Tara E. Sackett

Education

2007 Doctor of Philosophy

Natural Resource Sciences, McGill University, Montréal, QC.

- Supervisors: Dr. C.M. Buddle, Dr. C. Vincent

2000 Master of Science

Botany, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC.

- Supervisor: Dr. G.H.N. Towers

1996 Bachelor of Science

Biology, Mount Allison University, Sackville, NB.

Professional experience

09/2009- Post-doctoral Research Associate

present - Faculty of Forestry, University of Toronto

- Supervisor: Dr. Sandy Smith

2007- Post-doctoral Research Associate

09/2009 - Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of

Tennessee

- Supervisor: Dr. Nathan Sanders

- Coordinated field studies testing influence of multiple factors (temperature, habitat, invasive species) on community assembly of arthropods in detrital food webs and patterns of nutrient cycling.

2008 Instructor, Conservation Biology

- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, U. of Tennessee

- Developed curriculum, activities, lectures, assignments, and examinations for an upper level undergraduate course.

2006 Instructor (team-taught course, 1 of 2 instructors), Insect Ecology

- Department of Natural Resource Sciences, McGill University

- Co-developed curriculum, activities, lectures, assignments and examinations for an upper level undergraduate course.

2003-04 Research Associate, FSWEP (Federal Student Work Experience Program)

- Employer: Dr. C. Vincent, Agriculture and Agri-food Canada

- Coordinated field and laboratory studies on natural enemy colonization of agricultural habitat and of the effects of organic pest control methods on natural enemies in apple orchards.

2001-02 Research Assistant, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (BCI), Panama

- Employers: Dr. P. Coley & Dr. T. Kursar, U. of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT.

- Coordinated and performed field and laboratory work for a research project studying herbivory in relation to the evolution of defenses in tropical trees.

Funding & Awards

2007 FQRNT (Fonds québécois de la recherché sur la nature et les technologies) Postdoctoral Fellowship, tenured at University of Tennessee ($60,000)

2005 NSERC (Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada) Postgraduate Scholarship (PhD), tenured at McGill ($42,000)

2004 Margaret A. Duporte Fellowship, McGill ($8,000)

2003 McGill Graduate Studies Fellowship ($5,000)

1997 NSERC Postgraduate Scholarship (MSc), tenured at the University of British Columbia ($31,400)

1993/94 NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Awards, tenured at Mount Allison University ($5,000 each)

1992 Canada Scholarship (Government of Canada), tenured at Mount Allison University ($8,000)

Publications

Sackett, T.E., Classen, A.T., and N.J. Sanders. How soil fauna community structure affects aboveground and belowground processes: a meta-analysis. In prep. for Ecology Letters. Estimated submission date: Nov. 31, 2009.

Sackett, T.E., Record, S., Bewick, S., Sanders, N.J., and A. Ellison. Response of macroarthropod communities to the loss of hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) in the northeastern US. In prep. for Forest Ecology and Management. Estimated submission date: Dec. 31, 2009.

Lessard, J.P., Sackett, T.E., Reynolds, W.N., Fowler, D.A., and N.J. Sanders. Determinants of detrital arthropod community structure: the effects of temperature, resources, and environmental gradients. In review at Ecology.

Sackett, T.E., C.M. Buddle, and C. Vincent. 2009. Dynamics of spider colonization of apple orchards from adjacent deciduous forest. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 129: 144-148.

Sackett, T.E., C.M. Buddle, and C. Vincent. 2008. Relevance of collected juveniles to the analysis of spider communities. The Journal of Arachnology 36: 187-190.

Sackett, T.E., C.M. Buddle, and C. Vincent. 2008. Comparisons of the composition of foliage-dwelling spider assemblages in apple orchards and adjacent deciduous forest. The Canadian Entomologist 140: 338-347.

Sackett, T.E., C.M. Buddle, and C. Vincent. 2007. Effects of kaolin on generalist predator assemblages and parasitism of Choristoneura rosaceana (Tortricidae) in apple orchards. Journal of Applied Entomology 131(7): 478-485.

Sackett, T.E., G.H.N. Towers, and M.B. Isman. 2007. Effects of furoquinoline alkaloids on the growth and feeding of two polyphagous lepidopterans. Chemoecology 17(2): 97-101.

Saint-Germain, M., C.M. Buddle, M. Larrivée, A. Mercado, T. Motchula, E. Reichert, T. E. Sackett, Z. Sylvain, and A. Webb. 2007. Should biomass be considered more frequently as a currency in terrestrial arthropod community analyses? Journal of Applied Ecology 44(2): 330-339.

Sackett, T.E., C.M. Buddle and C. Vincent. 2005. Effect of kaolin on the fitness and behavior of Choristoneura rosaceana (Obliquebanded Leafroller) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) larvae. Journal of Economic Entomology 98: 1648-1653.

P.D. Coley, J. Lokvam, K. Rudolph, K. Bromberg, T.E. Sackett, L. Wright, T. Brenes-Arguedas, D. Dvorett, S. Ring, A. Ponge, C. Baptiste, R.T. Pennington, and T.A. Kursar. 2005. Divergent defensive strategies of young leaves in two Neotropical species of Inga. Ecology 86: 2633-2643.

C. M. Buddle, J. Beguin, E. Bolduc, A. Mercado, T.E. Sackett, R.D. Selby, H. Varady-Szabo, and R.M. Zeran. 2005. The importance and use of rarefaction for comparative biodiversity research with forest arthropod assemblages. The Canadian Entomologist 137: 120-127.

Conference presentations

Sackett, T.E., C.M. Buddle, and C. Vincent. Dynamics of spider colonization. Oral presentation. American Arachnological Society annual meeting. July 2007. Selinsgrove, PA.

Sackett, T.E., C.M. Buddle, and C. Vincent. Spider colonization of apple orchards. Oral presentation. Entomological society of Canada annual meeting. Nov. 2006. Montréal, QC.

Sackett, T.E.,and C.M. Buddle. Patterns of spider diversity: the roles of randomness and dispersal ability. Poster. Ecological society of America annual meeting. Aug. 2006. Memphis, TN.

Sackett, T.E. and C.M. Buddle. Spider diversity patterns: explaining non-random aggregations. Poster. American Arachnological Society annual meeting. June 2006. Baltimore, MD.

Sackett, T.E. and C.M. Buddle. Patterns of spider diversity: is competition improbable, and neutrality plausible? Poster. McGill Interdisciplinary Graduate Student Research Symposium. March 2006. Montréal, QC.

Sackett, T.E., C. Buddle and C. Vincent. Characteristic communities, hungry hunters, and unknown immatures: studying spider assemblages in apple orchards. Oral presentation. Entomological Society of Canada annual meeting, Nov. 2005, Canmore, AB.

Buddle, C.M. and Sackett, T.E. A review of the factors influencing spider diversity: Why do we have so many eight-legged freaks? Oral presentation (C. Buddle), Entomological Society of Canada annual meeting, Nov. 2005, Canmore, AB.

Sackett, T.E., C. Buddle and C. Vincent. Spider assemblages in apple orchards: how adjacent habitat structure influences potential source populations. Poster. Ecological Society of America annual meeting, Aug. 2005, Montréal, QC.

Sackett, T.E., C. Buddle and C. Vincent. Kaolin and spider assemblages as alternative methods of control for the obliquebanded leafroller in apple orchards. Poster presentation. McGill Environmental Research Symposium, May 2005, Montréal, QC.

 
Sackett, T.E., C. Buddle and C. Vincent. Effect of kaolin on summer generation oblique-banded leaf roller and generalist foliage predators in apple orchards. Oral presentation, Entomological Society of Canada annual meeting, Oct 2004, Charlottetown, PEI.
 
Sackett, T.E., C. Buddle and C. Vincent. Effet du kaolin sur la génération d’été de tordeuse à bandes obliques et les ennemis naturels en vergers de pommiers. Oral presentation, Réunion annuelle de la Société d’entomologie de Québec, Nov. 2004, Montreal, QC.
 
Sackett, T.E., C. Buddle and C. Vincent. Effect of kaolin on the leaf-rolling behaviour of the oblique-banded leafroller. Oral presentation, Entomological Society of Canada Annual Meeting, Nov. 2003, Kelowna, BC. (awarded 2nd place President’s Prize for presentation).
 

Professional development & service

2008 Best Practices in Teaching Workshop

- University of Tennessee (8.5 hrs)

2007 T-Pulse Science Education Workshop

- McGill University Tomlinson Project in University Level Science Education (16 hrs)

2003 – McGill University Joint Senate-Board Equity Committee

2007 - Mandate: Advocacy to inform university policies regarding diversity and

equity issues.

Reviewer for: Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, Annales Zoologici Fennici, Biological Invasions, Diversity and Distributions, Ecography, Ecological Entomology, Ecoscience, Great Lakes Entomologist, Journal of Animal Ecology, Journal of Insect Conservation, Journal of Pest Science