Season 4 | Episode 10: Decoding Nature's Tiny Architects

Imagine a landscape where lichens are not just tiny patches on rocks and branches, but vibrant characters in a complex ecological story. In this episode of Geographical Thinking, we’ll talk with Miranda Frison, a master's student looking to uncover the hidden intricacies of lichen communities. Miranda’s research uses presence-only prediction and a series of environmental factors to model potential habitats where three threatened species of lichen may be found in Eastern Canada.

Looking for resources on what we discussed in today’s podcast? Check them out below!  

You can connect with Miranda and follow her research on, LinkedIn or check out her ArcGIS StoryMaps story. Miranda’s thesis work towards her Master of Arts in Geography from Saint Mary’s University is under the supervision of Dr. Sean Haughian and Dr. Peter Bush. 

Presence-Only Prediction (MaxEnt) 101: A blog post from Esri highlighting the basics of using GIS to model species distribution in presence-only predictions.  

Atlantic Canada Conservation Data Centre (ACCDC): This organization compiles and provides objective data about biological diversity in Atlantic Canada. They are one of Miranda’s data partners for her research.  

ClimateNA: This standalone Windows application “uses scale-free data as a baseline to downscale historical and future climate variables for individual years and periods between 1901 and 2100 in North America”. 

Sugar Maple: Learn more about the sugar maple from this species profile in the plant database maintained by the Network of Nature.  

Geomatics Association of Nova Scotia (GANS): Are you in Nova Scotia and interested in geography? GANS brings together the geomatics community across Nova Scotia for networking, fun and learning opportunities. Membership is also free for students!