Heidi Swanson

Background

About Heidi Swanson

My science training and experience is in mercury accumulation, salmonid ecology, and northern food web ecology. I am a trained natural scientist with a passion for working to integrate the rights and social and cultural values of Indigenous communities into environmental research. In the science/academic part of my world, students and I use a range of ecological and environmental analytical techniques, such as telemetry, stable isotopes, fatty acid signatures, and otolith microchemistry, to understand fish and ecosystem ecology, and to trace contaminant flow through northern aquatic ecosystems. As a teacher, I like working with students to understand why and how we think the way we do, and how we might be able to think more broadly and differently. I dabble in statistics. I enjoy the logistical challenges of northern field research; each ice-free season, you can find me in subarctic and Arctic communities and camps displaying my ongoing inability to use a chainsaw efficiently or start a driftwood fire. I'm so grateful for the very diverse people who I meet and work with, and who teach me so much. Specialties: Aquatic ecology, Mercury, Fish Life History, Research