I am a Canada Research Chair (tier 2) and associate professor in the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability at University of British Columbia. I do research in two main areas: (1) ecosystem services and biodiversity, and (2) the ecological and evolutionary underpinnings of invasions and infestations; I am also developing research programs that include applied environmental ethics, ecosystem-based management, and social-ecological systems.
(1) Ecosystem services are the processes whereby ecosystems render benefits to people, which are so critical for sustaining and fulfilling human life. Our ignorance of these services has resulted in management for one natural resource at a time, which has degraded supporting, regulating, and cultural services and also the biodiversity upon which these services are based.
(2) Invasive species and population outbreaks of native species cost society dearly and devastate ecosystems. Yet we know relatively little about how we can guard against these disruptions preemptively, bolstering the critical ecosystem service of infestation resistance.
For more detail on research projects, please see my lab group’s website, www.conciseresearch.net, for the Conservation Collaboration for the Interdisciplinary Study of Ecosystems.
History: Before UBC, I was a postdoctoral fellow with Gretchen Daily and Paul Ehrlich at the Center for Conservation Biology (CCB) at Stanford University. My research there had two major components: countryside biogeography (the study of biodiversity in human-dominated landscapes) and conservation planning/finance (the design of conservation tools). I was a Ph.D. student under Simon Levin at Princeton University, where I studied the process of diversification, and collaborated with Brian Moore. I was also a policy fellow, and did ethics research with Peter Singer.
Advocacy: Our responsibilities to current and future persons and the natural world call for us all to be social and environmental advocates and activists. At Princeton, I coordinated Greening Princeton; at Stanford, I co-coordinated scienceinpolicy.org (to improve the use of science in policy); and I am now a director on the board of the BC chapter of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS), a columnist at the Vancouver Metro (Eco-Minded) and a senior fellow of the Environmental Leadership Program. I have recently been working with the Pacific Marine Analysis and Research Association (PacMARA) towards the implementation of ecosystem-based management in Western Canada.
Prospective Students: I am looking for rigorously trained students interested in ecological approaches to management and sustainability. I am not wedded to any topic or idea but rather motivated by a passion for both application and advancing fundamental insight, without consideration for disciplinary boundaries but recognizing the importance of disciplinary traditions for successful scholarship. Ideal candidates will be savvy about one or more of the following and interested in at least three: (a) ecological dynamics; (b) quantitative analysis and modeling; (c) social systems, including the advantages and limitations of economic valuation; (d) ecosystem-based management; (e) and user-oriented sustainability frameworks and processes (e.g., Life-Cycle Analysis).
Supervised graduate students:
Megan Mach
Ed Gregr
Sarah Klain
Jordan Levine
Gerald Singh
Jordan Tam
Paige Olmsted
Allison Thompson
Collaborating students:
Cathryn Clarke-Murray
Karina Benessaiah
Natasha Sihota
Postdocs:
Rebecca Martone
Visiting collaborators:
Robin Naidoo, WWF-US
Gary Luck, Charles Sturt University, Australia
Thomas Sisk, Northern Arizona University, USA
Research Assistant:
Caitlin Millar
Former students:
Maria Espinosa (graduated Aug 2010)
Veronica Lo (graduated Aug 2009)
Lara Hoshizaki (graduated Jun 2009)
Contact Details:
Kai M A Chan, Canada Research Chair (Biodiversity & Ecosystem Services)
Institute for Resources, Environment & Sustainability
UBC AERL, 438 – 2202 Main Mall
Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4 Canada
Email: kaichan at ires dot ubc dot ca
Tel: 604.822.0400
Fax: 604.822.9250
My CV download the pdf .
My photos on Webshots.
Publications:
A recent selection of my publications.
Chan, K. M. A., N. C. Ban and R. Naidoo (accepted). Integrating conservation planning with human communities, ecosystem services, and economics. Shaping the Future: Conservation Planning from the Bottom up – A Practical Guide for the 21st Century. L. Craighead, C. Convis and F. Davis. Redlands, CA, ESRI Press.
Espinosa-Romero, M. J., K. M. A. Chan, T. McDaniels and D. M. Dalmer (2011). “Structuring decision-making for ecosystem-based management”; Marine Policy 35(5): 575-583. url
Espinosa-Romero, M. J., E. J. Gregr, C. Walters, V. Christensen and K. M. A. Chan (2011). “Representing mediating effects and species reintroductions in Ecopath with Ecosim.” Ecological Modelling 222(9): 1569-1579. url
Gregr, E. J. and K. M. A. Chan (2011). “Making science relevant to marine ecosystem-based management.” Biological Conservation 144(2): 670-671. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6V5X-51NMYGH-2/2/5bbcb5d2f9c84077775e019938a154c9
Chan, K. M. A. and M. Ruckelshaus (2010). “Characterizing changes in marine ecosystem services.” F1000 Biology Reports 2(54).http://f1000biology.com/reports/10.3410/B2-54
Hagerman, S., H. Dowlatabadi, K. M. A. Chan and T. Satterfield (2010). “Integrative propositions for adapting conservation policy to the impacts of climate change.” Global Environmental Change 20(2): 351-362.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6VFV-4XX26C1-1/2/25724e930…
Luck, G. W., K. M. A. Chan and J. P. Fay (2009). “Protecting ecosystem services and biodiversity in the world’s watersheds.” Conservation Letters 2: 179-188.http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1755-263X.2009.00064.x (pdf)
Chan, K. M. A., E. J. Gregr and S. Klain (2009). “A critical course change.” Science 325(5946): 1342-1343.http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/325/5946/1342
Manolis, J. C., K. M. Chan, M. E. Finkelstein, S. Stephens, C. R. Nelson, J. B. Grant and M. P. Dombeck (2009). “Leadership: a New Frontier in Conservation Science.” Conservation Biology 23(4): 879-886.http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1523-1739.2008.01150.x
Nelson, E., G. Mendoza, J. Regetz, et al. (2009). “Modeling multiple ecosystem services, biodiversity conservation, commodity production, and tradeoffs at landscape scales.” Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 7(1): 4-11.http://www.esajournals.org/doi/abs/10.1890/080023
Hagerman, S. M. and K. M. A. Chan (2009). “Climate change and biodiversity conservation: impacts, adaptation strategies and future research directions.” F1000 Biology Reports 1(16). http://f1000biology.com/reports/10.3410/b1-16/
Chan, K. M. A. and G. C. Daily (2008). “The payoff of conservation investments in tropical countryside.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 105(49): 19342-19347. http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0810522105
Chan, K. M. A. (2008). “Value and advocacy in conservation biology: Crisis discipline or discipline in crisis?” Conservation Biology 22(1): 1-3.http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1523-1739.2007.00869.x (pdf)
Chan, K. M. A. (2008). “Conservation: in a rut, we need rut-inspired solutions.” Nature 451(7175): 127-127. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/451127a(pdf)
Armsworth, P. R., K. M. A. Chan, G. C. Daily, P. R. Ehrlich, C. Kremen, T. H. Ricketts and M. A. Sanjayan (2007). “Ecosystem-service science and the way forward for conservation.” Conservation Biology 21(6): 1383-1384.http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1523-1739.2007.00821.x (pdf)
