Bonjour/ Hello! My name is Deanna Holt-Schmitt and I am a Master’s of ecology candidate at Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue. I am passionate about forest ecology, resource management, and biodiversity conservation. While completing my honours theses for my bachelors degree, I discovered my love of mosses! I am now a member of Nicole Fenton’s bryology lab where I am studying the diversity of bryophytes on the shores of Lake Superior.

My thesis, titled From lake effect to logs: the distribution of bryophytes around Lake Superior, aims to identify the drivers of species diversity. Using eight transects of ten plots each on the north-east shore, we tirelessly collected and identified 145 bryophyte species. My study will evaluate variables at the climatic, forest structure, and substrate level to determine which variable or combination of each, has the greatest impact on bryophyte species diversity.