astronomy

Marie-Josée Fortin

Marie-Josée Fortin is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Marie-Josée Fortin rather than just read about it. In short: Marie-Josée Fortin (born October 21, 1958) is an ecologist and Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Toronto. Fortin holds the Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Spatial Ecology at the University of Toronto.

Key takeaways

Marie-Josée Fortin belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Marie-Josée Fortin to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Marie-Josée Fortin from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Marie-Josée Fortin (born October 21, 1958) is an ecologist and Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Toronto. Fortin holds the Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Spatial Ecology at the University of Toronto. In 2016, she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

Education and career Fortin completed her BSc in biological sciences (1983) and her MSc in numerical ecology (1986) at the Université de Montréal, where she conducted research under Pierre Legendre. In 1992 she received a PhD in ecology and evolution from the Stony Brook University, where she was Robert Sokal's last doctoral student. She then went on to do a Postdoctoral Fellowship (1992-1994) at Université Laval, where she worked under Serge Payette. Fortin joined Université de Sherbrooke in 1994 as an assistant professor in biology, and moved on to Université de Montréal in 1997 for a professorship in geography. She briefly worked at Simon Fraser University between 2000 and 2001, before joining University of Toronto as an associated professor. She became full professor at University of Toronto in 2006 and university professor in 2020.

Research Fortin focuses her current research on four subject areas: spatial ecology, spatial and landscape statistics, conservation, as well as disturbance ecology. These subjects include disciplines such as spatially-explicit modeling, spatial epidemiology, forest ecology, network theory, landscape genetics and geography. This research focuses on the maintenance of biodiversity within ecosystems and appropriate conservation strategies for species affected by land use and climate change. This includes the analyses of how environmental factors and ecological processes affect the movement, persistence, and range dynamics of species at the landscape and geographical range in both forested and aquatic environments.

Publications Since 1987, Fortin has contributed to a large number of publications in books as well as scientific journals involving ecology and conservation. This includes over 160 peer-reviewed papers and the co-authoring of the book Spatial Analysis: A Guide for Ecologists, which included the 1st and 2nd editions published in 2005 and 2014.

Dale, Mark R. T.; Fortin, Marie-Josée (2014). Spatial Analysis: A Guide For Ecologists (2 ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/cbo9780511978913. ISBN 978-0-521-14350-9. Fletcher, Robert; Fortin, Marie-Josée (2018). Spatial ecology and conservation modeling : applications with R. Cham, Switzerland. ISBN 978-3-030-01989-1. OCLC 1087498061.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) Dale, Mark R. T.; Fortin, Marie-Josée (2021). Quantitative Analysis of Ecological Networks. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/9781108649018. ISBN 978-1-108-49184-6. S2CID 233535624.

Select awards and honours 2026: Killam Prize in Natural Sciences 2025: Miroslaw Romanowski Medal from the Royal Society of Canada 2023: Fellow of the Ecological Society of America 2016: Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada 2015: Outstanding Scientific Achievements Award from the International Association for Landscape Ecology. 2014: ISI Highly Cited Researcher in Ecology/Environment, Thomson Reuters 2013: Distinguished Landscape Ecologist Award (US Regional Association of the International Association for Landscape Ecology). 2002–2007: Premier's Research Excellence Award, Ontario (PREA). 2002–2007, 2009, 2010, 2012–2014, 2016, 2017: Dean's Excellence Award, Faculty Arts and Science, University of Toronto. 2001: Women in Geomatics Mentor Award. GEOIDE 3rd Annual Meeting, Fredericton.

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Marie-Josée Fortin

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Marie-Josée Fortin claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Marie-Josée Fortin before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Marie-Josée Fortin ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Marie-Josée Fortin

In research: Marie-Josée Fortin appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Marie-Josée Fortin in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Marie-Josée Fortin is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1958 births, 21st-century Canadian women scientists, Academic staff of Simon Fraser University, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Marie-Josée Fortin outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Marie-Josée Fortin in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Marie-Josée Fortin means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Marie-Josée Fortin out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Marie-Josée Fortin in simple terms?

Why does Marie-Josée Fortin matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Marie-Josée Fortin?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Marie-Josée Fortin.