New environmental science alumnus graduates with breadth of research experience supporting biologically diverse ecosystems

New alumnus Hannah Marton loves being introduced to different perspectives and new ideas. In fact, it’s what first drew her to the environmental science program after she began university at SFU.

“I appreciated the interdisciplinary aspect of the major and opportunities for hands-on learning,” she says, recalling how she made the decision to transfer from another Faculty after taking Introduction to Environmental Science (EVSC 100) with professor Tara Holland as an elective.

Throughout her degree, Marton took the initiative to get involved with research opportunities and extra-curricular projects, even when it took her outside of her comfort zone.

She challenged herself by taking combined fourth-year undergraduate and graduate-level courses, like Scale Ecology and Environmental Analysis (EVSC 495/695 and EVSC 445/645), where she connected with graduate students in her field in a supportive environment.

After taking a course in Watershed Ecology with professor Chelsea Little, she also reached out to Little to ask about research opportunities, which is how she ended up working as a research assistant in the Little Ecology Group’s sPriority working group.

Lead by Little, the sPriority group helps conduct quantitative analysis to evaluate the strength of priority effects — a term that “refers to how the timing and sequence of species arrival to an ecosystem affects their outcome and the community structure,” Marton explains.

“One of the highlights of my time as an RA was attending an sPriority working group meeting at the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research in Leipzig,” she shares.

The trip consisted of a week of meeting with the sPriority team to discuss their progress and their steps going forward.

In addition to her work in the Little Ecology Group, last summer Marton helped work on another project in in the Nch’ḵay̓ region (Garibaldi Provincial Park) that looks at how different species react to changing climates, called the Nch’ḵay̓ Subalpine Research Project.

Before that, in the fall of 2023, she also worked with peers on an environmental science capstone project for the City of Vancouver to create a replicable and resilient planting scheme for the St. George Rainway, designed to support species that are crucial to increasing biodiversity in the area.

She and her team were later selected to present their project to municipal staff, decision-makers and community members at City Studio’s HUBBUB 21 showcase, where they received the “Most Impactful” project award.

Reflecting on her undergraduate experience, Marton says she feels lucky to have found a great group of peers and sense of community in her program.

For now, she has wrapped up her work in the Little Ecology Group and is about to take off to explore New Zealand for a while. However, her time doing research at SFU isn’t over.

“After that, I’ll be back at SFU to start my master’s degree and study priority effects in subalpine ecosystems,” she says.