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 am an arthropod community ecologist with an applied focus on biodiversity conservation. I study how arthropod biodiversity and species interactions confer ecosystem states and functions, and how anthropogenic activities affect biodiversity and species interactions to disrupt those functions. I focus on making contributions in three domains:
Conservation contributions: I aim to discover “low cost” ways in which human industrial and urban activities can be modified to generate large improvements in biodiversity conservation outcomes.
Basic ecology contributions: My research also aims to increase our ability to understand change and predict future states in complex ecological communities. A large focus is on doing this via ecological network approaches that describe interaction patterns at the community level.
Entomology contributions: Finally, I aim to increase entomological knowledge, including taxonomy and natural history, of the arthropod species of Alberta and the other regions where I work.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
Pizante, R., Acorn, J.H., Jiménez, I.P., and Frost, C.M. 2025. Treed field borders net-export over 82,000 more hoverflies per km every week into canola crops than herbaceous field borders, regardless of mass-flowering crop bloom. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 377: 109271. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2024.109271
Worthy, S.H., Acorn, J.H., and Frost, C.M. 2024. Biodiversity measures of a grassland plant-pollinator community are resilient to the introduction of honey bees (Apis mellifera). PLoS ONE 19(10): e0309939. https://doi.org/10.1371/ journal.pone.0309939
Pizante, R., Frost, C.M., and Acorn, J.H. 2024. New records for hoverflies (Diptera: Syrphidae) in Alberta, Canada. The Canadian Entomologist 156: e27, 1-5. doi:10.4039/tce.2024.32
Peralta, G., Resasco, J., Worthy, S., Frost, C.M., Guevara, A.T., Manning, I., Cagnolo, L., and Burkle, L.A. 2024. Pollinator intraspecific body size variation and sociality influence their interactions with plants. Functional Ecology 38(4): 875-882
Pizante, R., Acorn, J.H., Worthy, S.H., and Frost, C.M. 2023. Existing flower preference metrics disagree on best plants for pollinators: which metric to choose? Insect Conservation and Diversity 16: 745-757. https://doi.org/10.1111/icad.12682
Worthy, S.H., Acorn, J.H., and Frost, C.M. 2023. Honey bees (Apis mellifera) modify plant-pollinator network structure, but do not alter wild species’ interactions. PLoS ONE 18(7): e0287332.
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.
Teaching
REN R 364/765 - Principles of Managing Natural Diversity
REN R 581 - Introduction to Exploratory Data Analysis
REN R 582 - Elementary Statistics for Applied Sciences
ENCS 299-853 - Pollinator Ecology and Conservation
Courses
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: 30 units, and BIOL 208 or (BIOL 108 and REN R 110).
REN R 401 - Topics in Renewable Resources
Directed study in the multiple aspects of renewable resources. Open to third or fourth year students upon consent of instructor. Some sections require payment of additional student instructional support fees. Refer to the Tuition and Fees page in the University Regulations section of the Calendar.
REN R 402A - Directed Research in Renewable Resources
Directed research, with the intent of preparing the student for graduate studies. Generally undertaken in the fourth year of study, over the course of the fall and winter terms and results in an undergraduate thesis. Students wishing to enrol must obtain permission from an instructor, as well as the Associate Chair, Undergraduate, Department of Renewable Resources. Prerequisite: 60 units and consent of instructor.
REN R 402B - Directed Research in Renewable Resources
Directed research, with the intent of preparing the student for graduate studies. Generally undertaken in the fourth year of study, over the course of the fall and winter terms and results in an undergraduate thesis. Students wishing to enrol must obtain permission from an instructor, as well as the Associate Chair, Undergraduate, Department of Renewable Resources. Prerequisite: 60 units and consent of instructor.
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.
Featured Publications
Guadalupe Peralta, Julian Resasco, Sydney Worthy, Carol M. Frost, Angie T. Guevara, Isabella Manning, Luciano Cagnolo, Laura A. Burkle
Functional Ecology. 2024 April; 10.1111/1365-2435.14511
Rachel Pizante, John H. Acorn, Sydney H. Worthy, Carol M. Frost
Insect Conservation and Diversity. 2023 November; 10.1111/icad.12682
Sydney H. Worthy, John H. Acorn, Carol M. Frost
PLOS ONE. 2023 July; 10.1371/journal.pone.0287332
Connor J. Nelson, Carol M. Frost, Scott E. Nielsen
Forest Ecology and Management. 2021 June; 10.1016/j.foreco.2021.119044
View additional publications