Ecologist · Biogeographer
Sarah
Naughtin
MSc student, Team Shrub — Department of Forest & Conservation Sciences, University of British Columbia. I am an early career biogeographer interested in using quantitative ecology to better understand how species distributions will respond to changes in climate and ecosystem structure.
About
I am a biogeographer and quantitative ecologist focused on understanding vegetation change in response to climate and disturbance across diverse ecosystems. My work integrates field ecology, spatial analysis, and statistical modelling to investigate the drivers of vegetation dynamics.
My MSc research at UBC investigates boreal forest understory shrub dynamics across the Yukon Territory, combining landscape-scale species distribution modelling with field surveys spanning boreal forest, treeline, and tundra.
Prior to UBC, I completed a BSc in Fisheries and Wildlife at Michigan State University, where my research used ABC and demographic modelling to evaluate alternative SDMs for Fraxinus pennsylvanica.
Publications
Ecography · 2025 · doi: 10.1111/ecog.07196
Integrating genomic data and simulations to evaluate alternative species distribution models and improve predictions of glacial refugia and future responses to climate change
Naughtin S.R., Castilla A.R., Smith A.B., Strand A.E., Dawson A., Hoban S., Abhainn E.A., Romero-Severson J., Robinson J.D.
View paper →