Dr. Diana Hamilton

Rebeca studied movement and activities of Semipalmated Sandpipers in Atlantic Canada both inside and outside the Bay of Fundy. She used the Motus Wildlife Tracking System to track movements of birds, and assess the extent to which they move in and out of the Bay during their stopover in the region. She also linked these activities to diet and fattening rate. She completed winter field work in North Eastern Brazil, where she collected similar diet and movement data. This work was completed completed in collaboration with Julie Paquet (CWS), Dr. Cheri-Gratto Trevor (ECCC Science and Technology), and Dr. Jason Mobley (Aquasis, Brazil). Results of this work have been published in multiple journals. Rebeca is now a PhD student at the University of Rhode Island, and will continue to collaborate with my lab on work in both Canada and Brazil.

Melanie R. Boudreau (M.Sc. Mount Allison, 2011)

Melanie studied community-level interactions between diving ducks and intertidal invertebrates in a rocky intertidal community in Passamaquoddy Bay, NB. She conducted a series of manipulative experiments designed to quantify direct and indirect effects of ducks and invertebrate predators on blue mussels and the rest of the invertebrate community. She published the main paper from her M.Sc. in Marine Ecology Progress Series. Melanie is now a Postdoctoral fellow at Mississippi State University.

Mike Coffin (M.Sc., University of New Brunswick, 2011, co-supervised by Dr. Myriam Barbeau, UNB)Mike examined interactions between the eastern mudsnail, Ilyanassa obsoleta, and Corophium volutator, the most abundant macroinvertebrate on mudflats in the upper Bay of Fundy. He is employed a combination of lab experiments conducted at Huntsman Marine Science Centre, and field work on a local mudflat. He defended his thesis in April 2011 and has published both chapters of his thesis, as well as co-authored several other papers with members of my lab and Myriam Barbeau's lab. Mike completed his PhD at the University of Prince Edward Island and is now a researcher with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

Jenna Quinn ( M.Sc. Mount Allison, 2011)Jenna continued our work on food habits and habitat use by Semipalmated Sandpipers. Specifically, she combined a study of day and night habitat use and foraging behaviour with a detailed assessment of diet composition through the Bay of Fundy via stable isotope analysis, and investigated the energetic value and fatty acid composition of the various food items that sandpipers include in their diets. Jenna defended her M.Sc. in August 2011. She has published both her diet paper and a paper on fatty acid content in prey items in Canadian Journal of Zoology.

Matthew Ginn (M.Sc. Mount Allison, 2009)Matt studied habitat use and food habits of Semipalmated Sandpipers foraging on mudflats in the upper Bay of Fundy. He linked foraging behaviour to availability of prey, and examined diet composition through use of stable isotope analysis. One paper from this work is published in Condor.

Siena Davis (honours 2018-19)

Siena studied weight gain in Semiplamated Sandpipers during their migratory stopover in Atlantic Canada. She compared birds captured on the Northumberland Strait with those from the Bay of Fundy. She measured triglyceride levels in blood plasma, estimated diet via stable isotope analysis of blood and potential prey items, and compared prey availability and foraging behaviour between areas.Siena is now in medical school.

Erica Geldart (honours 2017-18) Erica is studying movement and duration of stay of Semipalmated Sandpipers and Semipalmated Plovers on the Acadian Peninsual, New Brunswick. In summer 2017 she collected extensive radiotracking data from birds captured on Miscou Island. She also collected prey samples, and is currently relating habitat use and duration of stay to food availability. Erica is now a M.Sc. student at the University of Windsor.

Hannah MacKellar (honours 2017-18)Hannah is studying behaviour, diet and fattening rates of Semipalmated Sandpipers and Semipalmated Plovers on the Acadian Peninsula, New Brunswick. In summer 2017, she collected blood samples from captured and tagged sandpipers and plovers (linked to Erica's tracking project). She has analyzed plasma triglyceride levels, and index of fattening rate, in these samples, and has detected substantial differences among the species. She is currently completing analyses of behaviour data and diet in an effort to relate them to fattening rates. Hannah completed her M.Sc. at Trent University, and is now in veterinary school.

Jessie McIntyre (honours 2017-18, co-supervised by Dr. Davie Lieske, Mount Allison University)Jessie is using GIS-based techniques to classify potential habitat for Whimbrels on the Acadian Peninsula. She is also working with Whimbrel survey data and movement data obtained from radiotracking and satellite tags to identify important habitat for these birds. Her work also has a social-science component in that she is collaborating on an outreach program to raise awareness among blueberry growers about the importance of the region for Whimbrels. Jessie completed her M.Sc. at Acadia Univeristy.

Avery Nagy-MacArthur (2016 graduate) Honours thesis title: Habitat use, diet and behaviour or migratory Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus) in blueberry fields of Lameque Island, New Brunswick. Avery completed her honours work in 2015-16 on Whimbrel interactions with blueberry growers on the Acadian Peninsula of New Brunswick. Through a combination of behavioural observations, radiotracking, and stable isotope diet analysis, she found that birds made use of berry fields and coastal areas. When foraging in the fields, their diets consisted of a combination of blueberries and terrestrial insects. Avery continued this work in 2016 with expanded tracking in an effort to obtain a better understanding of movements of these birds and their duration of stay in the region. Avery is currently completing her M.Sc. at Acadia University.

Hilary Mann (2015 graduate) Honours thesis title: Diet, movements, behaviours and habitat use by Semipalmated Sandpipers (Calidris pusilla) in Cobequid Bay, Nova Scotia.Hilary examined activities of sandpipers in Cobequid Bay, an area that has received much less attention with respect to shorebird research than other parts of the Bay of Fundy, using a combination of radiotracking and behavioural observations. She found that birds using Cobequid Bay largely stayed in the region. When extremely high tides prevented roosting, they engaged in over ocean flocking rather than moving to alternate areas to roost. Birds forced to fly during high tide remained in the area longer than those that experienced more moderate tides. Her thesis work is published in Waterbirds. Hilary recently completed her M.Sc. at Dalhousie University.

Sydney Bliss (2015 graduate) Honours thesis title: Morphometrics and distribution of Semipalmated Sandpipers (Calidris pusilla) in the upper Bay of Fundy.

Sydney examined changes in morphometric measures of sandpipers migrating through the Bay of Fundy over the past 30 years. She also looked at changes in distribution and population of birds using the Bay during that time period. Using knowledge of variation in bill length relative to Arctic breeding area, she found that there appears to be little to no shift in proportions of birds from the different parts of the breeding range using the Bay of Fundy. While bill lengths did decline from early to middle years of the study, they have now recovered to values similar to those noted in the 1980s. Similarly, there is no evidence that birds segregate by breeding range while in the Bay. Sydney's honours work has been published in Wilson Journal of Ornithology. Sydney completed her M.Sc. at Dalhousie University, and currently works for Canadian Wildlife Service.

Hannah Kienzle (2015 graduate) Honours thesis title: Population dynamics and interactions between invasive green crabs (Carcinus maenas) and native rock crabs (Cancer irroratus) in intertidal zones of the upper Bay of Fundy.Hannah examined relative abundance of green and rock crabs at rocky sites and mudflats of the upper Bay of Fundy. She found that while green crabs declined markedly from the previous year, rock crab populations remained consistent or increased somewhat. The two species exhibit some spatial segregation based on tide level. Hannah has co-authored a paper with Amie MacDonald in Northeastern Naturalist.

Sarah Neima (2014 graduate) Honours thesis title: Movement patterns, duration of stay, and diet of Semipalmated Sandpipers (Calidris pusilla) during migratory stopover in the upper Bay of Fundy.Sarah continued and expanded the work started by Abby White. Sarah's honours thesis focused on differences between males and females in duration of stay and movement by sandpipers during their migratory stopover in this region. Her data suggest that females may arrive somewhat lighter than males and therefore remain in the region longer. With the help of Dr. Phil Taylor (Acadia University) and his lab, she also found that departing birds primarily cross Nova Scotia and leave via the south and eastern shore of the province, rather than moving out through the Bay of Fundy. Sarah has co-authored 4 papers accepted or submitted, and defended her M.Sc. thesis in January 2017.

Amie MacDonald (2014 graduate, co-supervised by Dr. David Drolet) Honours thesis title: Distribution, habitat use, and impacts of invasive green crabs (Carcinus maenas) in intertidal zones in the upper Bay of Fundy.

Amie conducted the first systematic surveys of invasive green crabs in the upper Bay of Fundy. She also conducted a manipulative experiment to investigate the effects of green crabs on mudflat communities. She found that green crabs are present throughout the upper Bay of Fundy, and that they appear to be more abundant in lower regions than farther into the upper arms of Cumberland Basin. They are also more abundant at rocky sites than on mudflats, though they are well established at one mudflat site, suggesting they may spread further in the region. There also appears to be a spatial segregation between green and rock crabs, which will be investigated in future. Amie, together with Hannah Kienzle, has published a paper in Northeastern Naturalist. Amie completed her M.Sc. at Trent University, and currently works for Birds Canada.

Abby White (2013 graduate) Honours thesis title: Duration of stay and movements of Semipalmated Sandpipers (Calidris pusilla)during migratory stopover in the upper Bay of Fundy.Abby was involved with the first year of our ongoing radiotracking study. She piloted the use of Sensorgnomes to automatically track movements of tagged birds, and was the first to discover that we were probably seriously under estimating duration of stay of individual sandpipers in the Bay of Fundy. This has implications for population estimates that are currently being considered as part of Sarah Neima's M.Sc. thesis.

Leah Rosetti (2013 graduate, co-supervised by Dr. Suzie Currie) Honours thesis title: Effects of temperature fluctuations on cellular stress in the marine amphipod Corophium volutator (Pallas).Leah was a biochemistry student who examined effects of thermal stress on Corophium. Following the work of Christine Gilroy, she subjected Corophium to various thermal stresses and then assessed their cellular response by measuring HSP70 expression. She detected these HSPs and found some evidence that younger individuals are more resilient to stress than older ones.