Starzomski Lab

Where is biodiversity & why is it there?

Research & Publications

We are very interested in biodiversity. Where species occur and why they’re there is often poorly understood, though ecologists have gotten much better at understanding how changing landscapes (through habitat loss, fragmentation, degradation) impacts biodiversity. Biodiversity is being lost globally, though sometimes invasive species and “weedy” species increase the total biodiversity in more local areas that you may know well. Southeastern Vancouver island is a good example of that: we’ve carved up the beautiful and culturally important Garry Oak ecosystems so that almost none remains and what is left is heavily degraded (the number of invasive species from other parts of the world is enormous). The special species that are found nowhere else in Canada (and sometimes the world) are heading for extinction, and unless we figure out how to commit to taking better care of this special ecosystem, it will be completely lost in the coming decades.

We seek to understand where biodiversity is, how people impact patterns of biodiversity both through deep time (thousands of years, especially work done on the Central Coast) and through contemporary human impacts (e.g., climate change, resource extraction). We use a combination of experiments, observational studies, and statistical analyses of big datasets to answer biodiversity questions.

Another component of our work is focused on community science, and we use iNaturalist.ca as a database of biodiversity observations. We encourage everyone to use this excellent tool to contribute biodiversity data and learn more about the species around them. A main project we facilitate is the BC Biodiversity Program, a collaborative project to make biodiversity observations in British Columbia’s biodiverse protected areas, and all across the province. If you’re interested in getting better iNaturalist observations, here’s a guide that might help! This website also provides much more information, including tips and tricks: bcinat.com. Our work focuses on efficiently collecting high-quality biodiversity observations with our team (e.g., https://inaturalist.ca/projects/bc-big-summer-teams), and also understanding how to use those observations to better understand changing patterns of biodiversity. Finally, we’ve created some resources to help with organizing bioblitzes. If you’re looking to host your own bioblitz event, this print guide may help with some of the ins and outs of pulling everything together, including setting up an iNaturalist project page. This video walks you through everything step-by-step, too.

Selected Publications (for more see Google Scholar)

Boucher, N.P., M. Anderson, C. Procter, S. Marshall, G. Kuzyk, S. Freeman, B. M. Starzomski, J. T. Fisher. In press. Forest harvest and natural stressors compound to reduce juvenile ungulate survival. Journal of Applied Ecology.

Gamba, D., M.L. Vahsen, T. M. Maxwell, N. Pirtel, S. Romero, J. J. Van Ee, A. Penn, A. Das, R. Ben-Zeev, O. Baughman, C. S. Blaney, R. Bodkins, S. Budha-Magar, S. M. Copeland, S. L. Davis-Foust, A. Diamond, R. C. Donnelly, P. W. Dunwiddie, D. J. Ensing, T. A. Everest, H. Hoitink, M. C. Holdrege, R.A. Hufbauer, S. Juzėnas, J. M. Kalwij, E. Kashirina, S. Kim, M. Klisz, A. Klyueva, M. Langeveld, S. Lutfy, D. Martin, C. L. Merkord, J.W. Morgan, D. U. Nagy, J.P. Ott, R. Puchalka, L.A. Pyle, L. Rasran, B.G. Rector, C. Rosche, M. Sadykova, R.K. Shriver, A. Stanislavschi, B. M. Starzomski, R.L. Stone, K. G. Turner, A. K. Urza, A. VanWallendael, C-A. Wegenschimmel, J. Zweck, C.S. Brown, E. A. Leger, D.M. Blumenthal, M. J. Germino, L. M. Porensky, M.B. Hooten, P.B. Adler, J.R. Lasky. 2025. Local adaptation to climate has facilitated the global invasion of cheatgrass. Nature Communications. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-64799-9

Tucker, D.B.T., Gotsch, S., Vaughan, D., Gradstein, S. R., Moreno, L., Shackelford, N., Starzomski, B.M. 2025. Community-level trait variation of epiphytic bryophytes supports trade-off aligned with leaf-economic spectrum in vertically stratified tropical montane cloud forest canopies. Functional Ecology. https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1365-2435.70117

Gonzalez, A., M. I. O’Connor, A. E. Bates, K. Bobiwash, A. C. Burton, P. van Dam-Bates, I. Eckert, D. Gravel, J. Idrobo, L. Pollock, A. D. F. Simon,, M. A. Slein, P. Sólymos, B. M. Starzomski, J. Sunday, E. Tekwa. 2025. A Canadian Biodiversity Observation Network to support conservation action and mainstream knowledge. FACETS. https://www.facetsjournal.com/doi/full/10.1139/facets-2024-0206

Dornelas, M. et al. 2025. BioTIME 2.0: Expanding and Improving a Database of Biodiversity Time Series. Global Ecol Biogeogr, 34: e70003. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.70003

Boucher, N.P., M. Anderson, C. Procter, S. Marshall, G. Kuzyk, S. Freeman, B. M. Starzomski, J. T. Fisher. 2025. Silviculture shapes the spatial distribution of wildlife in managed landscapes. Landscape Ecology. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10980-025-02095-z

Ellis, L. T., et al. (including B.M Starzomski and PhD students Nathan Earley and Dan Tucker, and undergraduate students Jack Bindernagel and Finn McGhee). 2025. New national and regional bryophyte records, 80. Journal of Bryology, 47(1), 71–85. https://doi.org/10.1080/03736687.2025.2466983

Schepens, G., Seider, J. H., Wesley, B. L., Mathews, D. L., & Starzomski, B. M. 2024. Colonial management drives ecological change following the exclusion of Indigenous stewardship in a Stoney Iyethka montane grassland, Canadian Rocky Mountains. People and Nature. https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.10747

McMullin RT, Simon ADF, Brodo IM, Wickham SB, Bell-Doyon P, Kuzmina M, & Starzomski BM. 2024. DNA barcoding aids in generating a preliminary checklist of the lichens and allied fungi of Calvert Island, British Columbia: Results from the 2018 Hakai Terrestrial BioBlitz. Biodivers Data J. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.12.e120292

Ellis et al. 2024. New National and Regional Bryophyte Records, 77. Journal of Bryology, 46(2), 139-155. https://doi.org/10.1080/03736687.2024.2388418

Simon, ADF., Lincoln R. Best, B.M. Starzomski. 2024. Evidence of Bumble Bee Extirpation and Colonization, Galiano Island, British Columbia, Canada. Northwest Science. https://doi.org/10.3955/046.096.0305

Obrist, D. S., Hanly, P. J., Kennedy, J. C., Fitzpatrick, O. T., Wickham, S. B., Nijland, W., Reshitnyk, L. Y., Darimont, C. T., Starzomski, B. M., & Reynolds, J. D. (2024). Equivalent roles of marine subsidies and island characteristics in shaping island bird communities. Journal of Biogeography, 51, 40–53. https://doi.org/10.1111/jbi.14728

Geurts EM, Reynolds JD, Starzomski BM. 2023. Not all who wander are lost: Trail bias in community science. PLOS ONE. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0287150

Geurts, Ellyne M., John D. Reynolds, and Brian M. Starzomski. 2023. Turning Observations into Biodiversity Data: Broadscale Spatial Biases in Community Science. Ecosphere. https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ecs2.4582

Boucher, N.P., A. Ladle, M. Anderson, C. Procter, S. Marshall, G. Kuzyk, B.M. Starzomski, J.T. Fisher. 2022. Cumulative effects of widespread landscape change alter predator-prey dynamics. Scientific Reports. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-15001-3

Obrist, D.S., P.J. Hanly, N.E.M. Brown, C.M. Ernst, S.B.Wickham, O.T. Fitzpatrick, J.C. Kennedy, W. Nijland, L.Y. Reshitnyk, C.T. Darimont, B.M. Starzomski, J.D. Reynolds. 2022. Biogeographic features mediate marine subsidies to island food webs. Ecosphere. https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ecs2.4171

Srivastava, D., MacDonald, A., Pillar, V., Kratina, P., Debastiani, V., Guzman, L.M., Trzcinski, M., Dézerald, O., Barberis, I., de Omena, P., Romero, G., Ospina Bautista, F., Marino, N., Leroy, C., Farjalla, V., Richardson, B., Gonçalves, A. Corbara, B., Petermann, J., Richardson, M., Melnychuk, M., Jocque, M., Ngai, Ja., Talaga, S., Piccoli, G., Montero, G., Starzomski, B.M., Kirby, K., Céréghino, R. 2022. Geographical variation in the trait-based assembly patterns of multitrophic invertebrate communities. Functional Ecology. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.14096

Simon, A.D.F., E. Adamczyk, A. Basman, J. Chu, H. Gartner, K. Fletcher, C. Gibbs, D. Gibbs, S. Gilmore, R. Harbo, L. Harris, E. Humphrey, A. Lamb, P. Lambert, N. McDaniel, J. Scott, and B. M. Starzomski. 2022. Toward an atlas of Salish Sea biodiversity: the flora and fauna of Galiano Island, British Columbia, Canada. Part I. Marine zoology. Biodiversity Data Journal. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.10.e76050

Davidson, K.H., B.M. Starzomski, R. El-Sabaawi, M. Hocking, J.D. Reynolds, S. Wickham, C.T. Darimont. 2021. Spatial patterns in marine subsidy to coastal food webs influence niche variation in an omnivore, the Keen’s mouse (Peromyscus keeni). Ecology and Evolution. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.8225

Simon, A.D.F., H. Marx, and B.M. Starzomski. 2021. Phylogenetic restriction of plant invasion in drought-stressed environments: implications for insect-pollinated plant communities in water-limited ecosystems. Ecology and Evolution. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.7776

Hoffman, K. M., B. M. Starzomski, K. P. Lertzman, I. J. W. Giesbrecht, and A. J. Trant. 2021. Old-growth forest structure in a low-productivity hypermaritime rainforest in coastal British Columbia, Canada. Ecosphere. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.3513

Trant, A.J., E.S. Higgs, B.M. Starzomski. 2020. A century of high elevation ecosystem change in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. Scientific Reports. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-66277-2

Obrist, D.S., P.J. Hanly, J.C. Kennedy, O.T. Fitzpatrick, S. Wickham, W. Nijland, L. Reshitnyk, C.T. Darimont, B.M. Starzomski and J.D. Reynolds. 2020. Marine subsidies drive patterns in avian island biogeography. Proceedings of the Royal Society B https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2020.0108

Wickham S.B., Shackelford N., Darimont C.T., Nijland W., Reshitnyk L.Y., Reynolds J.D., Starzomski B.M. 2020. Sea wrack delivery and accumulation on islands: factors that mediate marine nutrient permeability. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 635:37-54. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps13197

Srivastava, D., J. Ware, J. Ngai, B.M. Starzomski, and S. Amundrud. 2020. Habitat size thresholds for predators: why damselflies prefer large bromeliads. Biotropica. https://doi.org/10.1111/btp.12734

Hoffman, K., S.B. Wickham , W.S. McInnes and B.M. Starzomski. 2019. Fire Exclusion Destroys Habitat for At-risk Species in a British Columbia Protected Area. Fire. https://doi.org/10.3390/fire2030048

Shackelford, N., S. Murray, J. Bennett, P. Lilley, B.M. Starzomski, R. Standish. 2019. Ten years of pulling: Ecosystem recovery after long-term weed management in Garry oak savanna. Conservation Science and Practice. https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.92

Westwood, A.R., Otto, S.P., Mooers, A., Darimont, C., Hodges, K.E., Johnson, C., Starzomski, B.M., Burton, C., Chan, K., Festa-Bianchet, M., Fluker, S., Gulati, S., Jacob, A.L., Kraus, D., Martin, T., Palen, W.J., Reynolds, J.D., Whitton, J. Protecting Biodiversity in British Columbia: Recommendations for Developing Endangered Species Legislation. Facets. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1139/facets-2018-0042

Fisher JA, Shackelford N, Hocking MD, Trant AJ, Starzomski BM. Indigenous peoples’ habitation history drives present-day forest biodiversity in British Columbia’s coastal temperate rainforest. People and Nature. https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.16

Wickham, S., Darimont, C.T., Reynolds, J., and B.M. Starzomski. 2019. Species-specific wet-dry mass calibrations for dominant Northeastern Pacific Ocean macroalgae and macrophytes. Aquatic Botany. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aquabot.2018.09.006

Hoffman, K.M., A.J. Trant, W. Nijland, and B.M. Starzomski. 2018. Ecological legacies of fire detected using plot-level measurements and LiDAR in an old growth coastal temperate rainforest. Forest Ecology and Management. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378112718300495

Shackelford, N., R. Standish, Z. Lindo, and B.M. Starzomski. 2018. Community resistance, resilience, and recovery shift uniquely with landscape connectivity in multi-trophic microarthropod communities. Ecology. https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ecy.2196

Shackelford, N., R.J. Standish, W. Ripple, and B.M Starzomski. 2017. Threats to biodiversity from cumulative human impacts in one of North America’s last wildlife frontiers. Conservation Biology. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cobi.13036/abstract 

Hoffman, K.M., Lertzman, K.P. and B.M. Starzomski. 2017. Ecological legacies of anthropogenic burning in a British Columbia coastal temperate rain forest. Journal of Biogeography. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jbi.13096/abstract. 

Carlson, K., B. Coulthard, and B.M. Starzomski. 2017. Autumn snowfall controls the annual radial growth of centenarian whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) in the southern Coast Mountains, British Columbia.  Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research http://www.aaarjournal.org/doi/abs/10.1657/AAAR0016-033?code=iaar-site

Hudson, L. N., T. Newbold,  et al (including B.M Starzomski). 2017. The database of the PREDICTS (Projecting Responses of Ecological Diversity In Changing Terrestrial Systems) project. Ecology and Evolution. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.2579/full

Shackelford, N., B.M. Starzomski, N. Banning, L. Battaglia, A. Becker, P.J. Bellingham, B. Bestelmeyer, J.A. Catford, J.M. Dwyer, M. Dynesius, J. Gilmour, L.M. Hallett, R.J. Hobbs, J. Price, T. Sasaki, E.V.J. Tanner, R.J. Standish. 2017. Disturbance characteristics predict community recovery. Ecography http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ecog.02383/full

Nijland,W., L. Reshitnyk, B.M. Starzomski, J.D. Reynolds, C.T. Darimont, T.A. Nelson. 2016. Deriving rich coastal morphology and shore zone classification from lidar terrain models. Journal of Coastal Research http://www.jcronline.org/doi/abs/10.2112/JCOASTRES-D-16-00109.1

Hoffman, K. M., D. G. Gavin, and B. M. Starzomski. 2016. Seven hundred years of human-driven and climate-influenced fire activity in a British Columbia coastal temperate rainforest. Royal Society Open Science 3:160608. http://rsos.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/3/10/160608

Trant, A. J., W. Nijland, K.M. Hoffman, D. McLaren, D. L. Matthews, T. A. Nelson, and B. M. Starzomski. 2016. Intertidal resource-use over millennia enhances forest productivity. Nature Communications 7(12491), DOI:10.1038/ncomms12491. www.nature.com/articles/ncomms12491 [Winner of the Ecological Society of America’s 2017 WS Cooper award]

Hoffman, K. M., D. G. Gavin, K. P. Lertzman, D. J. Smith and B. M. Starzomski. 2016. 13,000 years of fire history derived from soil charcoal radiocarbon dates in a British Columbia coastal temperate rainforest. Ecosphere. DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.1415 [open access] http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ecs2.1415/abstract

Trant, A., Lewis, K., Cranston, B., Wheeler, J., Hermanutz, L., Jacobs, J.D. and B.M. Starzomski. 2015. Complex Changes in Plant Communities across a Subarctic Alpine Treeline in Labrador, Canada. Arctic.  pdf

Lewis., K. and B.M. Starzomski 2015.Bird communities and vegetation associations across a treeline ecotone in the Mealy Mountains, Labrador, an understudied part of the Boreal forest. Canadian Journal of Zoology. pdf

Jean, F., A. Branzan Albu, D. Capson, E. Higgs, J. T. Fisher, and B. M. Starzomski. 2015. Visualizing Category-Specific Changes in Oblique Photographs of Mountain Landscapes. In Proceedings of the Workshop on Visualization in Environmental Sciences (EnvirVis), May 25-29, Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy, 2015. pdf

Fraser, L.H., W.L. Harrower, H.W. Garris, S. Davidson, P.D.N. Hebert, R. Howie, A. Moody, D. Polster, O.J. Schmitz, A.R.E. Sinclair, B.M. Starzomski, T.P. Sullivan, R. Turkington, D. Wilson. 2015.  A call for applying trophic structure to restoration. Restoration Ecology. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/rec.12225/abstract

Trant,  A.J., B.M. Starzomski, and E. Higgs 2015. A publically available database for studying ecological change in mountain ecosystems. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment13: 187–187. http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/15.WB.007

Jean, F., A. Branzan Albu, D. Capson, E. Higgs, J. T. Fisher, and B. M. Starzomski. 2015. The Mountain Habitats Segmentation and Change Detection  Dataset, In Proceedings of the IEEE Winter Conference on Applications of Computer Vision (WACV), Waikoloa Beach, HI, USA, January 6-9, 2015.   pdf
Dataset here: http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.12590
Documentation  here: http://github.com/fjean/mhscd-dataset-doc

Straka J.R. and B.M. Starzomski. 2014. Fruitful factors: What limits seed production of flowering plants in the alpine. Oecologia.  pdf

Hobbs, R. et al. (including B.M. Starzomski). 2014. Managing the whole landscape: historical, hybrid, and novel ecosystems. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 12: 557–564. http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/130300

Straka, J.R., and B. M. Starzomski. 2014. Humming along or buzzing off? The elusive consequences of plant-pollinator mismatches. Journal of Pollination Ecology 13.  link to paper
and a summary of the paper in Pollination Magazine here

B.M. Starzomski. 2014.  Indicators of Ecosystem Change. Encyclopedia of Quality of Life Research.  Springer.

B.M. Starzomski. 2013. Novel ecosystems and climate change. In: Hobbs, R.J., E.S. Higgs and C. Hall (eds). Novel Ecosystems: when and how do we intervene in the new ecological world order?  Blackwell.

Hulvey, K.B., L.M. Hallett, R.J. Standish, B.M. Starzomski, K.N. Suding S.D. Murphy, P. Kennedy, C.R. Nelson, M.R. Gardener. 2013. Incorporating Novel Ecosystems into Management Frameworks. In: Hobbs, R.J., E.S. Higgs and C. Hall (eds). Novel Ecosystems: when and how do we intervene in the new ecological world order?  Blackwell.

L.M. Hallett, R.J. Standish, K.B. Hulvey, M.R. Gardener, K.N. Suding, B.M. Starzomski, S.D. Murphy, J.A. Harris, C.R. Nelson. 2013. Towards a conceptual framework for the management of novel ecosystems. In: Hobbs, R.J., E.S. Higgs and C. Hall (eds). Novel Ecosystems: when and how do we intervene in the new ecological world order?  Blackwell.

B.M. Starzomski 2012. Clarity, confusion, and idea refining in ecology. Ideas in Ecology and Evolution.

Straka, J. R., and B. M. Starzomski.  2012. Reply to Bortolus: what’s in a name? Trends in Ecology & Evolution. doi: 10.1016/j.tree.2012.08.003.

B.M. Starzomski. 2012. Climate change and the conservation of BC’s leading-edge species at risk. Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions Briefing Note 2012-40.

Harper, K.A., K.P. Lewis, D.L. De Fields, R.K. Danby, A. Trant, B.M. Starzomski, R. Savidge, L. Hermanutz. 2011. Changes in the spatial pattern of trees across the forest-tundra ecotone at treeline sites across Canada. Canadian Journal of Forest Research  pdf

Silver, R.S., N. K. Dawe, B.M. Starzomski, K. L. Parker, D. W. Nagorsen. 2011.  A tribute to Ian McTaggart-Cowan, 1910-2010, O.C., O.B.C., PhD, LL.D, F.R.S.C.  Canadian Field-Naturalist B: 367-383.

Starzomski, B.M., D. Suen, and D.S. Srivastava  2010. Predation and facilitation determine chironomid emergence in a bromeliad-insect food web. Ecological Entomology 35: 53-60.
    -Featured on Dr. Carin Bondar’s ‘Paper of the week‘

Gibson, S.Y., R.C. van der Marel, and B.M. Starzomski 2009. Climate change and conservation of leading-edge peripheral populations.  Conservation Biology. 23: 1369-1373.  doi: 10.1111/j.1523-1739.2009.01375.x

Starzomski, B.M., and C.D. Brown. 2009. Ecology, evolution and genetics join together on Canada’s east coast. Biology Letters. doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2009.0489.

Thompson, R.M., Starzomski, B., Hemberg, M. and Shurin, J. 2009. The ubiquity of omnivory. Verhandlungen Internationale Vereinigung für theoretische und angewandte Limnologie 30(5): 761–764.  pdf

Starzomski, B.M., R.L. Parker and D.S. Srivastava.  2008.  On the relationship between regional and local species richness: a test of saturation theory.  Ecology 89: 1921-1930.    pdf

Ngai, J.T., K. Kirby, B. Gilbert, B.M. Starzomski**, A.J.D. Pelletier, and R. Connor. 2008. The effects of land-use change on larval insect communities in Costa Rican bromeliads.  Ecoscience. 15(2): 160-168. ** order of first four authors assigned randomly    pdf

Vellend, M., Lilley, P. and B.M. Starzomski. 2008. Using subsets of taxa in biodiversity sampling. Journal of Applied Ecology. 45: 161-169.   pdf

Starzomski, B.M. and D.S. Srivastava. 2007.  Landscape geometry determines community response to disturbance.  Oikos 116: 690-699.    pdf

Thompson, R., M. Hemberg, B.M. Starzomski, and J. Shurin. 2007. Trophic levels and trophic tangles: the prevalence of omnivory in real food webs. Ecology 88: 612-617.     pdf

Thompson, R.M. and B.M. Starzomski.  2007.  What does biodiversity do?  A review for policy-makers and managers. Biodiversity and Conservation 16: 1359-1378   pdf

Starzomski, B.M., B.J. Cardinale, J.A. Dunne, M.J. Hillery, C.A. Holt, M.A. Krawchuk, M. Lage, S. McMahon, and M. C. Melnychuk. 2004. Contemporary visions of progress in ecology, and thoughts for the future.  Ecology and Society 9(1):14 [online]  http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol9/iss1/art14/index.html

Starzomski, B.M. and Bondrup-Nielsen, S. 2002.  Analysis of movement dynamics and consequences for metapopulation structure of the forked fungus beetle, Bolitotherus cornutus (Tenebrionidae).  Ecoscience 9(1):20-27.   pdf

Starzomski, B. and Bondrup-Nielsen, S. 2002. Self-organization in ecosystem structure and function: implications for environmental management.  In: Eds. Bondrup-Nielsen, S., Munro, N.W.P., Nelson, G., Willison, N.W.P., Herman, T.B. and P. Eagles. Managing Protected Areas in a Changing World. Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Science and the Management of Protected Areas. Published by Science and the Management of Protected Areas Association. pp. 505-514.