Rate My Professor Martin Brummell

Dr. Martin Brummell is a Lecturer in Environmental Science in the School of Environmental and Rural Science at the University of New England. He began his academic career aspiring to marine biology, earning a B.Sc. in Biology from the University of Victoria, Canada, in 2001. His postgraduate studies shifted to genetics, evolutionary biology, and soil science, culminating in an M.Sc. from Simon Fraser University in 2006 and a Ph.D. from the University of Saskatchewan in 2015. His doctoral research, conducted in the Canadian High Arctic, investigated patterns and processes of greenhouse gas exchange between polar desert and oasis soils and the atmosphere, highlighting microbial roles in global carbon and nitrogen cycles. Following his Ph.D., Brummell held four postdoctoral positions: at the University of Waterloo studying restoration ecology and peatlands across Canada; at Université Laval in Quebec; at Laurentian University in Sudbury, exploring damaged and restored ecosystems; and a three-year University of New England Post-Doctoral Fellowship focusing on microorganisms in flower-pollinator interactions and landscape drivers of plant-insect-microbe dynamics. He transitioned from the fellowship to his current lecturing role, coordinating units ERS381, ERS581, and ERS502 while remaining active in research programs.

Brummell's research interests encompass dispersal and metapopulation dynamics of microorganisms among flowers and insects; effects of pesticides and pollutants on pollinators, flowers, and their microbiomes; ecological restoration of peatlands and forests; and greenhouse gas exchange in pristine and disturbed terrestrial ecosystems. He teaches courses in ecology, evolutionary biology, microbiology, genetics, invertebrate zoology, and environmental science. Key publications include Samnegård et al. (2023), 'Within-bloom shift in abundance of a wild pollinator mediates pollen deposition rates to blueberry,' Basic and Applied Ecology; Bravo et al. (2020), 'Effects of invasion by Birch on a Spruce plantation at a cutover peatland,' Mires and Peat; Preston et al. (2020), 'Tree restoration and ecosystem carbon storage in an acid and metal impacted landscape,' Forest Ecology and Management; Lazcano et al. (2020), 'Interactive effects of vegetation and water table depth on belowground C and N mobilization and greenhouse gas emissions in a restored peatland,' Plant and Soil; Brummell et al. (2014), 'Greenhouse gas production and consumption in High Arctic deserts,' Soil Biology and Biochemistry; and Brummell et al. (2012), 'Greenhouse gas soil production and surface fluxes at a High Arctic polar oasis,' Soil Biology and Biochemistry. Brummell received the University of New England Post-Doctoral Fellowship.