Upcoming Meetings

Want to attend a meeting? Please reach out to miranda.frison@outlook.com.

Meetings are held on one Friday per month from 2-4pm ADT, unless otherwise specified.

Presentations by community members are approximately 2-3pm. The remaining hour will be used to do a Q&A, 5-minute break, and updates from the those in attendance. This is a great time to share any ongoing projects!

March 6^th, 2026

Terrell Roulston (he/him) is a Research Associate in the Migicovsky Lab at Acadia University (Wolfville, NS). He holds an MSc in Plant Science from the University of British Columbia and a BSc (Honours) in Biology from Saint Mary’s University. His research focuses on modeling the distribution of crop wild relatives (CWR) plant species and projecting the impacts of climate change on these ecologically and economically important species. Using Maxent species distribution models (SDMs), Terrell has examined the current and future habitat suitability of native North American apples (Rosaceae: Malus). Domesticated apples are Canada’s most economically productive fruit crop, and their wild relatives contain valuable genetic traits for things such as disease resistance. However, without spatially informed conservation strategies, these species and their genetic diversity are vulnerable under climate change. In this presentation, Terrell will explore how taxonomic uncertainty can influence SDM predictions, using eastern North American Malus (section Chloromeles) as a case study while contrasting with the singular western species, and demonstrate how SDMs can be extended into conservation gap analyses to assess whether protected areas adequately capture suitable habitat under recent historical and projected future conditions.

March 13^th, 2026 will feature a presentation by Justin Kreller.

Potential Presenters

Do you have a model or relevant skill to showcase? Please reach out to miranda.frison@outlook.com!

To participate, we ask that you:

Make your modelling code or workflow available to the community of practice

Provide us with enough context to understand your workflow and modelling decisions

Comfortable with having a blog post about your presentation be shared on the website. This includes but not limited to model metadata and model product(s). This blog will be written by Miranda and sent to you for approval prior to publishing on the site.

Your model(s) can be at the beginning stages, in progress, or complete