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Fiona Soper
PI, Assistant professor
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I am Zimbabwean-Australian (our lab logo, an Acacia, is emblematic of these places as well as being a nitrogen-fixer– of course!), and have also lived in the US (New York and Montana), Sweden, and Nunavut. As well as being a physiological ecologist, biogeochemist and nutrient enthusiast, I'm a budding herpetologist, and an average-but-enthusiastic rock climber, tree climber, backpacker, kayaker, sailor, and hunter. 
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fiona.soper@mcgill.ca
@FionaSoper

Download Soper CV

Photo credit: Dado Galdieri
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Caroline Dallstream
PhD student
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I'm a nature lover who's interested in exploring the physiology of plant-fungus-microbiome interactions and scaling up to the ecosystem level. I grew up in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona but completed my B.Sc. in Environmental Science at Western Washington University where I collected tree ring records in the North Cascades for my honors projects. After school, I moved to Chile to work as a research assistant at a Patagonian ecological research center (CIEP), where I mostly worked on non-structural carbohydrate dynamics and leaf nutrient resorption in trees. My varied interests include literature, art, music, and all physical activities which I hope to incorporate, directly or indirectly, into my work with the Soper Lab.

​caroline.dallstream@mail.mcgill.ca

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Mia Marcellus 
MS student
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​Hi! I graduated from Queen’s in Spring 2020 (shoutout to covid grads!) where I majored in Biology. My highlights during this time include ecology research in the Sonoran Desert; working on invasive species at the Queen’s University Biological Station; and studying plasticity and genetic variation in an invasive plant for my Honors thesis with Dr. Rob Colautti (CRC Rapid Evolution).
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I was drawn to pursue my MSc in Biology with Dr. Soper because of her emphasis on mentorship and insanely cool research topics in plant physiological ecology. I am interested in using volcanoes in Costa Rica as a natural lab to examine how nutrient availability influences the ability for common tropical plant families to respond to elevated CO2 – in other words, I want to investigate how tropical plants are responding to climate change. A big thank you to NSERC for helping to fund this research! On a random note, I love the outdoors, windsurfing, and painting. Looking forward to exploring the rich culture of Montreal!

mia.marcellus@mail.mcgill.ca

Ana Avila Vitorino 
PhD student (co-supervised with the Leung lab)

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I'm a lifelong lover of tropical forests and marine life. I came to McGill in 2017 for an undergrad in quantitative biology, and tried out research in cell biology and theoretical ecology before finding my passion for statistical modelling in ecology. I am beginning a career as a tropical forest modeller, and my current research involves the regrowth of native vegetation after agricultural abandonment. My main career goal is to contribute to research in the Neotropics, particularly on my native country Brazil, to help recover previously forested land. On my free time, you can find me doing morning yoga, studying foreign languages or drawing wildlife.

ana.avila@mail.mcgill.ca
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​Natalie Swartz 

Undergraduate Research Assistant
natalie.swartz@mail.mcgill.ca​


Former Members

Emily Brown (USRA)
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