Associate Professor
Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research,
Department of Integrative Biology
Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Freshwater Restoration Ecology
Phone: 519-253-3000 x 4773
Office: GLIER Rm. 317
E-mail: Catherine Febria
Visit the Healthy Headwaters Lab.
Expertise:
Freshwater ecology
Restoration ecology
Ecosystem ecology
Knowledge co-production
Socio-ecological systems
Biodiversity science-policy
Diversity, equity and inclusion in STEM
Research Interests:
I direct the Healthy Headwaters Lab, a multidisciplinary team that blends degree (BSc, MSc, PhD) and non-degree (land based, Guardians) learners to conduct research and science-based capacity-strengthening efforts. Our work focuses on the restoration of relationships with Land and Water, embracing societal and human dimensions - in the co-development of science-based research and evidence-based decision-making. We foster a diverse portfolio of projects, funded through diverse funding sources, to advance research on freshwater habitat restoration, aquatic species at risk conservation, and more holistic approaches to connect land-based stewardship with freshwater ecosystem restoration from headwaters and wetlands to large rivers and lakes. Projects include assessing water quality indicators in relation to stewardship and restoration actions, establishing biodiversity surveys of plant, invertebrate or fungal communities across the Carolinian life zone, and, in processes for effectively linking global science-policy with local and Indigenous knowledge systems and sciences. Our work is locally-rooted, in watersheds of southwestern Ontario, alongside conservation, Indigenous and local organizations, to connect research with practice and capacity-strengthening. Our lab also supports research contracts through GLIER’s central facility on Organic Analysis and Nutrients Laboratory, and also offers provincial and federal benthic biodiversity and water quality monitoring, training and certification for clients.
Education:
M.Sc. 2005, Geography, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada.
Academic Positions:
Publications: