Brian Aukema

Brian grew up on a farm in southwestern Ontario. During his teenage years, a field trip with his dad to the local conservation authority piqued his interest in trees, and his future educational pathway led him to studying various insect outbreaks affecting forest ecosystems. No two insects are the same, and each outbreak always teaches us new things whether in British Columbia, Patagonia, or Ontario. With graduate degrees in forest entomology and environmental statistics, Brian enjoys working with students to confront forest insect challenges in a rapidly changing world.

Academic History

• Entomology, MS, University of Wisconsin-Madison (1999)
• Biometry (Environmental Statistics), MS, University of Wisconsin-Madison (2003)
• Entomology, PhD, University of Wisconsin-Madison (2003)
• NSERC Visiting Fellow, Canadian Forest Service (2004-2005)
• Research Scientist, Canadian Forest Service & UNBC (2006-2010)
• Faculty, University of Minnesota (2010-2026)
• Professor and Cameron Chair, University of Guelph (2026-present)

Awards and Honours

• Perfect Guess (121 feet), white pine tree height competition, North Central Forest Pest Workshop (2015)
• McKnight Land-Grant Professorship, University of Minnesota (early career award, 2011-2013)

Current Research Projects

Please visit our lab website to see what we’re up to!

Graduate Student Information

Brian enjoys the journey with each student from exploring their potential to watching their talents mature. Each student is a unique person and it’s a privilege to be an advisor. Brian puts a lot of thought into the lab group dynamic and how to put students into the best positions to succeed. Over the years, the lab has brought in students from both traditional and non-traditional academic pathways – with some success at turning out forest health professionals in government, academia, industry, and more. If you are thinking about pursuing graduate work in forest entomology, please explore the lab on our website and reach out!

Selected Publications

For a full list of publications, refer to the Google Scholar profile. 

• Graham, C.G., Windmuller-Campione, M.A., Griffin, D., McKee, F.R., and B.H. Aukema. (2026) Tree defenses, host choice, and reproductive success of a native bark beetle under novel outbreak conditions. Ecological Applications. 36: e70176
• Picklo, R., Eidson, E., Steed, B., and B.H. Aukema. (2024) Eastern larch beetle (Dendroctonus simplex LeConte) as a potential threat to western (Larix occidentalis Nutt.) and subalpine (Larix lyalli Parl.) larches. Frontiers in Forests and Global Change. 7: 1490888
• McDowell, N.G., Allen, C.D., Anderson-Teixeira, K., Aukema, B.H., Bond-Lamberty, B., Chini, L., Clark, J.S., Dietze, M., Grossiord, C., Hanbury-Brown, A., Hurtt, G.C., Jackson, R.B., Johnson, D.J., Kueppers, L., Lichstein, J.W., Ogle, K., Poulter, B., Pugh, T.A.M., Seidl, R., Turner, M.G., Uriarte, M., Walker, A.P., and C. Xu. (2020) Pervasive shifts in forest dynamics in a changing world (review). Science 368(6494): eaaz9463
• Ward, S.F. and B.H. Aukema. (2019) Climatic synchrony and increased outbreaks in allopatric populations of an invasive defoliator. Biological Invasions 21: 685-691
• Rosenberger, D.W., Aukema, B.H., and R.C. Venette. (2017) Cold tolerance of mountain pine beetle among novel eastern pines: A potential for trade-offs in an invaded range? Forest Ecology & Management 400: 28-37