Anna Rallings

Graduate Student;
MSc Integrated Studies in Land and Food Systems

anna.m.rallings@gmail.com
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Education

  • BSc Environmental Science, Area of Focus – Ecological Systems (UNBC, 2008)
  • Richmond Farm School (Kwantlen Polytechnic University, 2010)

Research Interests

  • Agroecology
  • Landscape ecology
  • Biodiversity & ecosystem services
  • Sustainable farm practices

The complexities of ecological systems cause their management to be a delicate practice. In agricultural landscapes, the diversity of processes and actors are influenced by the spatial interactions at multiple scales. At a landscape scale, agricultural regions are a mosaic of production-oriented and non-production patches. Understanding how decisions at a field scale influence the broader relationships across that landscape is crucial piece of planning at a regional scale and the area of research that interests me most.

Thesis project: Evaluation of Agricultural Management Scenarios for the Enhancement of Non-Production Perennial Landscape Features and Carbon Stocks

Agricultural landscapes can be managed by land users to include vegetation both for production, such as food crops, and non-production, such as remnant native ecosystems. Non-production perennial vegetation can moderate onsite ecological relationships, but also contribute to broader scale ecological assets, such as habitat connectivity and carbon storage. Two common management strategies used in western agricultural practices include hedgerow systems and riparian buffers. Although their field scale attributes are the focus of many studies, the implications of their use across a landscape has not been explored in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia.

The objective of this study is to develop the framework for evaluating scenarios utilizing these non-production perennial vegetation strategies as well as explore the characteristics of the region that influence scenario outcomes.

For more information, please see my project page. 

Affiliations:

  • Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems, Kwantlen Polytechnic University
  • Institute for Sustainable Food Systems, Kwantlen Polytechnic University

Publications and Presentations:

  • Young, J.,  Rallings, A.,  Rutherford, P.M. and Booth, A.L. 2012. The Effect of NaCl and CMA on the Growth and Morphology of Arctostaphylos uva-ursi (Kinnikinnick). Journal of Botany, vol. 2012. doi:10.1155/2012/789879
  • The Effect of NaCl and CMA on the Growth and Morphology of Arctostaphylos uva-ursi (Kinnikinnick). Presentation delivered at Botany 2008 Conference: Botany Without Boarders. June 26-30th 2008 at UBC, Vancouver, BC.

Awards:

  • Faculty of Land and Food Systems Graduate Award (2013)
  • Graduating Class of Agriculture 1921 Graduate Scholarship (2013)