DR. ISLA MYERS-SMITH, Canada Excellence Research Chair, Arctic Researcher Since 2008, Isla Myers-Smith has been studying Arctic ecosystems and how they are responding to the rapidly warming Arctic on Qikiqtaruk – Herschel Island on the Yukon Arctic Coast. This island is at the forefront of Arctic change.

Her team and collaborators are documenting vegetation change, earlier springs, a longer sea ice free season, permafrost thaw, increased storms and flooding, with all of these changes altering the habitat for wildlife including caribou, migratory birds and marine mammals on Qikiqtaruk and across the Yukon Arctic Coast.

This talk will present the research findings to date stemming from collaborations with Indigenous communities, Northern partners and research teams working across the Arctic. Through telling the stories of Qikiqtaruk, Isla Myers-Smith will share the magnitude of change being experienced across the rapidly warming Arctic.

Prof. Myers-Smith is a Canada Excellence Research Chair in the global change ecology of northern ecosystems. Over two decades of research in the Arctic, she has studied how tundra ecosystems are responding to climate change. Here on Saturna, Isla is the daughter of Dr. Judy Myers, a long time Saturna part-time resident.