FERG student Mackenzie Mihorean has been given the Western Family Award in Northern Research for her Master’s level research. You can learn more about the award on the Weston Foundation website
Mackenzie is investigating the implications of a deadly fungal pathogen, aspen running canker, on future forest transitions. Accelerated warming has increased wildfire frequency and severity, challenging the recovery of spruce and supporting an increase in aspen forest cover. Warming has also led to drought, making trees more susceptible to pathogen outbreak. As a result, the future trajectories of these aspen forests are now uncertain. Mackenzie is identifying which forests are most vulnerable to aspen decline to support ecological forecasting; this will provide an improved understanding of the future availability of caribou habitat in the central Yukon.