Laurie likes arachnids...

...and their relatives.

not to mention AFW.

Academic History:

Ph.D. Aquatic Ecology, February 2007. Faculty of Forestry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.

M.E.S. Environmental Philosophy, 1997. Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University, Toronto, Canada. Advisor: L.L. Neil Evernden.

 B.Sc. Physical Geography. 1995. University of Victoria, Victoria, Canada. Environmental Studies Minor.

Research Interests:

I am interested in research that combines large scale spatial patterns (landscape ecology) with an experimental approach to food web ecology. I have recently begun a post-doc in the Pennings lab working on a large collaborative project (with Dr. Steve Pennings here at UH and Dr. Bob Denno of the University of Maryland) investigating the role of latitudinal gradients in the bottom-up or top-down control of salt marsh food webs. Previously, I was a post-doc in the Stream and Riparian Research lab at the University of British Columbia, Canada. My ongoing project with Dr. John Richardson (UBC) examines how the functioning (leaf litter decomposition) of small headwater streams changes with watershed level variation in riparian vegetation.

Selected Publications:

Marczak, L.B. and J.S. Richardson (in press) Growth and development rates in a riparian spider are altered by asynchrony between the timing and amount of a resource subsidy. Oecologia (manuscript accepted January 2008).

Karst, J, L.B. Marczak, M. Jones and R. Turkington (in press). The mutualism-parasitism continuum in ectomycorrhizas: a quantitative assessment using meta-analysis. Ecology (manuscript accepted June 2007).

Marczak, L.B., T.M. Hoover and J.S. Richardson (2007) Trophic interception: how boundary foraging organisms alter the flow of subsidies between habitats. Oikos 116: 1651-1662.

Marczak, L.B., R. M. Thompson and J.S. Richardson (2007). A meta-analysis of the role of trophic position, habitat type and habitat productivity in determining the food web effects of resource subsidies. Ecology 88:140-148

Marczak, L.B. and J.S. Richardson (2007) Aquatic insect emergence determines abundance and distribution of riparian spiders in a high productivity temperate rainforest. Journal of Animal Ecology 76: 687-694.

Marczak, L.B. and J.S. Richardson (2006). Life history of Cordulegaster dorsalis (Odonata: Cordulegastridae) in an ephemeral habitat of southwestern British Columbia. Canadian Field Naturalist 120(4).

Funding:

 Ecosystem functioning in small streams and their riparian areas in response to partial harvest riparian management. 2007. Forest Sciences Program: Forest Investment Account, British Columbia. Developed with Dr. J.S. Richardson. $225,000

The role of international experience with community-based natural resource management in First Nations land claims settlements. 1998. International Development Research Centre. Principal Investigators: Laurie Miller (Marczak) and Stephen Tyler. $32,000

 Can small-scale restoration on headwater streams alter downstream benthic invertebrate communities? 1996. Forest Renewal British Columbia. Principal Investigators: Alan Chapman and Laurie Miller (Marczak).  $185,000

Updated 1/08