Dr. Sari Saunders has studied and worked as a forest ecologist and avian biologist in British Columbia, Ontario, the US Midwest, and Alaska. She is currently a Research Vegetation Ecologist with the BC Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations, and Rural Development, on the west coast of British Columbia. Her research and consultation activities support resource stewardship and land management within the Coast Area, from Haida Gwaii to Victoria. She works with Ministry, industry and academic colleagues on a diverse programme of field-based research in forest and landscape ecology, including ecosystem-based management in the BC central coast, characterization of old growth ecosystems, coastal disturbance dynamics, and landscape and forest succession under projected climate change. She is also one of two ecologists responsible for refinement and mapping of the coastal land classification used for resource management and operational forestry in BC.
Research areas: forest ecology, landscape ecology, edge effects, disturbance and stand dynamics