About

Jeremy Lundholm

I’m a botanist and a plant community ecologist. For many years I worked as a university professor; I ran a research lab and I taught about plants, community ecology and environmental science. I’m also a parent, a hiker, a home cook, a low-key birder and a music fan. These other roles shape everything I do and think, of course, but also how I look at plants and landscapes. As a community ecologist, I learned a particular way of looking at plants and their co-inhabitants on the landscape. This view informs how I see the world, and I want to share that here. But also I want to use this site to describe plants and landscapes in a way that centralizes my human experience, resulting from sensory embedment in the places I study, the intimacy that comes from working closely with plants in ecological restoration, the shared humour that lightened the workday, the past and present relationships that constitute my being. Joy can be found in tiny plants, in overlooked places full of life that are right underfoot.

Photo: Spontaneous urban vegetation: Field Sow Thistle (Sonchus arvensis), Foxtail Barley (Hordeum jubatum), near Black Rock Beach, Point Pleasant Park ©J. Lundholm

Current work: I’m a research associate with TransCoastal Adaptations Centre for Nature-Based Solutions at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax, Canada, and with CB Wetlands and Environmental Specialists. This work involves plant identification, data analysis, teaching about plants and restoration ecology and advising graduate students. Most of our projects relate to tidal wetland restoration and helping coastal communities build resilience toward climate change. I also do contract work for the government agencies, mainly on vegetation classification. I am grateful to be able to work in Mi’kma’ki, the unceded, ancestral and current territory of the Mi’kmaq.

Photo: Tidal wetland and rock barren combined: Seaside Plantain (Plantago maritima), Sea Milkwort (Lysimachia maritima), Silverweed (Potentilla anserina), Runde, Norway. ©J. Lundholm

Past work: My research lab at SMU focused on applying plant community ecology to challenges in ecosystem restoration and urban sustainability. We also studied barrens vegetation in Nova Scotia. One of my favorite publications to come out of that work can be found here, a beautiful catalog of Nova Scotia barrens vegetation types: https://novascotia.ca/natr/wildlife/pdf/Barrens-Classification.pdf This work is being updated with a bunch more vegetation types. We also worked on experimental green roofs where we brought in native plants, many sourced from local barrens, to improve the environmental impact of buildings.

Photo: Black crowberry (Empetrum nigrum) and annual bluegrass (Poa annua), spontaneously established on a roof: Fortress of Louisburg, Cape Breton ©J. Lundholm

Background: My main academic gig was as an Assistant, Associate and Full Professor in the Biology Department at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax, Nova Scotia (2003－2021). I have a PhD in Plant Community Ecology from the University of Guelph (2003); before that I worked as a Field Botanist at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Hamilton, Ontario, and completed a Master of Environmental Studies at York University (1996). My BSc is from Queen’s University (1993) where I completed an honours project in plant ecology. I learned to cook in the 1990s, largely by trial and error, with my focus being Japanese-Canadian homestyle food.