Just because I am hot does not mean you are too: understanding and measuring how animals perceive their thermal environment

by Ryan O’ConnorTemperature represents an all-pervading factor in an organism’s life. For example, despite having vastly different nesting habitats, the bald eagle and dove pictured below will still experience some degree of temperature, which in turn will influence their physiology and behavior.Very often, when scientists want to uncover the effects of temperature on a species, they will use air temperature data derived from weather stations. These air temperature data may be obtained from portable, self-owned…

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Elegy for the Ash

Marian MacNair hears the trees fall in the forestAll over the island of Montreal this winter, municipalities have quietly been cutting down their ash trees.It is a quiet tragedy occurring all over eastern North America. The numbers are staggering: there are around seven billion ash trees on the continent. Ash accounts for at least a quarter of the tree canopy in many urban areas. All ash trees in an infected area can be dead within…

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Du pareil au même!

par Marie-Hélène CarignanEn tant qu’étudiante en biologie marine, je ne peux plus compter le nombre de fois où on m’a demandée comment vont les baleines et les poissons. Si je dis que j’ai travaillé dans l’Arctique, les gens m’imaginent dans une tente sur la banquise et si j’annonce que j’ai fait un séjour au Panama, ils m’imaginent sur une péniche ou sur une plage paradisiaque tous les jours. La réalité est que, pour une biologiste…

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Comprendre et résoudre les conflits Humains- Éléphants à Campo-Ma’an

Par Isaac Blaise DjokoCet été, je me suis envolé vers le parc national de Campo-Ma’an sur la façade atlantique au Sud-Ouest du Cameroun en Afrique Centrale pour la première phase de collecte des données de ma thèse de Doctorat sur les ‘’Conflits Humains Faune Sauvage autour du Parc National de Campo-Ma’an’’, supervisé par Dr Robert Weladji du laboratoire d’écologie et conservation à l’Université Concordia. J’étais accompagné sur le terrain par Valérie Michel, technicienne vétérinaire du Zoo…

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Sea turtle adventures in paradise

By Ivon Vassileva From chasing turtle hatchlings across beautiful beaches, to counting eggs and measuring the shells of big mama sea turtles, my fall semester has been nothing short of amazing. Last fall, I had the amazing opportunity to intern for six weeks with the Barbados Sea Turtle Project at the University of West Indies Cavehill. This organization deals with the conservation of the critically endangered marine turtle species that forage around and nest on Barbados,…

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La subjectivité au service de la biodiversité !

par Ann LévesqueGrâce à l’obtention du Prix d’excellence CSBQ, j’ai eu l’honneur d’aller présenter mes résultats de recherche à la conférence de l’Association canadienne des ressources hydriques (ACRH) intitulée “Our Common Water Future : Building Resilience Through Innovation” qui se déroulait à Victoria, BC du 28 mai au 1er juin 2018. Cette association regroupe des chercheurs canadiens de diverses disciplines, des professionnels et aussi des gens en provenance de l’industrie intéressés par les différents enjeux…

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Recognizing the invisible work in academic communities

by Laura Chouinard-ThulyWe’re scientists, but let’s not fool ourselves by pretending that our scientific thinking makes us impervious to society’s conscious and unconscious biases. Women in STEM are still experiencing tremendous barriers, being assessed unfavourably in grant applications (Whiteman et al. 2019 The Lancet 393: 531-540), receiving bad reviewer scores and lower paper acceptance rates (Fox & Paine 2019 Ecology and Evolution 00: 1-21). These biases may help explain why gender disparities still exist at…

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In the flash of a fin: my lightning fast very successful and awesome field season on Mistassini Lake in northern Quebec

by Ella BowlesAt the end of this field season I felt happy, focussed, that I learned a lot, that I had a great time, and that I was very satisfied with what we accomplished. Field season success, check! I work collaboratively with the Cree Nation of Mistissini on a number of projects to help with monitoring recreational and subsistence fisheries on Mistassini Lake, QC. Mistassini is unique on the Canadian landscape as a very large…

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Un ouragan… de joie au « North American Society for Bat Research »!

par Amélie FontaineMon voyage commença par une annonce d’ouragan de catégorie 4 frappant la côte ouest du Mexique, à proximité de Puerto Vallarta, durant la nuit succédant la date de mon arrivée sur les lieux de la 49e conférence de la « North American Society for Bat Research (NASBR) ». Pour ma sécurité, j’ai décidé de manquer la première journée d’atelier et d’arriver une journée plus tard. L’ouragan, ayant passé plus au nord de Puerto…

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PhD Away: How stepping away from my home department for a short research stint abroad widened the horizons of my research

by Dalal HannaAs PhD students we spend a lot of time at our home institution. We get to know the professors and students working in our department, the equipment available to us, the various seminar series hosted internally… In my department and regular PhD routine there is usually so much going on that it can feel like the world. But the world is much most vast. And just as species benefit from cross-pollination, my recent…

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