PEOPLE
Dr. Celia Symons
Assistant Professor
I am interested in understanding the impact of global change drivers on aquatic food web structure and function. Freshwater systems are facing many environmental stressors, such as warming, browning, salinization, eutrophication, and invasive species. Determining the response of lake ecosystems is critical to predicting future function. The cumulative impact of multiple environmental changes are difficult to predict as their tendency to amplify or dampen one another’s effects depends upon the stressors in question and the functional characteristics of the affected communities. We uses a combination of field surveys, mesocosms experiments and lab experiments to mechanistically explore how variables at different scales - individual traits, population demography and community composition - shape the response of lakes to environmental change.
Please follow the links below for more information on my research:
Hannah Cane
PhD Student
Hannah is a first-year PhD student in the Symons Lab at the University of California, Irvine, where her research focuses on the impacts of stressors on freshwater ecosystems. She earned a B.S. in Environmental Science from the University of Vermont (UVM), where she began her research career investigating the effects of heatwaves and salinization on freshwater zooplankton communities through a mesocosm experiment in the Stockwell Lab. Following her graduation from UVM, Hannah worked as a post-baccalaureate researcher with Dr. Dave Richardson on the Thin Ice Project, investigating how changing ice cover conditions influence lake dynamics and phytoplankton communities. Her work is broadly focused on understanding how environmental change influences aquatic communities and ecosystem processes.
Ashlyn Foster
PhD Student
Ashlyn is a second year PhD student in the Symons lab at the University of California, Irvine where she integrates her interdisciplinary experience into her research on alpine lakes. Ashlyn’s passion for the Sierra Nevada Mountains was initiated by her position as a recreational guide and has translated into an intrigue for freshwater ecology in pristine, oligotrophic lakes throughout the region. She is interested in the effects of environmental and anthropogenic disturbance on ecosystem function and composition (trophic cascades, nutrient pollution, phase shifts) and the mechanisms by which an environment can recover from perturbation. Ashlyn completed her Bachelor’s degree at University of California, Santa Barbara (Young Lab) where she worked on various projects under the scope of community ecology. During her LOREX exchange, Ashlyn will investigate the drivers of lake benthic primary productivity under the guidance of Dr. Ann-Kristin Bergström. This project will provide Ashlyn opportunities to learn valuable techniques in her field of interest and contribute to meaningful research in vulnerable Arctic lake ecosystems.
Emily Martin
PhD Candidate
Emily is currently a PhD Candidate in the Symons Lab at the University of California, Irvine. She is broadly interested in how shifts in abiotic and biotic factors shape freshwater ecosystems in a rapidly changing world. Her research journey began with exploring Midwest ponds and the Great Lakes, and it has since expanded to the high-elevation lakes of the Sierra Nevada. Presently, she is investigating how nonnative fish affect lake community structure, diversity, and ecosystem function. Understanding how differences in species composition and diversity influence ecosystem processes and the services they provide is central to her work. She is passionate about advancing freshwater ecology and conservation through a combination of fieldwork, mesocosm, and laboratory studies, and she looks forward to continuing this work in the Sierra Nevada while engaging in interdisciplinary collaborations.
Follow the email link below to get in touch:
Evan Fiorenza
PhD Candidate
Evan Fiorenza is a Ph.D. candidate in the Symons Lab. His research examines how biodiversity changes across spatial and temporal scales and the ecological consequences of those changes. By integrating data from large global datasets, he investigates the drivers of species turnover, disease dynamics, and ecosystem services in a rapidly changing world. In addition to his research, Evan is deeply committed to inclusive teaching practices. He has helped implement and support specifications grading frameworks in undergraduate biology courses that he has TA'd for. He has also updated Ranacapa, a web application that allows students to explore and analyze environmental DNA (eDNA) data without requiring programming experience, to be more user-friendly. Evan’s research and teaching reflect a shared goal: connecting ecological data, data science, and education to advance understanding and stewardship of the natural world.
evan-fiorenza.com
Google Scholar
Researchgate
Follow the email link below to get in touch:
Undergraduate researchers:
Talulah Miles, Brandy Nguyen, Muhamed Ridha, Jenny Louie, Emily Thomas, Yasmin Alvarez, Macey Kuhi, Skye Ramos
Past Undergraduates:
Nathan Bogin, Ruth Zhou, Evani Patel, Felix Jeong, Rizelle Martinez, Caitlyn Cargnoni, Youemeng Li, Claire Lei, Meili Soriano, Soffia Ramsey,Tu Nguyen, Claire Liu, Aimee Chi Soe, Pauline Stevens, Nathan Lee, Sarah Haas, Jatin Behar, Tyler Queja, Emily Le, Steven Nguyen, Annabelle Doo, Roman Torres, Hunter Rojas
