Michael Pisaric

Professor, Geography and Tourism Studies
Co-Founder, Water and Environmental Laboratory

PhD (Queen’s University)
MSc (McMaster University)
BSc (Brock University)

Office: MC C321
Phone: 905-688-5550 x6152
Email: mpisaric@brocku.ca
Twitter: @mpisaric

On Sabbatical Leave July 2022- June 2023

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I employ a number of paleoecological techniques to carry out my research, including lake-sediment analysis (fossil pollen, stomata and charcoal) and dendrochronology. I have carried out research in a number of regions throughout the world, including Siberia, western Canada and Montana (USA). I have ongoing research projects in Northwest Territories and southeast British Columbia.

Research Interests

  • Climate change
  • Dendrochronology
  • Paleolimnology
  • Arctic ecosystems
  • Landscape evolution

Publications and collections

  • Thienpont, J.R., Rühland, K.M., Pisaric, M.F.J., Kokelj, S.V., Kimpe, L., Blais, J.M. and Smol, J.P. (2012). Biological responses to permafrost thaw slumping in lakes of the Mackenzie Delta uplands (Northwest Territories, Canada). Freshwater Biology. doi:10.1111/fwb.12061
  • Deison, R. Smol, J.P., Kokelj, S.V., Pisaric, M.F.J., Kimpe, L.E., Poulain, A.J., Sanei, H., Thienpont, J.R., and Blais, J.M. (2012). Spatial and temporal assessment of mercury and organic matter in lakes affected by thawing permafrost in the Mackenzie Delta uplands, NT, Canada. Environmental Science & Technology. 46(16): 8748–8755.
  • Kokelj, S.V., Lantz, T.C., Solomon, S., Pisaric, M.F.J., Keith, D., Morse, P., Thienpont, J.R., Smol, J.P., and Esagok, D. (2012). Utilizing multiple sources of knowledge to investigate northern environmental change: Regional ecological impacts of a storm surge in the outer Mackenzie Delta, N.W.T. Arctic. 65(3): 257-272.
  • Pisaric, M.F.J., Thienpont, J., Kokelj, S.V., Nesbitt, H., Lantz, T., Solomon, S., and Smol, J.P. (2011). Impacts of a recent storm surge on an Arctic ecosystem examined within a millennial timescale. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 108(22): 8960-8965. doi:10.1073/pnas.1018527108.
  • Porter, T.J., and Pisaric, M.F.J. (2011). Temperature-growth divergence in white spruce forests of northwestern North America began in the late-19th century. Global Change Biology. 17, 3418–3430, doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2486.2011.02507.x
  • Johnstone, J.F., McIntire, E., Pedersen, E., King, G. and Pisaric, M.F.J.(2010). A sensitive slope: Estimating landscape patterns of forest resilience in a changing climate. Ecosphere 1(6): art 14.
  • Pisaric, M.F.J., St-Onge, S.M. and Kokelj, S.V. (2009). Tree-ring reconstruction of early-growing season precipitation from Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada. Arctic, Antarctic and Alpine Research. 41(4): 486-496.

Courses

  • GEOG 1F91 Physical Geography
  • GEOG 2P11 REsearch Methods in the Geosciences
  • GEOG 4P26 Advanced Fluvial Geomorphology