Matthew Barbour

Matthew Barbour is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology at the University of Sherbrooke, where he leads the Barbour Lab focused on gene-to-ecosystem ecology. His research bridges multiple scales of biological organization, connecting genetic variation to food web dynamics and ecosystem-level processes.

Dr. Barbour's research centers on understanding how genetic variation within species influences ecological networks. His work spans evolutionary ecology, community ecology, and genomics, examining plant-insect interactions, predator-prey dynamics, and trophic network structure across diverse ecosystems. His laboratory investigates how genetic diversity affects community assembly, ecosystem functioning, and responses to environmental change.

Analysis of Dr. Barbour's recent publications reveals a strong integration of genetic and ecological perspectives. His research consistently explores how genetic variation scales up to influence food web stability, with key themes including phenotypic plasticity versus genetic variation in community assembly, climate change impacts on ecological networks, and connections between genomic data and eco-evolutionary dynamics. His work employs diverse approaches including experimental manipulations, genomic analyses, and theoretical modeling.

• Genetic basis of food web structure
• Climate change responses in ecological networks
• Integration of genomic data with ecological theory
• Predator-prey interactions across multiple systems

Dr. Barbour actively mentors graduate students through the Quebec Centre for Biodiversity Science (QCBS), currently supervising three M.Sc. students with projects spanning forest composition effects on parasitism rates, plant genomic variation in food-web dynamics, and genetic diversity in trophic network dynamics.

The Barbour Lab focuses on understanding food webs and how biodiversity is interconnected across scales, from genes to ecosystems. The lab's research addresses critical questions about how genetic variation within species affects community structure and ecosystem function, particularly in the face of environmental change.