, functional diversity, structure, carbon storage, etc.). Another module gives recommendations for species and functional groups to be favored in order to increase the diversity of the selected area and according to the user’s needs (for example, to promote carbon storage).

Short description of internship with partner

As part of my collaboration with Habitat, I am particularly interested in projects that touch on the valuation of ecosystem services, forest resilience, functional diversity, plantation planning and urban forestry plans.

Graduated since:

2023

New position:

Research assistant Laboratoire de Christian Messier, UQAM

Responsibilities:

Coordination of research projects (SylvCiT, Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville's experimental plantation)
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