Welcome
Research in the Baum Lab is motivated by a fundamental desire to understand how human activities are changing marine ecosystems, and what the consequences of these changes are for nature and for people. Our current research centres around the following questions: 

• How are marine ecosystems structured and how do they function in the absence of human disturbance?  How do diversity, structure, function and resilience vary across natural environmental gradients?  
• How are climate change, overexploitation, and pollution changing marine ecosystems? How do multiple stressors, such as these, interact and alter marine ecosystems? 

We investigate these questions primarily on tropical coral reefs, on organisms ranging from apex predators to microscopic dinoflagellates. We do so using a suite of approaches including statistical models of large observational data sets - which allow us to empirically test predictions from related theory and small-scale experiments at the ecosystem and global scale - as well as field observations and experiments, molecular analyses and bioinformatics, stable isotope analyses, interviews, historical ecology, and meta-analyses. Our research spans across broad temporal and spatial scales, incorporates principles from population, community and ecosystem ecology, conservation science, and fisheries science and is highly collaborative. Our current foci are tropical coral reefs and temperate eelgrass beds.
We are committed to open science and data sharing, and to outreach aimed at enhancing public understanding of our research, ocean conservation, and science in general. Our overarching goal is to make scientific discoveries that advance understanding of oceanic ecosystems, and inform and inspire effective solutions for their conservation. 

News - Fall 2019
Coral Resilience to Climate Change: We are recruiting one to two new PhD students and one new Post-doctoral researcher, who will work with our coral microbiome team, to investigate mechanisms of coral resilience to climate change using our long-term data sets from Kiritimati. May - September 2020 start dates. 

​Help support our research on coral reefs and climate change! We are currently raising funds for our summer 2020 expedition to Kiritimati (Christmas) Island, where we will be studying how the coral reefs are recovering from the 2015-2016 El Niño. 

Julia's recent guest lecture on gender bias, 'Overcoming Academia's Demons and Levelling the Playing Field for Women in Science', is available here, September

Welcome to new MSc student Dom Maucieri, and welcome back to Rebecca Hansen who joins us for a co-op semester, September

The lab had a fantastic time bonding and getting to know new members during our 5th Annual Baum Lab retreat (this time we were back on Hornby Island), Labour Day weekend

Our new paper on the importance of habitat mosaics to estuarine ecosystems is out in Marine Ecology Progress Series. Congratulations to Lia on an excellent first thesis chapter! 

Julia's Commentary 'Industrial fishing boats leave few safe havens for sharks' Nature, August

Julia was promoted to Full Professor, July 1st! 

Welcome to new Coral Microbiome and NSERC Postdoctoral Fellow Sam Starko!, July 
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University of Victoria, Department of Biology, PO Box 1700 STN CSC, Victoria BC, V8W 2Y2, Canada