Biography

My research interests are in behaviour, ecology, and conservation biology. Past research has included study of the dispersal of mycorrhizal fungi by northern flying squirrels (honours thesis), navigation and orientation of eastern painted turtles (MSc Thesis), and the effects of fragmentation on spatial use by the Barred Owl (employment with University of Alberta). Although the work has involved a variety of taxa, the common thread has been animal movement. It is the questions of when and where animals move coupled with the environment they move through that interest me. I hope that by analyzing their patterns of movement (which I collect through a combination of experimental manipulation and direct observation) I can determine what motivates an animal to move.

My current research focuses on when, where, and why sedentary fish move and how this is influenced by the environments in which they live. I am using European seahorses as model organisms for this study: an animal that leads a sedentary adult lifestyle yet lives in a highly variable environment. My work spans many scales from individuals to populations, from juveniles to adults, and from long to short range movement. It also provides an opportunity to test movement models which have been designed for terrestrial animals within the marine environment to assess their general utility. I hope the information I gather on the movement of individuals and connectivity of populations can help guide management efforts for these animals of concern and the threatened seagrass habitats in which they live.