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Curriculum vitae

Education

2009- 2013 PhD; Biology

Department of Biology, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada

Thesis: Integrating the effects of climate change and caribou herbivory on vegetation community structure in low Arctic tundra

Supervisor: Dr. Paul Grogan

2005-2006: MSc; Biodiversity, Conservation and Management

Oxford University Centre for the Environment, University of Oxford, UK

Dissertation: A palaeoecological analysis of sea level rise impacts to the littoral forests of Madagascar

Supervisor: Prof. Kathy Willis

2001-2005 BA Honours; Geography and Environmental Studies

Department of Geography and School of Environmental Studies; Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada

Research experience

I am interested in how conservation strategies can better accommodate the threat of climate change, yet that requires first an understanding of how that threat affects the individual species, communities, and ecosystem functions.

2015- present Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

- Conduct research focused on community ecology and global change, including the restoration of novel grassland ecosystems in Victoria

- Develop interdisciplinary collaborations and grant proposals re: the goals, management interventions, and community- and ecosystem-level

implications of grassland restoration strategies

- Support research students in project development and analysis

- Provide teaching support for ecology lecturers and practicals where possible

- Research group lead: Dr. Joslin Moore

2014- 2015 Research Associate, Canadian Polar Commission, Ottawa, ON, Canada

- Led a collaborative gap analysis of environmental monitoring in Northern Canada

- Managed a team of 4 and over 50 collaborators across government, academia, NGOs, Aboriginal organisations, and industry

- Advised on the science component of policy reports, e.g. The State of Northern Knowledge

- Coordinated the Commission’s role as Secretariat for SAON Canada (Sustaining Arctic Observing Networks; an Arctic Council initiative)

- Supported strategic planning of the bilateral Canada-U.S. Northern Oil and Gas Research Forum with a focus on socially responsible and

environmentally sustainable development

2009- 2013          PhD Candidate, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, Canada
                              - Completed research on impacts of climate change and caribou dynamics in the Canadian Low Arctic
                              - Conducted field work at a remote camp in the Arctic, 300 km north of the nearest town (Yellowknife, NWT)
                              - Applied the standard set of field, lab and statistical techniques for vegetation community assessment and plant and soil biogeochemical analyses

- Learned to be creative, adaptive, and resourceful in problem-solving, due to extent of isolation from other minds and equipment at the field site.
- Trained and managed 17 undergraduate lab volunteers and assistants and 3 undergraduate field assistants

- Lectured to class of 100; Supervised labs for 120 students; Mentored 3 students' theses

- Research dissemination:

- Publications: Published in Journal of Ecology (2013 and 2014) and Environmental Research Letters (2012); 2 further publications in review

- Presentations: Presented at 14 conferences in Canada, UK, and New Zealand

- Media coverage: Research covered via radio interviews with CBC North and article in Toronto Star

- Research group lead: Dr. Paul Grogan

2007-2008 Regional Red List Coordinator, Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, London, UK

- Conducted literature review and gap analysis on all national-level threatened species assessment programs globally

- Developed and populated a database with regional and national red list assessments- 65,000 species accounts and 50 country reports

- Created and managed a network of experts from across 30 countries

- Facilitated the development of the National Red List website to host the database and network

- Research dissemination:

- Presentation: Presented at the IUCN World Conservation Congress, Barcelona 2008

- Publication: Published gap analysis in Conservation Biology (2010)

- Research group leads: Drs. Jonathan Baillie and Ben Collen

2007 Sampled Red List Research Intern, Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, London, UK

- Researched and conducted global IUCN Red List assessments of selected reptile species as part of the sampled approach Red List Index project

- Created range distribution maps for assessed freshwater fishes and reptiles

2005-2006        MSc Candidate, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
                           - Analysed diatom assemblages in a core from Madagascar to infer past sea level rise impacts and predict future vulnerabilities
                           - Interdisciplinary coursework, ranging from International Conservation Law to Biogeography. Chosen electives were Climate Change and Statistics.

- Research group lead: Prof. Kathy Willis

2003 Plant Physiology Laboratory Assistant, Department of Biology, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada

- Designed and performed experiements on effects of hydrogen gas on soil bacteria and plant growth

- Research group lead: Prof. David Layzell

2002 Urban Horticulture Research Intern, The Morton Arboretum, Lisle, IL, USA

- Conducted experiments on the impact of silica on plant growth and resistance to herbivory

- Research group lead: Dr. Abbas Shirazi

Communication and Teaching experience

Communicating with a diversity of audiences through my career to date has helped me to adapt the style and pitch of my message to best suit the audience's interests, experiences, and position on an issue. Examples include:

- Policy makers: in international conferences, particularly the World Conservation Congress or International Polar Year conferences

- Diverse stakeholders: such as hunters an miners, in the field and at Arctic conferences

- Aboriginal elders: in the field, speaking both directly and through a translator

- General public: through the PhD project, Regional Red List promotional material, and work as a naturalist

- Children and young adults: at local science fairs, in summer camps and school trips whilst working as a naturalist

*University-level Teaching Dossier available- please email me for a copy

2015 and 2013 Guest Lecturer

Monash University

- Trends in Ecology- 3rd year undergraduate course

                                   - Delivered 30-min lecture on "Properties and Stability of Ecological Networks"; 60 students
                            Queen's University
                                   - Community and Ecosystem Ecology- 3rd year undergraduate course
                                  - Delivered lecture in ecosystem ecology, topic: The Nitrogen Cycle; 1-hr lecture; 120 students

2012-2013        Junior Field Naturalists Leader, Kingston, ON, Canada
                          - Developed and ran activities for ages 8-9 on themes related to local ecology
                           - Focus was on age-appropriate communication

2012                  Contributor, Grzimek’s Animal Life Encyclopedia, Extinction volume, Published by Gale, Farmington Hills, MI, USA
                          - Wrote the IUCN Red List article, aimed at an audience of educated non-specialists: secondary school students, teachers, administrators, journalists
                           - Editor in Chief: Prof. Norman MacLeod

2009 – 2010      Teaching Assistant and Lab Developer, Department of Biology, Queen’s, University, Kingston, ON, Canada
                         - Ran field and lab sessions, and marked assignments and exams:
                                     o Plant Organismal Biology (2nd year undergraduate course)
                                    o Animal Organismal Biology (2nd year undergraduate course)
                                   o Community and Ecosystem Ecology (3rd year undergraduate course)
                           - Developed lab component, created assignments and marking guidelines, ran field and lab sessions, marked written and oral assessments:
                                     o Terrestrial Ecosystem Ecology (4th year undergraduate course)

2005                  Naturalist Intern, Kane County Forest Preserve District, Geneva, Illinois, USA
                           - Interpreted the flora, fauna, and natural processes to visitors ages 3 to adult
                           - Developed and ran a conservation education programme for ages 8-10

Thesis co-supervision:
- B.Sc. Honours thesis for Bianca Jewell, School of Biological Sciences, Monash University. 2015. Barriers to recovery: The influence of soil fertility on plant growth

in degraded basalt grasslands.

- B.Sc. Honours thesis for Morgan Elias, Department of Biology, Queen’s University. 2013. Effects of altered precipitation and nutrient availability

on mesic temperate grassland plant communities.
- B.Sc. Honours thesis for Sarah Farrow, Department of Biology, Queen’s University. 2011. Climate, Caribou and Chemical Defense: Phenolic responses of arctic

dwarf birch (Betula glandulosa) to enhanced soil fertility and simulated herbivory.
- M.Sc. dissertation for Ana Ardid, Division of Biology, Imperial College London. 2008. A Gap Analysis in the Coverage of National Red Lists.

Awards and Funding

2011-2013 Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarship (CGS)- Doctoral; Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), Government of

Canada; $70,000

2011-2012 Ontario Graduate Scholarship; Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities, declined; $15,000

2011 Northern Scientific Training Program, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada; $2,000

2010-2011 Ontario Graduate Scholarship, Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities; $15,000

2010 Northern Scientific Training Program, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada; $2,000

2010 Student Poster Award, British Ecological Society Symposium; $50

2009 Northern Scientific Training Program, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada; $2,000

2005 Julien Szeicz Memorial Prize, Department of Geography, Queen’s University; $1,355

2004 Dean’s Special Award, Queen’s University $575

Additional Relevant Training

Teaching and Learning in Higher Education
- 36 hour classroom course, Jan-Apr 2013, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, Canada

- Learned formal and theoretical knowledge of teaching at university level; Developed and practiced teaching methods specific to ecology

Media Training for Scientists
- 1 day course, Aug 2008, Science Media Centre, London, UK
- Learned strategies for communicating scientific findings to journalists to facilitate accurate reporting

Administrative Experience

Northern Oil and Gas Research Forum, Lead Organizer (2014)

- Led the logistical organization of a 150-person bilateral Canada-US 3-day conference held in Yellowknife, NWT in November 2014

- Liased between Forum Organizing Committee, responsible for content, and hired service providers including event planners, venue staff, communications, and registration

- Managed a budget with primarily fixed costs and variable revenue

- Created and maintained Forum website and communications with all speakers and attendees

Biology Graduate Students’ Women Group, Founder and Coordinator (2012-2013)
- Initiated the creation of a women’s group for graduate students to provide support and community
- Events to date have included career seminars with female faculty and social gatherings for students

Queen’s Arctic Photo Exhibit, Coordinator (2012)
- Organised a cross-departmental exhibit of photos from Queen’s researchers who live and/or work in the Arctic (Departments of Biology, Geography, Geology, and Chemistry)
- Goal was to increase awareness of Arctic issues and to foster an exchange of ideas

Biology Graduate Student Society, Social Coordinator (2009-2010)
- Organised and ran monthly social events aimed at increasing cohesion of the graduate community
- Introduced a weekly departmental tea hour that continues to date

Ad Hoc Working Group for development of IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria for threatened ecosystems workshop, Coordinator (2008)
- Organised the four day workshop at the Zoological Society of London, March 2008.

Publications and Presentations

Published papers:

Zamin, T.J., Bret-Harte, M.S. and Grogan, P. 2014. Evergreen shrubs dominate biomass responses to experimental summer warming and fertilization in Canadian mesic low arctic tundra. Journal of Ecology. 102 (3): 749-766.
Zamin, T.J. and Grogan, P. (2013) Caribou exclusion during a population low increases deciduous and evergreen shrub species biomass and nitrogen pools in low Arctic tundra. Journal of Ecology. 101: 671-683.
Böhm, M., Collen, B., Baillie, J.E.M., Bowles, P., Chanson, J., Cox, N., Hammerson, G., Hoffmann, M., Livingston, S.R., Ram, M. and 204 others, including Zamin, T. (2013) The Conservation Status of the World’s Reptiles. Biological Conservation. 157: 372-385.
Zamin, T.J. and Grogan, P. (2012) Birch shrub growth in the low Arctic: the relative importance of experimental warming, enhanced nutrient availability, snow depth and caribou exclusion. Environmental Research Letters 7: 1-10.
Rodriguez, J.P., Rodriguez-Clark, K.M., Baillie, J.E.M., Ash, N., Benson, J., Boucher, T., Brown, C., Burgess, N., Collen, B., Jennings, M., Keith, D., Nicholson, E., Ravenga, C., Reyers, B., Rouget, M., Smith, T., Spalding, M. Taber, A., Walpole, M., Zager, I., and Zamin, T. (2010) Establishing IUCN Red List Criteria for Threatened Ecosystems. Conservation Biology. 25 (1): 21-29.
Zamin, T.J., Baillie, J.E.M., Rodriguez, J.P., Miller, R.M., Ardid, A., Collen, B. (2010) National Red Listing Beyond the 2010 Target. Conservation Biology. 24 (4): 1012-1020.
Collen, B., Ram, M., Zamin, T., McRae, L. (2008) The tropical biodiversity data gap: addressing disparity in global monitoring. Tropical Conservation Science. 1 (2): 96-110.

Non-referreed contributions:

Canadian Polar Commission (2015). State of Environmental Monitoring in Northern Canada. PDF available at: http://www.arcticobservingcanada.ca/state-of-monitoring.html
Zamin, T.J. (2013). The IUCN Red List. In N. MacLeod (Ed.), Grzimek’s Animal Life Encyclopedia: Extinction (p 83-93). USA: Gale.

Conference presentations (*presenting author):

Zamin, T.*, Jolly, A., Sinclair, S., Morgan, J., and Moore, J.M. Restoration of novel temperate grassland communities in the Victorian Volcanic Plain. Oral presentation given at the Ecological Society of Australia Annual Meeting, Adelaide, SA, Australia, December 2015.
Zamin, T.*, Jolly, A., Sinclair, S., Morgan, J., and Moore, J.M. Restoration of native forb diversity in former fertilized pasturelands in southeastern Australia. Oral presentation given at the Ecological Society of America Annual Meeting, Baltimore, MD, USA, August 2015.
Zamin, T.*, Beamish, A., O'Kane, K., Forget, N., Scott, D. State of Environmental Monitoring in Northern Canada: Terrestrial Component. Oral presentation given at:
- International Arctic Science and Technology Workshop, Ottawa, ON, Canada, December 2014
- ArcticNet Annual Scientific Meeting, Ottawa, ON, Canada, December 2014
Zamin, T.* and Grogan, P. What can fertilization experiments tell us about plant growth responses to warming? Oral presentation given at the Tundra Ecosystem Ecology Workshop, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada. January 2013.
Zamin, T.* and Grogan, P. Effects of experimental warming on plant and soil C, N, and P pools in mesic arctic tundra. Oral presentation given at the ArcticNet Annual Scientific Meeting, Vancouver, BC, Canada. December 2012.
Zamin, T.* and Grogan, P. Caribou and reindeer herbivory may help mitigate climate change impacts in arctic tundra. Oral presentation given at the European Congress of Conservation Biology, Glasgow, Scotland. August 2012.
Zamin, T.* and Grogan, P. Tundra vegetation responses to warming and high-level fertilization are fundamentally different. Poster presentation given at the International Polar Year (IPY) 2012 Conference, Montreal, QC, Canada. April 2012.
Zamin, T.* and Grogan, P. Relative importance of top-down and bottom-up controls on Eriophorum vaginatum productivity. Oral presentation given at the Tundra Ecosystem Ecology Workshop, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, Canada. January 2012
Zamin, T.* and Grogan, P. Climate change impacts to the nutritional value of caribou summer forage. Oral presentation given at the Society for Conservation Biology’s International Congress for Conservation Biology. Auckland, New Zealand. December 2011.
Zamin, T.* and Grogan, P. Impacts of experimental warming on the quantity and quality of Bathurst caribou summer forage. Poster presentation given at:
- Arctic Ungulate Conference: challenges of managing northern ungulates. Yellowknife, NWT, Canada, Aug 2011.
- Arctic Research Day, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, Canada, April 2012.
Zamin, T.* and Grogan, P. Effects of Betula glandulosa tissue chemistry on herbivory-nutrient cycling feedbacks in the low Arctic. Poster presentation given at the British Ecological Society Symposium: The integrative role of plant secondary metabolites in ecological systems. University of Sussex, Brighton, UK, April 2010.
Zamin, T.* and Grogan, P. Caribou herbivory mitigates productivity response of Betula glandulosa to climate change. Poster presentation given at the International Polar Year (IPY) Canada Early Results Workshop, Ottawa, ON, Canada, February 2010.
Zamin, T.* and Grogan, P. Effects of climate change on vegetation community responses to caribou browsing. Oral presentation given at the Tundra Ecosystem Ecology Workshop, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada, December 2009.
Zamin, T.* and Grogan, P. Effects of climate change on caribou-vegetation interactions in low arctic tundra. Poster presentations given at:
- Climate Change Impacts on Canadian Arctic Tundra (CiCAT) Conference, Yellowknife, NWT, Canada, May 2009.
- Ontario Ecology and Ethology Colloquium, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada, April 2009.
Zamin, T.* and Grogan, P. Caribou herbivory in the context of climate change. Oral presentation given at the Tundra Ecosystem Ecology Workshop, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada, Feb 2009.
Zamin, T.*, Ardid, A., Baillie, J., Collen, B., Miller, R., Rodriguez, J.P. Addressing the Gaps in National Red List Coverage. Oral presentation given at the IUCN World Conservation Congress, Barcelona, Spain, Oct 2008.
Zamin, T.*, Ardid, A., Baillie, J., Collen, B., Miller, R., Rodriguez, J.P. Building the Regional Red List Network. Oral presentation given in the Institute of Zoology Science for Conservation Seminar Series, London, UK, Oct 2008.
Baillie, J., Clark, E., Collen, B., Owen, C., Rodriguez, J.P., Zamin, T.* Providing Extinction Risk Assessments Compatible with National Planning. Poster presentation given at the Institute of Zoology Annual Conference, London, UK, Nov 2007.