Mary I. O'Connor

Mary I. O'Connor is a Professor in the Department of Zoology and Director of the Biodiversity Research Centre at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver, Canada. She maintains additional affiliations as an External Core Member of the Waterloo Institute for Complexity and Innovation (WICI), an Affiliate of the Hakai Institute, and serves on the Secretariat of the Western Society of Naturalists.

Her academic credentials include:

• BS in Aquatic Ecology from Brown University (2000)
• PhD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2008)
• Postdoctoral fellowship at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS)

Professor O'Connor leads pioneering research in metabolic ecology, biodiversity dynamics, and climate change impacts on aquatic systems. Her lab employs experimental warming studies, data synthesis, and theoretical models to investigate species interactions, ecosystem processes, and seagrass meadow conservation. She integrates information theory to analyze ecological scaling relationships and human-natural system couplings, with particular focus on marine biodiversity and seafood nutrition security.

Her distinguished honors include:

• UBC Killam Research Prize
• International Professional Research Excellence prize (2016)

She mentors graduate researchers including PhD candidate Coreen Forbes, and leads the O'Connor Lab in global collaborations through the Zostera Experimental Network (ZEN), Canadian Healthy Oceans Network (CHONE2), Canadian Institute for Ecology and Evolution (CIEE), and iDiv Synthesis Centre. Her research receives substantial funding from NSERC's Canadian Healthy Oceans Network with partners including Fisheries and Oceans Canada and INREST.

The laboratory maintains active field sites in British Columbia's coastal ecosystems, conducting long-term studies on thermal adaptation in aquatic communities and developing frameworks for climate-resilient conservation strategies.