CONNOR FITZPATRICK

Plants are his business

Connor was a Technician in the University of British Columbia’s Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences.  While completing his undergraduate degree in biology, Connor had the opportunity to identify grass species, and to collect, grow, and count the seeds of sunflowers. This work took him to places like Etzikom (AB), Pueblo (CO), and Alamogordo (NM). He became enamoured with observing plants and animals in their natural environment and after this he was hooked on field work. He then went to Trinidad and Tobago where he caught and marked guppies from montane streams. Now he helps tend to thousands of tiny conifers, this has included growing, watering, naming, and measuring them. Connor is broadly interested in the interactions of ecological and evolutionary processes and the use of field experiments to investigate them. He will pursue PhD studies in the field of ecology at the University of Toronto starting in May 2012. He is sad to leave the group but he’s glad to have been part of this amazing project if only for a while. His organizational talent and friendly smile will be missed.