Current

I am currently teaching at Memorial University in the Biology Department.  My classes are Introduction to Biology and Community and Ecosystem Ecology.  I work closely with the Wildlife Evolutionary Ecology Lab at Memorial University and with colleagues at NL Wildlife Division.

 

Past work

From 2009-2016, I served as Senior Scientist in the Department of Environment and Conservation (Government of Newfoundland and Labrador).  I primarily focused on caribou biology with a special emphasis on factors that influence survival rates in caribou using capture mark-recapture methods in program MARK.  Other work has included spatial ecology of caribou predators (black bear, coyotes, lynx), and the estimation predator density.

From undergraduate to my post-doc, my main interest was ornithology.  While completing an undergraduate in Environmental Biology at the University of California @ Davis, and before starting graduate school, I worked on a number of projects including migration (Brown Pelican), toxicology (Osprey and American Coot), and community ecology (song birds in the chaparral).  My graduate work at Memorial University focused on exploring community level models of nest predation, the main cause of nest failure and an oft cited reason for population declines in birds.  My post-doctoral work was as part of the Labrador Highlands Research Group, a team focused on the influence of climate change on alpine treelines.  In addition to studying plants, I again examined song bird communities relative to vegetation across the treeline. 

During my M.Sc, I developed a strong interest in quantitative methods, especially mark-recapture methods, that continues to this day.