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Sylvia L. R. Wood

CURRICULUM VITAE

EDUCATION

Doctoral Degree in Agroforest Ecology and Livelihoods (Ph.D.) - Dept. Geography, McGill University (2009-2014)
Thesis: "The impacts of peasant agroforestry systems on landscape-level forest dynamics and livelihoods in the Peruvian Amazon"

NSERC Alexander Graham Bell (CGS-D) funded PhD
Supervisor: Dr. Jeanine Rhemtulla

Masters in Forest Ecology (M.Sc.) - Dept. of Forest Sciences, University of British Columbia (2007)
Thesis: "Tadpole-Sediment Interaction of the Western Toad, Bufo Boreas, in a Temperate-Lentic System"                                                  
NSERC Postgraduate Scholarship (PGS-M) funded Masters
Supervisor: Dr. John S. Richardson
Courses taken: Statistical Methods, Multi-stakeholder Land Management, Indigenous Peoples in Forest Land Management , Agroforestry, Environment Development and Security, Silviculture

Bachelors in Biology (B.Sc.H.) - Dept. of Biology, Queen's University (2005)
Honours degree in Biology and minor in International Development studies
Thesis: "Inter- and intra-clutch patterns of resource allocation in Barn Swallows: evidence of reproductive costs and the “Brood Survival” strategy"
NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award funded thesis
Supervisor: Dr. Raleigh Roberston


WORK EXPERIENCE     

Eco2Urb, Science Officer Research & Development - Montreal, Canada (2020-present)
·       Strategic planning and development of scientifically-robust approaches for biodiversity, ecosystem and connectivity analyses
·     Ecosystem service modelling and assessment 


Future Earth, Science Officer - Montréal, Canada (2019-2020)
·      National scientific lead on Science-based Pathways to Sustainability initiative in Canada
·      Co-lead on Global Risks Scientist Perception survey and report (2020) and Rapid Foresight Survey COVID-19
·     Responsible for development of grant proposals, websites, surveys, blogs and issue brief materials

University de Québec en Outaouais, Postdoctoral Researcher - Montreal, Canada (2017-2019) 

·     Application of ecosystem service modelling tools (MESH, iTree) to support decision-making in peri-urban and urban settings 
·     Informing agro-ecological policy frameworks to reduce phosphorus flows into the Baie Missisquoi, Québec

Bioversity International, Postdoctoral fellow - New York, USA (2014-2016)
·      Project lead on Bridging Agriculture and Conservation initiative
·      Co-led 2-year 'Science Nature and People' project on Making Ecosystem Services Count in the UN SDGs
·      Co-developed new ecosystem service modelling platform, MESH, to support landscape planning for SDG
 ·     Grant proposal conception, writing and management


Aga Khan Foundation Tajikistan / MSDSP, Natural Resource Management, Advisor - Khorog, Tajikistan (2008-2009)
·      Advisor on sustainable land management & adaptation for climate change
·      Coordinated field team and implemented energy and water management projects
·      Organized international workshop with the Resilience Alliance on approaches to NRM with government and NGO partners

Aga Khan Foundation Tajikistan / MSDSP, Natural Resource Management Program Assistant  – Dushanbe, Tajikistan (2007-2008)
·      Revision of internal Environmental Impact Assessment process and training of local staff on EIA
·      Case study design and implementation for project outcome evaluation and monitoring

Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Amazonias, Laboratory Research Assistant  - Manaus, Brazil (Summer 2004)
·      Aided in behavioural and physiological experiments on hypoxia tolerance in Amazonian teleost fish
·      Assisted in project design, experimental set up and running of trials
 
Queen’s University Biological Station, Field Research Assistant - Kingston, Canada  (Summer 2004/2005)                            
·     Conducted field research for thesis study of egg resource partitioning strategies of Barn Swallows
·     Assisted a graduate behavioural and ecological study focused on extra-pair paternity in Barn Swallows

 Queen's Project on International Development, Community Development Assistant - Sucre, Bolivia (2003)
·     Assessment of rice production and technology transfer in collaboration with Bolivian Non-Governmental Organization
·     Worked independently in remote communities in Spanish to identify appropriate technology
 
 Environment Canada, Canada Center for Inland Waters, Aquatic Field and Lab Technician - Burlington, Canada (Summer 2002) 
·     Conducted extensive field work for a water quality study in Hamilton Harbour and Lake Ontario
·     Responsible for collection and processing of water column samples, algal nets and bacterial counts

VOLUNTEER EXPERIENCE 

Queen’s Project on International Development, Executive Committee member- Kingston, Canada (2003-2005)      
·     Environmental Sustainability committee leader: promoted eco-friendly alternatives on campus
·     ​Prepared student participants for overseas projects through selection days, workshops, retreats, fundraising activities

Canada World Youth, Youth exchange participant – British Columbia-Sri Lanka (2000-2001)
·     ​Volunteered at the Fernie Associate Veterinary Clinic
·     ​Volunteered with the East Kootenay Environmental Society to develop awareness materials on ATV use impact on wildlife
·     ​English Teacher in Sri Lanka for the NYSC Vocational School

AWARDS

McGill University Alexandra Irwin Cowie Fellowship                                                                            (2013)
Global Environmental and Climate Change Center field research grant                                          (2011)
Graduate Research Enhancement and Travel Award (GREAT)                                                           (2010, 2011)
NSERC Michael Smith Foreign Study Supplement                                                                                (2010)
Warren Fellowship in GIS                                                                                                                          (2010, 2011)
McGill University Lorne Trottier Fellowship                                                                                           (2009)
McGill University Graduate Fellowship                                                                                                   (2009)
NSERC CGS-Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarship – Doctoral Thesis                  (2009-2011)
NSERC PGS-M Post-Graduate Studies Award – Master’s Thesis                                                         (2005-2007)
NSERC Undergraduate Summer Research Award– Honour’s Thesis                                                 (2004)

PUBLICATIONS  

Garschagen, M., Wood, SLR, Garard, J., Ivanova, M. and Luers, A., 2020. Too big to ignore: Global risk perception gaps between scientists and business leaders. Earth's Future, 8(3). [link]

Gergel, S.E., Powell, B., Baudron, F., Wood, S.L., Rhemtulla, J.M., Kennedy, G., Rasmussen, L.V., Ickowitz, A., Fagan, M.E., Smithwick, E.A. and Ranieri, J., 2020. Conceptual Links between Landscape Diversity and Diet Diversity: A Roadmap for Transdisciplinary Research. BioScience, 70(7), pp.563-575. [link]

Rasmussen, L.V., Wood, SLR and Rhemtulla, J.M., 2020. Deconstructing Diets: The Role of Wealth, Farming System, and Landscape Context in Shaping Rural Diets in Ethiopia. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 4, p.45. [link]

Rasmussen, L.V., Fagan, M.E., Ickowitz, A., Wood, SLR, Kennedy, G., Powell, B., Baudron, F., Gergel, S., Jung, S., Smithwick, E.A. and Sunderland, T., 2019. Forest pattern, not just amount, influences dietary quality in five African countries. Global Food Security
, p.100331.

Wood, S.L.R., Alam, M. and Dupras, J., 2019. Multiple pathways to more sustainable diets: Shifts in diet composition, caloric intake and food waste. 
Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 3, p.89.​ [link]

​Tabaichount, B,  Wood, SLR, Kermagoret, C,  Kolinjivadi, V, Bissonnette,  JF,   Zaga Mendez, A and J.Dupras. 2019. Water quality trading schemes as a form of state intervention: Two case studies of state-market hybridization from Canada and New Zealand. Ecosystem Services, 36: 100890 [link]

Johnson, JA, Jones, SK, Wood, SLR,  Chaplin-Kramer, R,  Hawthorne, P, Mulligan, M, Pennington, D and FA DeClerck. Mapping Ecosystem Services to Human Well-being: a toolkit to support integrated landscape management for the SDGs. Ecological Applications. Ecological Applications, 29(8), p.e01985. [link]

Zhang, W, Gowdy, J, Bassi, AM, Santamaria, M, DeClerck, F, Adegboyega, A, Andersson, GKS., Augustyn, AM, Bawden, R, Bell, A, Darknhofer, I, Dearing, J, Dyke, J, Failler, P, Galetto, L, Hernández, CC, Johnson, P, Jones, SK, Kleppel, G. Komarek, AM, Latawiec, A, Mateus, R, McVittie, A, Ortega, E, Phelps, D, Ringler, C, Sangha, KK, Schaafsma, M, Scherr, S, Hossain, MS, Thorn, JPR, Tyack, N, Vaessen, T, Viglizzo, E, Walker, D, Willemen, L and Wood, SLR. 2018.  Chapter 2: Systems thinking: an approach for understanding ‘eco-agri-food systems’.  In TEEB for Agriculture &Food: Scienti c and Economic Foundations. Geneva: UN Environment [Link]

Wood, SLR, Jones, SK, Johnson, JA, Brauman, KA, Chaplin-Kramer,R, Fremier, A, Girvetz, E,  Gordon, LJ, Kappel, CV, Mandle, L, Mulligan, M, O’Farrell, P,  Smith,WK,  Willemen, WL, Zhang, W and FA DeClerck. 2018. Distilling the role of ecosystem services in the Sustainable Development Goals. Ecosystem Services, 29(A): 70-82. [Link]

Abell, R, Asquith, N, Boccaletti, G, Bremer, L, Chapin, E, Erickson-Quiroz, A, Higgins, J, Johnson, J, Kang, S, Karres, N, Lehner, B,  McDonald, R, Raepple, J, Shemie, D, Simmons, E, Sridhar, A,  Vigerstøl, K, Vogl, A and SLR Wood. 2017. Beyond the Source: The Environmental, Economic and Community Benefits of Source Water Protection. The Nature Conservancy, Arlington, VA, USA 

Atwood, S. DeClerck, FA, Estrada-Carmona, N, Wood, SLR. 2017. Chapter 3: Using Biodiversity to provide multiple services in sustainable farming systems. In: The Agrobiodiversity Index. Bioversity International, Routledge. 

Reid, AJ, Brooks, JL, Dolgova, L,  Laurich, B, Sullivan, BG,  Szekeres, P, Wood, SLR, Bennett, JR and SJ Cooke. 2017. Post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals still neglecting their environmental roots in the Anthropocene. Environmental Science and Policy, 77 :179-184 [link]

DeClerck, FA …Wood, SLR and W Zhang. 2017. Agricultural ecosystems and their services: the vanguard of sustainability? Current Opinions in Environmental Sustainability, [link]

Wood, SLR, Rhemtulla, JM and OT Coomes. 2017. Cultivation, not fallow duration, is the long-term predictor of soil and vegetation dynamics in shifting cultivation systems of the Peruvian Amazon. Ecological Applications.

Kanter, D*, Musumba, M*, Wood, SLR*, Palm, C, Antle, J, Balvanera, P, Dale, VH, Havlik, P, Kline, KL, Scholes, RJ, Tittonell, P, Thornton, P and S Andelman. 2016. Evaluating agricultural trade-offs in the age of sustainable development. Agricultural Systems, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2016.09.010
*co-first authors 

Wood, SLR, Rhemtulla, JM and OT Coomes. 2016. Intensification of tropical fallow-based agriculture: Trading-off ecosystem services for economic gain in shifting cultivation landscapes? Agriculture, Ecosystem and Environment. Volume 215, 1 January 2016, Pages 47–56

Wood, SLR and FA DeClerck. 2015. Ecosystem Services and human well-being in the Sustainable Development Goals. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 13: 123.

Thaxton, M, Forster, T, Hazlewood, P, Mercado, L, Neeley, C, Scherr, SJ, Wertz, L, Wood, SLR and E Zandri. 2015. Landscapes for People, Food and Nature (LPFN). Landscape Partnerships for Sustainable Development: Achieving the SDGs through Integrated Landscape Management (White Paper) [link]

Hodgkin, T, Hunter, D, Wood, SLR and N Demers. 2015 Chapter 5: Agricultural biodiversity and food security. In “Connecting Global Priorities: Biodiversity and Human Health, A State of Knowledge Review. World Health Organisation/Secretariat of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. 

Marczak, L.B., Sakamaki, T., Turvey, S., Deguise, I., Wood, SLR and J S. Richardson. 2010. Are forested stream buffers an effective conservation strategy for terrestrial fauna? An assessment using meta-analysis. Ecological Applications 20, 126-134 (M.Sc.)

Wood, SLR and JS Richardson. 2010. Evidence for ecosystem engineering in tadpole of the western toad. Aquatic Sciences, 72: 499- 508.

Wood, SLR and JS Richardson. 2009. Impact of sediment and nutrient inputs on growth and survival of tadpoles of the Western Toad. Freshwater Biology, 54: 1120–1134. (M.Sc.)

De Boeck, G, Hattink, J, Franklin, NM, Bucking, CP, Wood, SLR, Walsh, PJ and CM Wood. 2007. Copper toxicity in the spiny dogfish (Squalus acanthias): Urea loss contributes to the osmoregulatory disturbance. Aquatic Toxicology 84(2), 133-141

Wood, CM, Sloman, KA, Kajimura, M, Johannsson, OE, Walsh, PJ, Scott, G, Wood, SLR, Almeida-Val, VMF, and AF Val. 2006. Behavioural, respiratory, ionoregulatory and metabolic adaptations to low environmental O2 and the influence of body size in the hypoxia –tolerant Amazonizn oscar (Astronotus ocellatus). pp. 179-200 In: Environmental Protection Agency Research Report Series. US EPA, Washington, D.C. EPA/600/R-07-010 (Eds. Brauner, C.J., Surajdric, K., Nilsson, G., and Randall, D.J.)

Sloman, KA, Wood, CM, Scott, GR, Wood, SLR, Kajimura, M, Almeida-Val, VMF and AL Val.  2005.  The effect of size on the physiological and behavioural responses of Oscar, Astronotus ocellatus, to hypoxia.  Journal of Experimental Biology 209: 1197-1205

Grosell, M, Laliberte, CN, Wood, SLR, Jensen, FB and CM Wood. 2001.  Intestinal HCO3- secretion in marine teleost fish: evidence for an apical rather than basolateral Cl-/ HCO3- exchanger.  Journal of Fish Physiology and Biochemistry 24: 81-95


POSTERS, PRESENTATIONS & CONFERENCES

Oral Presentation - Program on Ecosystem Change and Society, Oaxaca, Mexico - Nov 7-11 (2017)
"ANCRAGE: Unpicking Wicked Environmental Problems"

Poster Presentation - Program on Ecosystem Change and Society, Oaxaca, Mexico - Nov 7-11 (2017)
"Distilling the role of Ecosystem Services in the Sustainable Development Goals" 

Oral Presentation - Ecosystem Service Partnership, Stellenbosch, South Africa - Nov 7-11th (2015)
"MESH-ing Ecosystem Services and Human well-being for the SDGs"

Poster Presentation - Global Food Security Conference, Ithaca, USA - Oct 11-14th (2015)
"Tradeoff Analysis tools for Sustainable Agricultural Intensification"

Oral Presentation - Ecological Society of America, Baltimore, USA - August 11-14th (2015)
"Ecosystem Services in Large Agricultural Landscapes"

Oral Presentation - International Association for Landscape Ecology - July 5-10th (2015)
"To Plant or Not to Plant: Tradeoffs in Ecosystem Services of fruit orchards and fallows in shifting cultivation"

Oral Presentation - Natural Capital Project Symposium, Stanford University, March 24-25th (2015)
"Making Ecosystem Services Count in the SDGs"

Oral Presentation - Ecosystem Service Partnership, San Jose, Costa Rica - Sept 7-13th (2014)
"Ecosystem Services in the SDGs - Where are we?"

Oral Presentation - Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation, San Jose, Costa Rica - June 24-27 (2013)
"Win-Win or Lose-Lose: Using a long-term dataset to assess biodiversity and soil degradation in shifting cultivations systems".

Oral Presentation - Landscape Ecology and IUFRO, Concepcion, Chile - Nov 4-9th (2012)
"Land Wealth and Biodiversity: Maintaining forest structure and diversity in dynamic landscapes of the Peruvian Amazon"

Oral Presentation -  ESA, Portland, Oregon - Aug 5-10 (2012)
"Sustaining biodiverse and productive landscapes in tropical swidden forests of the Peruvian Amazon"

Oral Presentation - Society for Northwestern Vertebrate Biology Annual Meeting (2007)
"Tadpole-Sediment Dynamics in Lentic Systems: The impact of sediment loading on tadpoles of the Western Toad
*won best Student Presentation Award and organizational committee member 

Conference Organizer - McGill Sustainability Research Symposium, Montreal, QC - March 8th (2012)
"Sustainability and the City: Urban

Conference Organizer - Society for Northwestern Vertebrate Biology Annual Meeting (2007)

Poster - International Society of Tropical Forestry, New Haven, Connecticut (Yale) - Jan 24.26  (2013)
"Trade-offs in Ecosystem Services of Orchard and Forest Fallows: Implications for biodiversity, farmer livelihoods and food production"
*Voted best poster at the McGill Sustainability Research Symposium (2013) 

Poster - International Society of Tropical Forestry, New Haven, Connecticut (Yale) - Jan 26.28 (2012)
"Legacies of Social Inequity on Tropical Fallow Forest Restoration in the Peruvian Amazon"

Poster - Canadian Amphibian & Reptile Conservation Network Annual Meeting (2006)
“Impacts of sediment loading on the growth and survival of Western Toads”
*won best poster at the Faculty of Forestry Graduate Symposium
 

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