#13 The emerging ecology of cities with Marc Cadotte

For this final episode of the first season of the podcast, we're speaking with with Professor Marc Cadotte. Marc completed his PhD in Ecology at the University of Tennessee in 2006. Following some postdoctoral work at the University of California, he joined the Department of Biological Science at U of T-Scarborough. Throughout his academic career Marc has been a prolific researcher, receiving several awards for his work. Recently, he has been named, on more than one occasion, as one of the top 1% most-cited scientists in the field of Ecology. And as a result of his impact as a scholar, he was recently appointed to the Royal Society’s College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists, which honours research excellence and academic leadership.

Marc’s research group focuses on a number of topics, including the ways that biodiversity affects how ecosystems function and how biological invasions can disrupt those functions. More recently, he has been focused on how these questions play out in urban ecosystems. In that regard, he is leading a global network of researchers that are collaborating to examine these questions in different urban centres around the world. Marc has also been highly involved in academic publishing, first as the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Applied Ecology for several years, and now as the editor-in-chief of the new journal Ecological Solutions and Evidence.

In our chat with Marc, we talked about his exciting new research which straddles the worlds of ecology, human health and environmental management. We also spoke about the unique mission of his new journal, the significance of interdisciplinary science and broadly about the academic publishing landscape. It was a pleasure to speak with Marc about his stellar career, and learn about his trajectory from the fundamentals of ecological theory to applied research for urban sustainability.

Thanks for joining us for this first season of the podcast. Stay tuned for season 2 early next year! (There may be a few special episodes released later this Fall).

Marc's website: https://cubes-labs.com/

Marc on Twitter: @urban_sci

Articles discussed:

https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2664.13319

https://www.britishecologicalsociety.org/policy/nature-based-solutions/