E-mail: gjgillies[at]mun[dot]ca

Supervisor: Dr. Carissa Brown

I grew up in Calgary, AB and have since also lived in Vancouver, BC and Kingston, ON for my undergraduate and graduate studies.

Previous education:
MSc Biology, Queen’s University (Supervisor: Dr. Chris Eckert)
BSc Honours Environmental Sciences, University of British Columbia (Supervisor: Dr. Rachel Germain)

Research Project
Since early in my BSc, I’ve been interested in ideas about species range limits and range shifts. With anthropogenic global warming, many species are expected to shift their distributions to track temperature – e.g., to higher latitudes or elevations. However, some species aren’t moving at all, and some are even shifting opposite the direction expected. During my PhD with Dr. Carissa Brown, I aim to understand the ecological factors that may impose species’ range limits (specifically, understanding what limits treeline expansion at the boreal-tundra ecotone) and the processes that may facilitate range expansion into novel ecosystems.