Courtney G. Collins

I am a Climate Change Research Ecologist in the Future Forests Ecosystem Centre (FFEC) at the BC Ministry of Forests and an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Botany at UBC.

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Research Interest

My research takes a data-driven approach to understand the complex and interacting effects of global change on terrestrial biodiversity including species range dynamics, biotic interactions, phenology and plant-soil feedbacks. I combine different methods including field and greenhouse experiments, drone surveys, environmental senor networks and more.  I synthesize ecological and environmental data across these multiple sources, as well as from publicly available global climate and trait databases, long-term experimental monitoring networks, environmental DNA sequencing data and other digital repositories. ​I have a passion for ecological modeling and employ numerous different approaches to quantify the mechanistic drivers and impacts of global change on terrestrial ecosystems. 

FFEC Research 
My research at the FFEC is focused on understanding and predicting the myriad drivers of tree species distribution across British Columbia, both historically, and in response to global change. I am currently developing historic species feasibility models to improve the future feasibility projections in the Climate Change Informed Species Selection (CCISS) tool (Mackenzie & Mahony 2021). In addition, I am co-leading a project on Mapping postglacial forest succession using drone imagery collected in alpine areas of the South Coast Mountains in BC along with collaborators at Simon Fraser University (SFU). 

Postdoctoral research
My Postdoctoral research aimed to further understand how climate change is influencing alpine and arctic tundra plant communities through changes in plant phenology, functional traits, and community composition. I utilized long term datasets from the International Tundra Experiment (ITEX) and Niwot Ridge LTER, and collaborated with fantastic tundra scientists at CU Boulder, UBC and around the world. As a postdoc at UBC, I also began co-leading a large project carrying out tundra plant research at Garibaldi Provincial Park (Garibaldi ITEX).

PhD research
My dissertation research focused on climate driven shifts in alpine plant community composition, in particular woody plant range expansion, and how these shifts alter soil microbial communities, nutrient cycling and  below-ground ecosystem function. I worked primarily in the White Mountains of California, studying the below-ground impacts of a native range expanding shrub species (Artemisia rothrockii, timberline sagebrush) and it’s feedbacks to other native plant species. Towards the end of my dissertation, I expanded the focus of this research to the global scale by examining the impacts of alpine woody plant range expansion on soil microbial communities (AWESoM) at 13 sites across 10 countries and 4 continents. 

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Selected Publications

For the most up to date information, please check my google scholar page 

1. Collins, C.G., D. Dinwiddie, N. Pombubpa, K. McGuire, and M. J. Spasojevic. (2025). “ Population Persistence and Soil Microbial Communities of a Serpentine Endemic Plant Outside Its Historic Elevation Range.” Ecology and Evolution  https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.71629.
2. Collins, C.G. Angert, A, Henry, G., Elmendorf, S., Elphinstone, C, Clark, K. (2024) Flowering time responses to warming drive reproductive fitness in a changing Arctic. Annals of Botany. https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcae007
3. Collins, C.G., Spasojevic, M.J., Pombubpa, N., & Diez, J.M. (2023). Legacy effects post removal of a range-expanding shrub influence soil fungal communities and create negative plant-soil feedbacks for conspecific seedlings. Plant and Soil. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-023-05896-w 
4. Collins, C.G., Elmendorf, S.C., Smith, J.G., Shoemaker, L., Szojka, M., Swift, M., Suding, K. N. (2022). Global change re-structures alpine plant communities through interacting abiotic and biotic effects. Ecology Letters https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.14060
5. Collins, C.G. et al. (2021). Experimental warming differentially affects vegetative and reproductive phenology of tundra plants. Nature Communications. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-23841-2
6. Collins, C. G., Spasojevic, M. J., Alados, C. L., Aronson, E. L., Benavides, J. C., Cannone, N., … Diez, J. M. (2020). Belowground Impacts of Alpine Woody Encroachment are determined by Plant Traits, Local Climate and Soil Conditions. Global Change Biology. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15340
7. Collins, C.G., Bohner, T. F., & Diez, J. M. (2019). Plant-Soil Feedbacks and Facilitation Influence the Demography of Herbaceous Alpine Species in Response to Woody Plant Range Expansion. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2019.00417
8. Collins, C.G., Stajich, J. E., Weber, S. E., Pombubpa, N., & Diez, J. M. (2018). Shrub range expansion alters diversity and distribution of soil fungal communities across an alpine elevation gradient. Molecular Ecology https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.14694
9. Collins, C.G., Carey, C. J., Aronson, E. L., Kopp, C. W., & Diez, J. M. (2016). Direct and indirect effects of native range expansion on soil microbial community structure and function. Journal of Ecology https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.12616
10. Collins, C.G., Wright, S. J., & Wurzburger, N. (2016). Root and leaf traits reflect distinct resource acquisition strategies in tropical lianas and trees. Oecologia https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-015-3410-7