Neil Rooney - edit 1

- My name is Neil Rooney, I'm an associate professor in the School of Environmental Sciences. I'm an ecologist. I like to study the abundance and distribution of critters and plants in ecosystems. I'm particularly fascinated with fresh water and rain ecosystems. What motivates me to do my research? I find ecosystems really fascinating, they're incredibly complex, they're incredibly diverse and the fact that they persist in the face of environmental change that's what really kind of fascinates me. What I'm really interested in is how human activities and how human stressors affect the way that ecosystems operate, affect the biodiversity of these ecosystems, and affect their long term stability and ultimately, the sustainability of ecosystem services and ecosystem functions that they provide. Canada as a country and Ontario as a province depend upon the services the ecosystems provide for long term sustainability of our populations. Ecosystems provide fresh water to drink, they provide natural resources that we extract, so from a purely economic standpoint ecosystems are very important to Canadians. We are improving life by ensuring the way that humans interact with their environment is ultimately healthy for the structure and functioning of the ecosystems upon which we depend. The University of Guelph is very invested in studying how agricultural practices affect the sustainability of ecosystems. And my research is very tightly tied into that.