Dr. Terri Lacourse

Biography

Terri Lacourse is a Professor and Curator of the Herbarium at the University of Victoria. Her primary research focuses on palynology and paleoecology, with a specific interest in Late Quaternary vegetation dynamics in western North America. She studies wetland succession and peatland carbon accumulation, conducting research into temperate rainforest ecology and life history theory. Her work examines biogeography and multivariate statistics, primarily through the development and dynamics of temperate forest ecosystems along the coast of British Columbia. As part of her research, she reconstructs the development dynamics of plant populations and communities, utilizing advanced techniques such as high-resolution pollen analysis and the study of radiocarbon-dated lake sediments and peat. This involves identifying ecological and environmental factors that drive species abundance, species interactions, and community distributions. Her recent studies in the Paleoecology Lab focus on wetland development succession and the historical links between peatland carbon accumulation and past climate change.

Research Interests

Courses