CERA researchers focus on the environmental well-being and ecosystem health in human-dominated landscapes and at urban-to-rural interfaces. Key to this will be understanding how contaminants and stressors manifest their effects in these ecosystems, and how organisms persist in or move through adverse environments. Importantly, CERA will also examine how human populations benefit from ecosystem services and how different policies and governance jurisdictions influence the management of environmental resources. These research themes naturally fall along a gradient of levels of organization, from molecular stressors to organismal performance to ecosystems and up to socio-ecological systems that interface with cultural and policy dimensions.
CERA research activities and programs are focused around four main research themes:
- Impacts of physical, chemical, and biological stressors on ecosystem health.
- Linkages between biodiversity and ecosystem services.
- The role of green infrastructure in ameliorating the impacts of stressors.
- Integrating scientific evidence with social and economic dimensions of environmental change.
CERA funding is provided via the Clusters of Scholarly Promise Program at the University of Toronto Scarborough and administered through the Office of the Vice-Principal Research & Innovation.
CERA RESEARCH PROGRAMS
CERA programs support research and provide funding directly to postdoctoral fellows, graduate and undergraduate students. An overview of CERA programs is summarized here and more information is listed below.
