Research Assistant; Pacific Forestry Centre
This fall I completed my final work term and second work term at the Pacific Forestry Centre in Victoria, BC. As a research assistant in the Bark Beetle Ecology Lab, I had the opportunity to work on a variety of projects including field trapping, lab experiments, and GIS work.
The main lab projects I was working on involved rearing mountain pine beetles and spruce beetles in logs at different temperature treatments. After periods of time I would peel the insects out the bark to gather data on their development and cold tolerance.
These studies are important for BC forest managers to understands how beetles in natural populations will be able to survive different temperatures under climate change. This was a such a great experience and I learned so much about forestry research while working in a Canadian Government research centre.