Research Experience
As an Ecology undergraduate student at the University of Calgary, I was primarily interested in behavioural ecology, and particularly primate behaviour. I did a minor in Anthropology and completed several primatology courses, including a field course in Ghana where we studied the behaviours of Colobus monkeys and Campbell's mona monkeys. My Honours thesis looked at infant vocalizations of big brown bats, and how changes in call structures due to temperature changes affect individual recognition and mother-infant reunions in this species.
I completed my Master of Environmental Studies degree in the School of Resource and Environmental Studies at Dalhousie University, where I also took graduate courses in Environmental Policy Analysis and Environmental Law, as well as a Research Methods course that included both quantitative and qualitative research methods. For my thesis, I conducted research on the behavioural ecology of endangered Blanding's turtles in Southwest Nova Scotia to determine the movement and habitat use of hatchling turtles from the nest to their overwintering sites. To do this, I conducted a radio-telemetry study, which included helping to develop and test methods for attaching small VHF radio-transmitters to hatchling turtles and replacing them every 2-3 weeks. I also developed a habitat sampling study to look at hatchling habitat use relative to availability. In addition, I also did a qualitative risk analysis and policy analysis to assess threats and examine whether existing policies and regulations can effectively protect endangered Blanding's turtles in Nova Scotia. After completing my Master's degree, I worked as a Conservation Fellowship Research Specialist at the Calgary Zoo Centre for Conservation Research, where I assisted with field surveys for threatened northern leopard frogs in Alberta and with capture-mark-recapture studies of black-tailed prairie dogs, a species of special concern, in SW Saskatchewan. In addition, I analyzed camera trap data and co-authored a technical report on the use of oil and gas structures by reintroduced swift foxes. I also worked with Fisheries and Oceans Canada on the development and use of model simulations to determine the potential influence of different poaching behaviours on the population viability of endangered northern abalone along the coast of British Columbia. In 2016, I obtained my Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Queensland (Australia). My PhD research focused on the policy and practice of identifying critical habitat for threatened species, and the development and application of decision science tools to help improve critical habitat identification. During this time, I was also part of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions, through which I gained exposure to and interest in other applications of decision science to inform biodiversity management and conservation. |