BRENA DEA

Brena is an MSc student in the Bioscience, Technology and Policy program at the University of Winnipeg. Her research interests focus on evidence-based approaches to conservation that integrate population genetics and ecology to inform land management and biodiversity conservation. She is particularly interested in how species interactions, evolutionary processes, and land stewardship shape the persistence of species and ecological communities.

Brena’s MSc research focuses on the endangered Western Prairie Fringed Orchid (Platanthera praeclara) in Manitoba. Her work examines its population and genetic structure, relationships with mycorrhizal fungi, and ecological factors associated with its persistence. More broadly, she is interested in applying these approaches to the conservation and restoration of threatened tallgrass prairie ecosystems.