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Come to biology by way of an undergraduate in mathematical physics, I believe that ecology is now where physics was two centuries ago. I'm interested in applying quantitative tools to ecological questions, particularly those associated with where the individual meets ecology. I began as an Assistant Professor in Natural Resource Sciences at McGill in January 2015. Photo by Kerry Woo.
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PrincipAL investigator
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POSTDOCTORAL FELLOW
EMILY CHOY |
Emily (https://sites.google.com/site/emilyschoy/home) completed her PhD at the University of Manitoba (supervised by Lisa Loseto (DFO) and Jim Roth) on the interconnectedness of diet, physical condition, and physiology of beluga whales as sentinel species of environmental change in the Beaufort Sea ecosystem. She completed her MSc (supervised by Jules Blais) at the University of Ottawa on biovector transport of marine contaminants to High Arctic food webs on Devon Island, Nunavut. Emily was a Weston Scientist on the 2014 Victoria Strait Expedition (Editor's note: We like to imagine that Emily discovered the Erebus herself as she was diving underwater after a pod of belugas and followed them back to Franklin's graveyard, but I'm told she's sworn to secrecy over the voyage). She is supported via W. Garfield Weston and FRQNT postdoctoral fellowships and her research (co-supervised by Dr. Grant Gilchrist) will examine relationships between physiological strategies and foraging movements in thick-billed murres to provide an energetics framework for understanding the movement patterns of marine predators in relation to shipping routes in Hudson Bay.
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STUDENTS
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Alyssa Eby PhD student (Started Sept 2021)
Alyssa completed her BSc at the University of Manitoba, where she investigated isotopic niche breadth and overlap between arctic and red foxes in the sub-arctic of Churchill, MB (supervised by Dr. Jim Roth). Following her BSc Alyssa discovered her passion for seabirds after working as a field technician on several seabird projects. She then completed her MSc at the University of Windsor, combining her interests of seabird ecology and Arctic climate change by studying the foraging ecology and energetic physiology of an Arctic breeding seabird, the thick-billed murre, in response to environmental conditions (supervised by Dr. Oliver Love). For her PhD she will continue studying murres, combining tracking and physiology to investigate the effects of shipping associated with Baffinlands iron ore mine on murres breeding at Cape Graham Moore, Nunavut. 
Marianne Gousy-Leblanc PhD Student (Started Sept 2021)
Marianne completed her BSc in ecology at the Université de Sherbrooke (Québec), where she effectuated several research internships that brought her to both tropical and Arctic ecosystems. She did her MSc degree in biology at the Université de Moncton (New Brunswick). She worked on the population genetics of Snowy Owls (supervised by Nicolas Lecomte and Glenn Yannic). Her MSc also allowed her to spend many summers working in Igloolik, Nunavut. Her Ph.D. project on Thick-billed murres (co-supervised by Vicki Friesen, Queen’s University) will combine many of Marianne's interests, as genetics and mate selection. She will be seen working at Coast Island (NU) for the next summers to come. 
Vanessa Poirier MSc student (started Sept 2021).
Vanessa completed her Bsc in Honours Environmental Biology at McGill and is currently working on her MSc project supervised by Dr. Kyle Elliott and Dr. Barbara Frei at the McGill Bird Observatory. Although most of her undergraduate research has been on plant ecology, she has always been fascinated by birds. She is currently studying the habitat use of molt migrating Swainson’s thrushes and Tennessee warblers during their stopover in Montreal. When she is not tracking her birds in the early morning, she can be seen reading or spending even more time outdoors to paddle and hike! 
Rose Lacombe MSc student (started Sept 2021).
Rose graduated from McGill as an Honours student in Environmental Biology (Wildlife Biology concentration). She discovered a love of birds and fieldwork by working with Northern Gannets, Snow Buntings, and Black-capped and Boreal chickadees during her undergraduate summers. Rose has always been interested in understanding the effects of ecosystem-level disturbances on wildlife. Her Master’s thesis (co-supervised by Dr. Melissa McKinney) will investigate the historical and seasonal changes in the diet of Mandt’s Black Guillemot in northern Alaska in response to climate change. 
Julia Baak (she/her) PhD student (started Jan 2021).
Julia completed her MSc at Acadia University (supervised by Mark Mallory and Jennifer Provencher), studying plastic ingestion by seabirds in the Arctic. Before this, she completed a BScH at Dalhousie University, studying the winter movements of black guillemots. Combining her knowledge on plastics and seabird movements, Julia will examine the presence and impact of plastic and plastic-related contaminants in two Arctic seabird species: black-legged kittiwakes and glaucous gulls. Co-supervised by Mark Mallory (Acadia University), this PhD research focuses on seabirds as ecological indicators of contaminants in Arctic ecosystems, the biotransport of contaminants to the Arctic by seabirds, and the impacts of these contaminants on seabird individuals. 
Jade Legros MSc student (started Jan 2021).
I always knew that I wanted to work outdoors in nature. When I discovered the technique of bioecology at Cégep de Saint-Laurent, it was a real revelation. I knew that I wanted to become a biologist and I felt at home from the first day of my entry into the world of the study of nature. I completed my undergraduate degree in ecology at the University of Sherbrooke and was initiated to research by the honours project that I completed on intraspecific interaction in the king vulture. My interest for bats came while I was working on the Neighborhood Bat Watch project with the Minister of Forests, Wildlife and Parks. Since then, I have become a bit obsessed with these fascinating little mammals. It is an honour for me to pursue my master's thesis on bats habitats selection at McGill University under the co-supervision of Anouk Simard and Liam McGuire! 
Fred Tremblay MSc (started Jan 2021)
Fred completed her undergrad in Wildlife Biology at McGill University through which she did an Honours thesis, from 2019-2020. Her honours looked at energy expenditure in breeding black-legged kittiwakes. In 2021, Fred joined the lab to further her research through a Master’s thesis. After spending a summer on Middleton Island, working in the kittiwake tower, Fred is interested in pursuing research in the field of energetics. More specifically, she aims at studying the effects of thermal stress on arctic seabirds, such as in murres and kittiwakes. 
Christina Petalas PhD student (Started Sept 2022)
Christina graduated as a Biology Honours student at McGill and during that time she spent two summers doing field work with seabird populations on the northern tip of Quebec aiming to gain insight on multispecies colonial living. Specifically, her interest is in how sympatric species sufficiently differentiate their ecological niches in order to co-exist. Her MSc thesis continued to try and understand whether foraging partitioning occurs in these seabird species that breed sympatrically in the Mingan Archipelago within the Gulf of St-Lawrence--a theme she will be examining in more detail for her PhD. 
Emile Brisson-Curadeau PhD student (started Jan 2020).
Emile is the recipient of the third BOU Pat & John Warham studentship, and will be studying the effect of marine heat waves on king penguins in the French sub-Antarctic islands (Kerguelen, specifically). He is co-supervised with Charly Bost at CNRS (Chize). 
Don-Jean Leandri-Breton PhD student (started Sept. 2018)
Don-Jean did his MSc degree at UQAR (supervised by Joël Bêty) on transatlantic migration strategies and habitat-driven predation vulnerability in Arctic shorebirds. Since his first field season up North in 2013, he couldn’t imagine spending summer anywhere else than above the Arctic Circle. His PhD research (co-supervisor: Olivier Chastel, CNRS-France) will bring him to Svalbard (Norway) to study seasonal interactions between non-breeding behaviours and breeding success mediated by stress-induced carry-over effects in a long-term monitored kittiwake colony. 
Francis Van Oordt PhD (started Sept 2017)
Francis is joining our lab from Lima, Peru. He has a degree in biology from Universidad Nacional Agraria, La Molina and a master’s from California State University, Northridge where he did research on ecomorphology of boobies in the Pacific. He has worked for several years in the Peruvian Marine Research Institute on top predator ecology along the whole Peruvian coast. He has also been an instructor in science and ecology courses in Peru for Broward College. Francis will work on his PhD doing research on endemic seabirds in Peru (cormorants, diving petrels) trying to understand their foraging patterns and diet composition changes associated to environmental disturbances along the Upwelling Humboldt Current System. 
Shannon Whelan PhD (started Sept 2017)
Shannon completed her MSc at uOttawa (co-advised by Julie Morand-Ferron and Ryan Norris), studying how temperature influences timing of breeding and reproductive success of grey jays. Her PhD work will examine individual variation in foraging behaviour in two Arctic seabirds: black-legged kittiwakes and thick-billed murres. She is using GPS-accelerometers to “spy” on the daily activities of these birds in order to see how they respond to environmental change. She is working as a research technician here until starting a PhD in September. 
Thomas Lazarus PhD (started Sept 2015)
Thomas joins us from Alsace, France. He brings an expertise in modelling the distribution of path lengths in animal movement, which he has previously used to study ants and seabirds. He is funded via MITACS and CREATE scholarships and his dissertation (co-supervisor: Grant Gilchrist) will involve deciphering why and how breeding murres move in the Canadian Arctic, and how that might intersect with shipping of iron ore from the Baffinlands mine. 
Eliane Miranda (she/her) MSc student (started: Sept 2022):
Eliane completed her undergraduate degree at McGill in Environmental Biology (specialized in Wildlife Biology) in 2020. For her undergraduate thesis, she investigated the link between personality and chick rearing in black-legged kittiwakes (supervised by Dr. Kyle Elliott), which developped her interest in seabirds and in the fields of behavioural and cognitive ecology. After working in Kluane as a technician trapping lynx, hares, and squirrels, (and a certificate in music production), Eliane is back in the lab. Her thesis will focus on exploring the potentials of PIT tagging as a technology which allows for the collection of large amounts of data with limited disturbance, specifically in two auk species: the ground-nesting rhinoceros auklet and the cliff-nesting thick-billed murre. 
Lauren Jackson (Honours Thesis, Environmental Biology)
Lauren is completing an undergraduate research project on the nutrition of Black-legged kittiwakes on Middleton Island, Alaska. She is using point-of-care devices to quantify metabolite concentrations in the blood, delivering rapid assessment of nutritional state for wild populations. Lauren has found great inspiration in avian wildlife, and has developed a deep love and appreciation for seabirds through her summer working in the field. She hopes to continue her education and career in avian science, and continue to learn more about the wonderful world of birds! In her free time, Lauren loves to create art, explore the outdoors, and go birding. 
Ana Blanc-Benigeri (Honors Thesis, Environmental Biology)
Ana is currently finishing her undergraduate degree at McGill University in environmental biology, specializing in wildlife biology. Her undergraduate research project aims to explore the diet preference of moulting Swainson’s Thrushes and Tennessee Warblers during their stopover in Montreal, to try to elucidate critical requirements for moult-migration stopover sites. She wants to continue her education and career working with birds and is very excited to gain more field experience in the coming years. In her spare time, Ana loves to spend time outdoors through biking, ski touring, and birding. 
Jamie Depolla (Honours Thesis, Environmental Biology)
Jamie is a third-year wildlife biology student, with a special interest in sustainable wildlife management. His love for birds, still young, has been nurtured by volunteering at the MBO and working on environmental projects in New Brunswick and Gaspésie during the summer of 2022. His honours thesis, co-supervised by Barbara Frei, will use spatial analysis to understand how urban tree planting can benefit avian biodiversity and sequester atmospheric carbon on the island of Montreal. He hopes to work on finding exciting ways to restore lands and manage wildlife in his future education and career. When he’s free, Jamie enjoys hiking and everything outdoorsy, social events, and playing soccer. |
Past students |
2017-21. Rebecca McCabe PhD. Rebecca joined us from Pennsylvania, where she completed her MSc in Biology at East Stroudsburg University studying the nesting ecology of broad-winged hawks. Rebecca was funded via the CREATE scholarship and was co-supervised by Karen Weibe (University of Saskatchewan) with a close collaboration with JF Therrien (Hawk Mountain Sanctuary). Her PhD work assessed the movements, habitat use, and habitat selection of irruptive snowy owls. She now works as a Research Biologist at Hawk Mountain Sanctuary.
2017-21. Amélie Fontaine PhD. Amélie did her MSc at UQAM (supervised by Jean-François Giroux), studying population dynamics of waterfowl. Switching from an abundant bird population to threatened mammal populations, Amélie will bring her knowledge on population dynamics, conservation and management to help to increase our understanding of bat populations of Quebec. Co-supervised by Anouk Simard (Minister of Forests, Wildlife and Parks), her PhD examined aspects related to demography, reproductive success, and reproductive energetic constraints facing Myotis species in Quebec with a pinch of participatory science. Amelie now works as a biologists for the provincial wildlife ministry, MFFP.
2016-21. Allison Patterson PhD. Allison did her BSc at UVic and MSc at the Roby lab studying feather CORT and movement of Caspian Terns. She has spent several years as a field technician studying seabirds, seaducks, shorebirds and songbirds in the Arctic, Texas, BC, Washington and the Alaskan Panhandle. She was funded via MITACS and CREATE scholarships and her dissertation (co-supervisor: Grant Gilchrist) examined carry-over effects and linkages throughout the annual cycle in thick-billed murres equipped with year-round depth, light and acceleration loggers.
2015-18. Natalie Thimot MSc. Natalie joined us from Nova Scotia, after doing her undergrad at Universite Sainte-Anne and Dalhousie. She was co-supervised by Rodger Titman (McGill) and Shawn Craik (Universite Sainte-Anne), and examined correlates of conspecific brood parasitism in red-breasted mergansers in New Brunswick. You can read about her MSc work here.
2016-18. Esteban Góngora MSc. Esteban joinued us from Bogotá, Colombia after completing his undergrad at Universidad de los Andes with a double major in biology and microbiology. Co-supervised by Lyle Whyte (McGill), he worked on various aspects of the relationships occurring between birds and their microbiome with a special focus to bird’s diet preferences and differential levels of mercury present on bird tissues. He is now doing a PhD with Dr. Whyte on bacterial degradation of oil in the Arctic. You can read about his MSc work here.
2016-18. Emile Brisson-Curadeau MSc. Emile completed a MSc on coloniality in murres, publishing this and this and this. Why? Here is what he had to say: When you have ornithology as a passion, what better place to enjoy it than in the ever-impressive Arctic environment? That is the reason why I chose to do my MSc on Thick-billed Murres... and because... you know, who doesn't want to see polar bears? Coats Island was his study area for two years, where he used cutting-edge technologies to record all the facets of those fascinating diving birds. Emile is now doing his PhD on king penguins having received a Vanier scholarship and a BOU John & Pat Warham Studentship on Penguins and Procellariformes.
2017-19. Ana Morales MSc. Ana completed her undergrad at McGill with a Major in Environmental Biology. She spent the next two years doing field work in Ecuador, studying endemic land birds in Galapagos and hummingbird physiology in the Andean highlands. Her MSc thesis was co-supervised by Barbara Frei from the McGill Bird Observatory and she studied the migration and stopover ecology of moult migrant Swainson’s thrushes in Montreal using the Motus Wildlife Tracking System. In her free time Ana can be found chasing rare birds around Montreal or banding birds at the McGill Bird Observatory. Ana worked as lab research coordinator for two years (2020-22) before migrating to Environment Canada (S&T) where she is now a technician.
2018-21. Kristen Lalla MSc. Kristen completed her undergrad at McGill in the School of Environment. For her MSc (co-supervised by Kevin Fraser), Kristen studied purple martin populations around Montreal. 90% of martins have disappeared with Quebec, with the final remnants left near Montreal, and Kristen will help find out why. Previously, Kristen was an Environment (Biodiversity and Conservation) Honours student with a lifelong passion for birds. During summer 2017, she was on Middleton Island, Alaska, studying Black-legged Kittiwakes. She looked at age-related differences in foraging behaviour and muscle regeneration, specifically, satellite cells, aided by Ana Jimenez and co-supervised by Shannon Whelan. Kristen now works as a biologist at Environment Canada.
2019-21. Ilse Esparza MSc. Ilse joined us from México, where she completed her undergrad at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Next, for two years, she worked on restoration and conservation of islands in the Mexican Pacific. Her MSc thesis was co-supervised by Héctor Guzmán from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. Her project examined examine aspects of demography, reproductive success, and ecotoxicology on seabird species in the Panama Canal and the Arctic.
2019-22. Jenna Schlener MSc. Jenna completed her Bachelor’s degree at College of the Atlantic where she majored in Human Ecology. For her senior thesis, she conducted a study on individual variation in habitat use and foraging behavior in herring gulls. Her curiosity about causes and consequences of individual variation in behaviour led her to continue investigating the topic on kittiwakes in Alaska. Her MSc thesis (co-supervised by Dr. Mélanie Guigueno) explored the connections between foraging repeatability and reproductive success. She now works as science coordinator at the Sea Life Centre in Seward, Alaska. 
2020-22. Christina Petalas MSc. Christina graduated as a Biology Honours student at McGill and during that time she spent two summers doing field work with seabird populations on the northern tip of Quebec aiming to gain insight on multispecies colonial living. Specifically, her interest is in how sympatric species sufficiently differentiate their ecological niches in order to co-exist. Her MSc thesis continued to try and understand whether foraging partitioning occurs in these seabird species that breed sympatrically in the Mingan Archipelago within the Gulf of St-Lawrence. She is now doing a PhD in the lab.
2015. Juliana Balluffi-Fry (Undergrad project) completed an undergraduate research project on the diversity of birds at Kenauk Nature Reserve, along the Ottawa River north of Montreal. Following a field semester in Panama. She completed an Honours thesis looking at mammal diversity at Kenauk and is now working on a MSc at MUN with Eric Vander Wal studying plant-lynx-hare stochiometry (Does this involve placing varying ratios of each in beakers? We'd love to know.).
2016. Catherine Jarjour (Honours project, Environmental Biology) cured her Irritable Owl Syndrome by completing an Honours thesis on temporal trends in bird abundance at the McGill Bird Observatory. She completed a MSc thesis at UOttawa with Jule Marond-Ferron, and is now working for the bird-banding lab in Ottawa. 2016. Emma Nip (Undergrad project) completed an undergraduate research project on mass variation in black-capped chickadees at the McGill Bird Observatory. She completed a MSc in Animal BioSciences at Guelph studying animal welfare with Georgia Mason, and works now at the Guelph Humane Society. 2016. Catherine Villeneuve (Honours thesis, Environmental Biology) Catherine used her ninja karate skills to attack a mound of data collected on thick-billed murres at Coats Island. She examined different ways of automatically converting accelerometer data into ethograms based on validated (videotaped) data. She completed a MSc at SFU studying tree swallows with Dave Green and Ron Ydenberg, and is now working as an Environmental Technician for Organisme de bassin versant du Saguenay. 2017. Amanda Smith-Stasinopolous (Undergrad project) After completing an internship volunteering with a sea turtle conservation organisation in Greece this past summer, Amanda realised that she needed more a hands-on experience with field work data analysis. She evaluated the massive data set on at-sea behaviours of black-legged kittiwakes from the Middleton, Alaska field site to examine the fascinating relationship between environmental change and animal behaviour. Amanda is now working for Charles River Labs. 
2017. Casey Leung (Honours thesis, Life Sciences) Casey is an aspiring vet whose thesis was co-supervised by Barbara Frei (Director, McGill Bird Observatory). She tested the utility of point-of-care devices to measure the health of wild songbirds, especially wintering/late migrating juncos, American Tree Sparrows, goldfinches, chickadees, House Finches and robins.
2017. Erin Brown (Honours thesis, Environmental Biology) Erin completed an undergraduate degree in environmental biology with a specialization in wildlife. After having spent the last two summers tree planting, she was happy to be out of the woods and learning about a new environment, including traveling to Alaska for field work. For her honours thesis she used multiple data sets provided by Dr. George Divoky of Cooper's Island, Alaska. She studied the energetics of prey switching by black guillemots, hoping to quantify the depth and time at which this event occurs. Erin completed a Master's in Environmental Impact Assessment at Concordia and is now working for Health Canada.
2017. Megan Phillips (Honours thesis, Environmental Biology) Megan completed her undergraduate degree in environmental biology, specializing in wildlife biology at McGill. Her honours thesis was co-supervised by Barbara Frei of the McGill Bird Observatory and aimed to optimize the placement of the MOTUS tower to detect bird migration of passerine species. This experience helped her spread her wings so that she can migrate to her next destination, which is currently working at the Ecomuseum. Megan is now doing a Master's in Science Communication.
2018. Katelyn Depot (Undergraduate research project, Environmental Biology) Katelyn completed her undergraduate degree in Environmental Biology (Wildlife Biology Specialization) at McGill. She spent part of the summer of 2017 working with seabirds in Maine as a research assistant for the National Audubon Society's Project Puffin. For her senior research project, she used data collected by Project Puffin to look for relationships between puffin diet composition and changing fish communities in the Gulf of Maine.
2018. Mathilde Guglielmi Honours student, MSE. Mathilde first discovered birdwatching as a young child in France, when she was bored one summer and decided to borrow her grandpa's binoculars and explore her backyard. Several years later she rediscovered this passion when interning at the McGill Bird Observatory. Mathilde studies in the McGill School of Environment with a specialization in biodiversity and conservation and a minor in geography. She completed an Honours thesis at the McGill Bird Observatory building on Megan's work, and working closely with Ana, examining the factors influencing the detectability of transmitters within the automated radio network. Mathilde is now doing a Master's in Integrated Water Resource Management at McGill.
2018. Thierry Grandmont. Passionate about birds since June 2013, I am particularly interested in how birds interact with their environment when feeding and how this affects reproduction and survival. Working with a community-based conservation NGO called QLF in Newfoundland and Labrador last summer, I fell in love with seabirds. In the fall 2018, I did an independent research project as a part of my biology major looking at Thick-billed Murre’s association with sea ice in the Canadian Arctic using telemetry data. I will be doing my MSc with Pierre Legagneux at Université Laval working with Bylot Island’s Snow Geese to examine the effect of climate change on reproductive success. Thierry is now doing a MSc with Pierre Legagneux at Laval.
2018. Eric Ste Marie (Honours thesis, Environmental Biology). Eric was an undergraduate student in Environmental Biology (Wildlife specialization). After having spent July 2017 doing fieldwork in East Greenland, he completed doing his Honour's thesis in our lab on the topic of seabird energetics. His project involved combining accelerometer data and estimates of daily energy expenditure to determine the costs of diving and flying in dovekies. He is now doing a PhD with Nigel Hussey (University of Windsor) studying Greenland sharks.
2019. Alice Sun Honours student, Environmental Biology. At a young age, Alice discovered the world of birds through the lens of a camera. Since then, she has dedicated all her time to pursuing a career in ornithology and conservation. Alice is currently completing her undergraduate degree in environmental biology at McGill. She spent the summer of 2018 on Middleton Island, living in the salmonberries so she could study rhinoceros auklets for her honours thesis. Her project focuses on differences in foraging behaviour between breeding stages and the effects of researcher disturbance on reproductive success. Alice is now working at Impact Media Lab doing science communication.
2019. Catherine Destrempes Undergraduate student, Environmental Biology. Catherine has a passion for nature and outdoor activity. She is really interested in ecosystem connection which she had the chance to study in the Arctic during the summer of 2018 on Igloolik Island. Her research project focussed on the identification of the information available on allochthonous input of marine resources in the Arctic terrestrial ecosystems, under the supervision of Kyle Elliott and Marie-Andrée Giroux from Moncton University. She is now doing a MSc with Elena Bennett in NRS on ecosystem services in the Monteregie.
2019. Andrea Brown, Honours student, Environmental Biology. Andrea has always had a great love for the outdoors and especially for observing and studying wildlife. For her Honours thesis, co-supervised by Rebecca McCabe, Andrea studied the spring migratory behaviour of Snowy Owls using GPS data provided by Project SNOWstorm. She is now doing a MSc with Laura Pollock in Biology, on how Canadian bird species' distributions will change in response to a changing climate.
2019. Philippe Grenier Honours student, MSE. An Environment student specialized in water ecosystems, Philippe is passionate for everything related to aquatic ecosystems! For his Honours thesis, Philippe examined the exposure to mercury and other contaminants of ospreys in the Canadian Northwest. His thesis was published in the Science of the Total Environment. Philippe is now doing environmental law at McGill.
2019. Emma Sutherland Honours student, MSE (Sept.-Apr. 2018-19). Emma was thrown headfirst into the world of ornithology during the summer of 2018, when she headed to Cambridge Bay, Nunavut to work with Polar Knowledge Canada. She is currently completing her undergraduate degree in Environment with a specialization in Biodiversity and Conservation and a minor in GIS and Remote Sensing. Her honours thesis (co-supervised by Jean-François Lamarre of Polar Knowledge Canada) explores the migratory behavior of American Golden-Plovers in relation to weather patterns. Emma is now doing a MSc with Lisa Loseto at the University of Manitoba.
2020. Gabrielle Ednie Honours student, Environmental Biology. For as long as she could remember, Gabrielle has wanted to work with the environment. She completed her degree in Environmental Biology (Applied Ecology). She recently stumbled into the world of bat research and has been studying the taxa for the past two summers. Since then, her passion for them has grown. She spent a summer collecting data for her Honours thesis on the possibility of using drones to study the elusive creatures. She is now doing a MSc with Jeremy Kerr at the University of Ottawa.
2020. Fred Tremblay Honours student, Environmental Biology. Fred went on to complete a MSc in the lab (see above). 
2020. Éliane Miranda (Honours thesis, Environmental Biology) studied black-legged kittiwakes for her honours thesis. Eliane is especially interested in behavioural ecology as well as conservation. While she is passionate about all wildlife, she feels a special affinity with seabirds. This has led her to completing her honours thesis on how personality in black-legged kittiwakes can have an impact on foraging, chick rearing and reproductive success. She is now doing a Master's in the lab.
2021. Julia Dunoyer (Honours thesis, Environmental Biology). Julia completed an honours thesis on purple martins. She is studying their foraging habits and diet to help Kristen Lalla figure out why martins are disappearing in Quebec. From a young age, Julia loves observing wildlife and is now enjoying studying it just as much!
2021. Kayla Nicole Kuhlmann (Honours thesis, Environmental Biology). Kayla has always been passionate about nature and animals after growing up exploring the wild areas of Texas. She was fortunate to spend the summer at the Kenauk Institute where she studied bats. Her research tests the effect of drones on bat detection to help determine if this technology might be a useful tool in wildlife research.
2021. Kate Sanzari (Honours thesis, Environmental Biology). Kate's honours project was on snowy owl populations and management in airports, with co-supervisor Rebecca McCabe. Specifically, she looked at the factors of snowy owl relocation and why they return to airport habitats after being removed. Kate has always had an interest and curiosity with birds and birds of prey are among her favorites.
2021. Emily MacDonald (Honours thesis, Environmental Biology) completed an honours thesis project studying carry-over effects in thick-billed murres with Allison Patterson. Specifically, she is analyzing their primary feather quality to help determine if a delayed breeding season affects their plumage quality the following moult. Emily has always had a passion for wildlife and conservation and in more recent years she has become fascinated (obsessed) with birds. She is now doing a Master's at the University of Windsor.
2021. Capucine Pierrefeu (Research project). Capucine was a third-year undergrad student in the MSE specializing in Biodiversity and Conservation. She is passionate about wildlife conservation and believe that the best way to ensure the longevity of species is to understand the mechanisms underlying populations’ behaviour and interactions with their environment. She did a research project stemming from Christina’s research in the Mingan archipelago.
2021 Thomas Leicester (Honours thesis MSE, Biodiversity & Conservation) He has always been interested in the outdoors, inspired by his grandmother and her work for the Nature Conservancy. He took an interest in birds as he grew older and realized that wherever you go, there are always birds if nothing else. His trip to India in 2016 further grew his passion, culminating in his Honors work that focuses on the Black Guillemot, an Arctic species that he studied back in 2018 and the summer of 2020 on Cooper Island, AK.
2022. Mathilde Lefvert (Honours thesis, Environmental Biology). Mathilde grew up in the Swedish archipelago fascinated by wildlife of all kinds. She first became interested in birds through an internship at the Nichoir center for wild bird care a few years ago. Her honours examined warbler movements and activity levels at molting sites using radio telemetry data collected at the McGill Bird Observatory and using the Motus Wildlife Tracking System. Hopefully, this project will bring some much-needed improvement to her bird ID'ing skills.
2022. Catriona Daley (Honours thesis, Environmental Biology)
She first became interested in bats through her internship at the Kenauk Institute and the research she assisted with at the MFFP on bat maternity colonies. Her honours research project used citizen science data obtained from Batwatch to see if bat maternity colonies in more favorable habitats are more successful than those in less successful habitats. 
2022. Jamie Madden (Honours thesis, Environmental Biology)
She studied abundance and diversity of canopy insect populations in different ecosystems at Kenauk Nature Reserve. She collected data by rigging a drone to fly with a net, and collected any aerial insects unfortunate enough to get caught in her net. She even finished insect identifications before dying of old age. Jamie is starting a MSc at Carleton with Steve Cooke. 
2022. Elena Tranze-Drabinia (Honours thesis, Environmental Biology)
Elena has always loved spending time outdoors and working with all kinds of animals. During her last year at McGill, she helped track Swainson's Thrush and Tennessee Warblers at the McGill Bird Observatory while completing her Honours project. For her project, she used the VetScan to analyze the differences in Swainson’s Thrush blood metabolites between molting and non-molting birds. She now works as the research coordinator at the Arctic Ecology Lab. 
2022. Theodore Lucaes (Honours thesis, Environmental Biology). Théo has been contemplating nature growing up in the Alps but then migrated into the world of birds when he arrived in Quebec. He studied the diet and contaminants in seabirds from the Gulf of St Lawrence. Specifically, he evaluated the differences in stable isotope niches and mercury contents between atlantic puffins, common murres, black-legged kittiwakes, and razorbills along their breeding season.
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COLLABORATORS
I CONSIDER ANYONE I'VE CO-AUTHORED A MANUSCRIPT WITH A COLLABORATOR, BUT THESE ARE A FEW PEOPLE THAT I HAVE WORKED CLOSELY WITH IN THE PAST 2-3 YEARS:
DAVID BIRD, MCGILL UNIVERSITY, APPLICATIONS OF UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES TO WILDLIFE BIOLOGY (CO-PI ON A MURRE FUND AND MOLSON FUND GRANT)
BIRGIT BRAUNE, ENVIRONMENT CANADA, CONTAMINANTS IN ARCTIC SEABIRDS (CO-APPLICANT ON TWO NCP GRANTS)
SHAWN CRAIK, UNIVERSITY OF SAINTE-ANNE (CO-SUPERVISOR OF NATALIE THIMOT)
GEORGE DIVOKY, FRIENDS OF COOPER ISLAND, MOVEMENT ECOLOGY OF ARCTIC SEABIRDS (CO-SUPERVISOR OF ERIN BROWN)
JOHN ELLIOTT, ENVIRONMENT CANADA, CONTAMINANTS IN PACIFIC SEABIRDS
KIM FERNIE, ENVIRONMENT CANADA, CONTAMINANTS IN ARCTIC SEABIRDS (CO-PI ON TWO NCP GRANTS)
JEROME FORT, CENTRE NATIONAL DES RECHERCHES SCIENTIFIQUES, CONTAMINANTS IN ARCTIC SEABIRDS (ARCTOX)
MARIE-JOSEE FORTIN, UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO, ADAPTATION OF ARCTIC SEABIRDS TO AN ICE-FREE SUMMER (CO-PI ON NSERC STRATEGIC GRANT)
KEVIN FRASER, UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA, MOVEMENT ECOLOGY OF PURPLE MARTINS (CO-SUPERVISOR OF KRISTEN LALLA)
BARBARA FREI, MCGILL BIRD OBSERVATORY, MOVEMENT OF SONGBIRDS ALONG AN URBAN GRADIENT (CO-SUPERVISOR OF ANA MORALES, MATHILDE GUGLIELMI, CATHERINE JARJOUR, CASEY LEUNG, EMMA NIP AND MEGAN PHILLIPS)
VICKI FRIESEN, QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY, ADAPTATION OF ARCTIC SEABIRDS TO AN ICE-FREE SUMMER (PI ON NSERC STRATEGIC GRANT)
TONY GASTON, ENVIRONMENT CANADA, MOVEMENT ECOLOGY OF ARCTIC SEABIRDS
GRANT GILCHRIST, ENVIRONMENT CANADA, MOVEMENT ECOLOGY OF ARCTIC SEABIRDS (PI ON SEVERAL GRANTS, CO-SUPERVISOR OF DR. EMILY CHOY, THOMAS LAZARUS AND ALLISON PATTERSON)
JONATHAN GREEN, UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL, HEART RATE LOGGING OF SEABIRDS
DAVID GREMILLET, CENTRE NATIONAL DES RECHERCHES SCIENTIFIQUES, MOVEMENT ECOLOGY OF ARCTIC SEABIRDS
MELANIE GUIGUENO, MCGILL UNIVERSITY
SCOTT HATCH, INSTITUTE FOR SEABIRD RESEARCH AND CONSERVATION, MOVEMENT ECOLOGY OF SUB-ARCTIC SEABIRDS
JESSICA HEAD, MCGILL UNIVERSITY, CONTAMINANTS IN ARCTIC SEABIRDS (CO-PI ON TWO NCP GRANTS)
JF LAMARRE, POLAR KNOWLEDGE, TRACKING OF ARCTIC SEABIRDS
OLIVER LOVE, UNIVERSITY OF WINDSOR, MOVEMENT ECOLOGY OF ARCTIC SEABIRDS (COLLABORATOR ON SEVERAL GRANTS)
MARK MALLORY, ACADIA, MOVEMENT ECOLOGY OF ARCTIC SEABIRDS (COLLABORATOR ON SEVERAL GRANTS)
YAN ROPERT-COUDERT, CENTRE NATIONAL DES RECHERCHES SCIENTIFIQUES, MOVEMENT ECOLOGY OF ARCTIC SEABIRDS (PI ON BNP-PARABIS GRANT)
CHRISTINA SEMENIUK, UNIVERSITY OF WINDSOR, MOVEMENT ECOLOGY OF ARCTIC SEABIRDS (COLLABORATOR ON SEVERAL GRANTS)
ANOUK SIMARD, MFFP, CITIZEN SCIENCE AND WHITE NOSE SYNDROME IN BATS (CO-SUPERVISOR OF AMELIE FONTAINE)
JEAN-FRANCOIS THERRIEN, HAWK MOUNTAIN, MOVEMENT ECOLOGY OF SNOWY OWLS (CO-SUPERVISOR OF REBECCA MCCABE)
RODGER TITMAN, MCGILL BIRD OBSERVATORY, MOVEMENT OF SONGBIRDS ALONG AN URBAN GRADIENT & BROOD PARASITISM IN MERGANSERS (CO-SUPERVISOR OF NATALIE THIMOT)
JASON TREBERG, UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA, AGEING IN SEABIRDS
FRANCOIS VEZINA, UNIVERSITY DE QUEBEC A RIMOUSKI, USE OF THYROID HORMONES AS A PROXY FOR BMR (CO-PI ON QCBS SEED GRANT)
LYLE WHYTE, MCGILL UNIVERSITY, CO-SUPERVISOR OF ESTEBAN GONGORA
KAREN WIEBE, UNIVERSITY OF SASKATCHEWAN, MOVEMENT ECOLOGY OF SNOWY OWLS (CO-SUPERVISOR OF REBECCA MCCABE)
DAVID BIRD, MCGILL UNIVERSITY, APPLICATIONS OF UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES TO WILDLIFE BIOLOGY (CO-PI ON A MURRE FUND AND MOLSON FUND GRANT)
BIRGIT BRAUNE, ENVIRONMENT CANADA, CONTAMINANTS IN ARCTIC SEABIRDS (CO-APPLICANT ON TWO NCP GRANTS)
SHAWN CRAIK, UNIVERSITY OF SAINTE-ANNE (CO-SUPERVISOR OF NATALIE THIMOT)
GEORGE DIVOKY, FRIENDS OF COOPER ISLAND, MOVEMENT ECOLOGY OF ARCTIC SEABIRDS (CO-SUPERVISOR OF ERIN BROWN)
JOHN ELLIOTT, ENVIRONMENT CANADA, CONTAMINANTS IN PACIFIC SEABIRDS
KIM FERNIE, ENVIRONMENT CANADA, CONTAMINANTS IN ARCTIC SEABIRDS (CO-PI ON TWO NCP GRANTS)
JEROME FORT, CENTRE NATIONAL DES RECHERCHES SCIENTIFIQUES, CONTAMINANTS IN ARCTIC SEABIRDS (ARCTOX)
MARIE-JOSEE FORTIN, UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO, ADAPTATION OF ARCTIC SEABIRDS TO AN ICE-FREE SUMMER (CO-PI ON NSERC STRATEGIC GRANT)
KEVIN FRASER, UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA, MOVEMENT ECOLOGY OF PURPLE MARTINS (CO-SUPERVISOR OF KRISTEN LALLA)
BARBARA FREI, MCGILL BIRD OBSERVATORY, MOVEMENT OF SONGBIRDS ALONG AN URBAN GRADIENT (CO-SUPERVISOR OF ANA MORALES, MATHILDE GUGLIELMI, CATHERINE JARJOUR, CASEY LEUNG, EMMA NIP AND MEGAN PHILLIPS)
VICKI FRIESEN, QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY, ADAPTATION OF ARCTIC SEABIRDS TO AN ICE-FREE SUMMER (PI ON NSERC STRATEGIC GRANT)
TONY GASTON, ENVIRONMENT CANADA, MOVEMENT ECOLOGY OF ARCTIC SEABIRDS
GRANT GILCHRIST, ENVIRONMENT CANADA, MOVEMENT ECOLOGY OF ARCTIC SEABIRDS (PI ON SEVERAL GRANTS, CO-SUPERVISOR OF DR. EMILY CHOY, THOMAS LAZARUS AND ALLISON PATTERSON)
JONATHAN GREEN, UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL, HEART RATE LOGGING OF SEABIRDS
DAVID GREMILLET, CENTRE NATIONAL DES RECHERCHES SCIENTIFIQUES, MOVEMENT ECOLOGY OF ARCTIC SEABIRDS
MELANIE GUIGUENO, MCGILL UNIVERSITY
SCOTT HATCH, INSTITUTE FOR SEABIRD RESEARCH AND CONSERVATION, MOVEMENT ECOLOGY OF SUB-ARCTIC SEABIRDS
JESSICA HEAD, MCGILL UNIVERSITY, CONTAMINANTS IN ARCTIC SEABIRDS (CO-PI ON TWO NCP GRANTS)
JF LAMARRE, POLAR KNOWLEDGE, TRACKING OF ARCTIC SEABIRDS
OLIVER LOVE, UNIVERSITY OF WINDSOR, MOVEMENT ECOLOGY OF ARCTIC SEABIRDS (COLLABORATOR ON SEVERAL GRANTS)
MARK MALLORY, ACADIA, MOVEMENT ECOLOGY OF ARCTIC SEABIRDS (COLLABORATOR ON SEVERAL GRANTS)
YAN ROPERT-COUDERT, CENTRE NATIONAL DES RECHERCHES SCIENTIFIQUES, MOVEMENT ECOLOGY OF ARCTIC SEABIRDS (PI ON BNP-PARABIS GRANT)
CHRISTINA SEMENIUK, UNIVERSITY OF WINDSOR, MOVEMENT ECOLOGY OF ARCTIC SEABIRDS (COLLABORATOR ON SEVERAL GRANTS)
ANOUK SIMARD, MFFP, CITIZEN SCIENCE AND WHITE NOSE SYNDROME IN BATS (CO-SUPERVISOR OF AMELIE FONTAINE)
JEAN-FRANCOIS THERRIEN, HAWK MOUNTAIN, MOVEMENT ECOLOGY OF SNOWY OWLS (CO-SUPERVISOR OF REBECCA MCCABE)
RODGER TITMAN, MCGILL BIRD OBSERVATORY, MOVEMENT OF SONGBIRDS ALONG AN URBAN GRADIENT & BROOD PARASITISM IN MERGANSERS (CO-SUPERVISOR OF NATALIE THIMOT)
JASON TREBERG, UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA, AGEING IN SEABIRDS
FRANCOIS VEZINA, UNIVERSITY DE QUEBEC A RIMOUSKI, USE OF THYROID HORMONES AS A PROXY FOR BMR (CO-PI ON QCBS SEED GRANT)
LYLE WHYTE, MCGILL UNIVERSITY, CO-SUPERVISOR OF ESTEBAN GONGORA
KAREN WIEBE, UNIVERSITY OF SASKATCHEWAN, MOVEMENT ECOLOGY OF SNOWY OWLS (CO-SUPERVISOR OF REBECCA MCCABE)