Carol Frost, PhD, MSc, BSc
Contact
Assistant Professor, Faculty of Agricultural, Life and Environmental Sci - Renewable Resources Dept
- cmfrost@ualberta.ca
- Phone
- (780) 492-1227
- Address
-
230D Earth Sciences Building
11223 Saskatchewan Drive NWEdmonton ABT6G 2E3
Overview
About
I study how anthropogenic disturbances such as land management activities and invasive species impact biodiversity and species interactions, and how these changes to biotic communities in turn affect ecosystem processes, such as nutrient and energy flow through food webs, organic matter decomposition, plant pollination, and seed dispersal. My particular focus is on arthropods and their direct and indirect interactions, and in particular, taxa whose direct interactions with other species can be feasibly detected and quantified, such as plant-caterpillar-parasitoid interactions, ant-plant interactions, bee/wasp-parasitoid interactions, and plant-pollinator interactions.
Education
2014 PhD in Ecology, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand
2009 MSc in Entomology, McGill University, Montréal, Canada
2006 BSc in Animal Biology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada
Research
Timóteo, S., Albrecht, J., Rumeu, B., Norte, A.C., Traveset, A., Frost, C.M., Marchante, E., López-Núñez, F.A., Peralta, G., Memmott, J., Olesen, J.M., Costa, J.M., da Silva, L.P., Carvalheiro, L.G., Correia, M., Staab, M., Blüthgen, N., Farwig, N., Hervías-Parejo, S., Mironov, S., Rodríguez-Echeverría, S., and Heleno, R. 2023. Tripartite networks show that keystone species can multitask. Functional Ecology 37:274-286.
Kotula, H.J., Peralta, G., Frost, C.M., Todd, J.H., and Tylianakis, J.M. 2021. Predicting direct and indirect non-target impacts of biocontrol agents using machine-learning approaches. PloS one 16(6), e0252448.
Nelson, C.J., Frost, C.M., and Nielsen, S.E. 2021. Narrow anthropogenic linear corridors increase the abundance, diversity, and movement of bees in boreal forests. Forest Ecology and Management 489, 119044.
Chai, L.L., Hernandez-Ramirez, G., Hik, D.S., Barrio, I.C., Frost, C.M., Soto, C.C., and Esquivel-Hernández, G. 2020. A methane sink in the Central American high elevation páramo: Topographic, soil moisture and vegetation effects. Geoderma 362, 114092.
Peralta, G., Frost, C.M., Didham, R.K., Rand, T.A., and Tylianakis, J.M. 2017. Non-random food-web assembly at habitat edges increases connectivity and functional redundancy. Ecology 98: 995-1005.
Frost, C.M., Peralta, G., Rand, T.A., Didham, R.K., Varsani, A., and Tylianakis, J.M. 2016. Apparent competition drives community-wide parasitism rates and changes in host abundance across ecosystem boundaries. Nature Communications 7:12644 doi: 10.1038/ncomms12644.
Rohr, R.P., Saavedra, S., Peralta, G., Frost, C.M., Bersier, L-F., Bascompte, J., and Tylianakis, J.M. 2016. Persist of produce: a community trade-off tuned by species evenness. American Naturalist 188: 411-422.
Frost, C.M., Didham, R.K., Rand, T.A., Peralta, G., and Tylianakis, J.M. 2015. Community-level net spillover of natural enemies from managed to natural forest. Ecology 96: 193-202.
Peralta, G., Frost, C.M., Didham, R.K., Varsani, A., and Tylianakis, J.M. 2015. Phylogenetic diversity and coevolutionary signals among trophic levels change across a habitat edge. Journal of Animal Ecology 84: 364-372.
Peralta, G., Frost, C.M., Rand, T.A., Didham, R.K. and Tylianakis, J.M. 2014. Complementarity and redundancy of interactions enhance attack rates and spatial stability in host-parasitoid food webs. Ecology 95: 1888-1896.
Frost, C.M., Graham, A.K., and Spence, J.R. 2013. Abiotic conditions rather than resource availability cues determine aerial dispersal behaviour in spiderlings of Dolomedes triton (Araneae: Pisauridae). Canadian Entomologist 145: 29-39.
Courses
ENCS 299 - Special Topics in Field Skills and Their Application in the Environmental and Conservation Sciences
Focuses on specialized field skills, their application, and integration in different sub-disciplines of the environmental and conservation sciences. The course involves off-campus field experiences. A student is required to select a topic related to their major, but may take additional sections as part of their electives. Pre- or corequisite: REN R 290.
REN R 364 - Principles of Managing Natural Diversity
Introduction to the theoretical foundation for conservation science. Elements of population, community and landscape ecology will be reviewed, and their application to realworld challenges discussed. Objective is to provide students with the scientific tools to evaluate and develop conservation strategies for maintaining diversity in human-altered systems. Ethical and philosophical aspects of the sociopolitical arena in which conservation decisions are made and implemented are also explored. Not to be taken if credit received for ENCS 364 or BIOL 367. Prerequisites: *60, and BIOL 208 or (BIOL 108 and REN R 110).
REN R 581 - Introduction to Exploratory Data Analysis
Methods for exploring, analyzing and presenting data. Data organization, outlier identification, transformations. Data displays for grouped, bivariate, and time series data. Summary statistics for parametric and non-parametric data. Concept of standard errors and confidence intervals. Design of scientific tables, two-way tables. Participants learn how to generate publication-quality graphs and tables with open-source software packages.
REN R 582 - Elementary Statistics for Applied Sciences
Concepts of inferential statistics and null hypothesis testing, statistical versus scientific hypothesis testing, problem formulation, assumptions, and interpretation. One- and two-sample inferences for population means and proportions, one and two-way analysis of variance, linear correlation and regression, classical non-parametric statistics. Participants will gain general statistical literacy and learn how to implement common statistical tests with open-source software packages.
REN R 765 - Principles of Managing Natural Diversity
) Introduction to the theoretical foundation for conservation science. Elements of population, community and landscape ecology will be reviewed, and their application to realworld challenges discussed. Objective is to provide students with the scientific tools to evaluate and develop conservation strategies for maintaining diversity in human-altered systems. Ethical and philosophical aspects of the sociopolitical arena in which conservation decisions are made and implemented are also explored. Not to be taken if credit received for REN R 364.
REN R 906 - Research Project
The final research project that comprises REN R 906 is a final capping exercise for the degrees of MAg and MF. Its practical and professional focus should integrate the core areas of study in the program. The successful completion of the project entails (1) a research topic approved by the supervisor; (2) the presentation of a draft research proposal; and (3) the presentation of the research as a written document to the supervisor. The project may take the form of any of the following: (1) a formal analysis of management practice, organizational processes or policy; (2) a formative or summative evaluation of a research project or program; (3) a case study, using secondary documents, survey data, or interviews; or (4) replication of a previous study, with either the introduction of a new variable or an analysis in a changed context.