Danielle D. Ignace

Danielle Ignace is a ecophysiologist and an associate Professor at University of British Columbia at the Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences. She also is a research associate the Harvard Forest. Ignace is an enrolled member of the Coeur d'Alene Reservation and an advocate for marginalized communities in STEM.

Early life Ignace grew up in Milwaukee with her mother, an enrolled member of the Menominee tribe and her father is an enrolled member of the Coeur d'Alene Reservation, where Ignace is also an enrolled member. She has two brothers.

Education Ignace attended University of Wisconsin–Madison and obtained a B.S. in Zoology and Environmental Studies. She then attended University of Arizona to get her M.S. and P.h.D in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Her research is led by an interest in the effects of global climate change on Indigenous communities.

At Smith College, Ignace studied eastern hemlock ecosystems that are transitioning to black birch ecosystems due to invasive pests. Her research examines the effects of invasive species and major climate changes, such as drought and altered precipitation, on ecosystems. She focuses on ecosystems in transition, particularly those losing biodiversity. A key aspect of her research is understanding carbon dynamics to determine whether these ecosystems will act as sources or sinks for carbon dioxide, which has implications for global warming. Ignace, D.D., Dodson, S.I. & Kashian, D.R. Identification of the critical timing of sex determination in Daphnia magna (Crustacea, Branchiopoda) for use in toxicological studies. Hydrobiologia 668, 117–123 (2011). Ignace, D.D. and Chesson, P. (2014), Removing an invader: evidence for forces reassembling a Chihuahuan Desert ecosystem. Ecology, 95: 3203-3212. Ignace DD (2019) Determinants of temperature sensitivity of soil respiration with the decline of a foundation species. PLoS ONE 14(10): e0223566.