While the mountain pine beetle has attracted most of the attention fromforest managers and researchers over the past several years, researchon a different forest pest with a voracious appetite has earned a UNBCstudent the top prize in a national research competition.
 
Gareth Hopkins has been exploring the feeding preferences of the Warrenroot collar weevil, which lays its eggs around the base of coniferoustrees. When the eggs hatch, the larvae munch around the root collar,killing young trees. It's feared that the weevil's appetite for youngtrees will thwart reforestation efforts in large areas that haverecently been replanted in response to the pine beetle epidemic.Gareth's research demonstrated that the weevil would rather eat pineand Douglas fir than spruce or aspen, implying that planting mixes ofthese species may help to combat the spread of the weevil. Hisresearch, with graduate student Matthew Klingenberg, has beensupervised by Brian Aukema, a Natural Resources Canada researcher basedat UNBC.
 
Gareth's research won first prize in the "Rising Stars of ResearchNational Undergraduate Research Poster Competition," held at UBC.Almost 500 students applied for participation, but only 90 students –including five from UNBC – were invited to compete. In addition toGareth's first place finish, fellow UNBC student Eunice Kim, who workswith Biochemistry professor Chow Lee, received an honorable mention.Eunice developed a fluorescence-based method to study the activity of aUNBC-discovered enzyme that may help to control the growth of cancercells.
 
"It's UNBC's small class sizes and great interaction with professorsthat have provided me with the opportunity to be involved withresearch," says Gareth, who is from Richmond and is in his fourth yearof studies at UNBC, pursuing a joint major in Biology and Wildlife andFisheries. "Attending UNBC has been a tremendous experience for me, andgiven me the edge I need to pursue scientific research as a career."
 
"Congratulations to Gareth, Eunice, and the other students who competedrecently in Vancouver. Their success is a testimony to UNBC and thefaculty who take such pleasure in involving students in research," saysGail Fondahl, UNBC's Vice-President Research. "We're so lucky here tobe able to involve undergraduate students in research. It's great fortheir education but it also helps to pay the bills. Last year, about500 students were employed from funding provided for research."

Contact:
Rob van Adrichem, Director of Media and Public Relations, UNBC – 250.960.5622 

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