CURRENT GRADUATE STUDENTS
Nic Shephard, M.Sc. (U. Sask)- Kile is a chemist by training and is working on carotenoid chemistry in American redstarts. Co-supervised by Dr. Kingsley Donkor (TRU Chemistry).
Adrienne Clay, M.Sc. (TRU) - Adrienne is working on burrowing owl behaviour and conservation
Erik Prytula, M.Sc. (TRU) - Erik is working on using long-term citizen-science data to understand climate driven changes in migratory timing. Co-advised by Dr. Ann McKellar (Environment Canada).
Alexandra Lamberton, M.Sc. (UNBC) - Alex is another UNBC student working mountain chickadee urbanization, with an emphasis on nest parasites. Her M.Sc. is based out of UNBC and co-supervised by Ken Otter.
Steve Joly, M.Sc. (TRU) - Steve's doing his Masters! We're all very excited to have long-standing BEAC labber and ornithological guru Steve working on mountain bluebird reproductive interference.
PAST GRADUATE STUDENTS
Cara Snell, M.Sc. (UNBC) - Cara is back in the BEAC lab! This time, she's working on mountain chickadee urbanization and song transmission. Her M.Sc. is based out of UNBC and co-supervised by Ken Otter.
Claudie Pageau, M.Sc. (TRU) - Our first francophone, Claudie joined us from Quebec and her work addressed big picture questions in the evolution of moult and migration in birds.
*Published manuscripts in Ecology & Evolution and Biology Letters, with another manuscript in prep for submission—all prior to defending); Awarded Environmental Science Fellowship, FRQNT (Quebec) MSc Research Scholarship, Dr. Sherman Jen Graduate Entrance Award, NSERC PGS (declined); Winner of a Best Student Presentation Award at SCO-SOC 2019 and at the NAOC 2020
Jacob Bailey, M.Sc. - After working with me on both a directed studies and honours, Jacob tackled an M.Sc. with Ken Otter and me working on movement patterns of mountain chickadees using RFID-based bird feeders. Co-supervised by Dr. Ken Otter (UNBC)
LaZerte, S.E., M.W. Reudink, K.A. Otter, J. Kusack, J.M. Bailey, A. Woolverton, M. Paetkau, A. de Jong, and D.J. Hill. 2017. feedr and animalnexus.ca: A paired R package and user-friendly web application for transforming and visualizing RFID animal movement data. Ecology and Evolution 7: 7884-7896.
Bailey, J.M., Reudink, M.W., LaZerte S., Paetkau, M. Johnson, C., Hill, D., and K.A. Otter. In press. Using radio frequency identification (RFID) to investigate gap-crossing decisions of black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus). The Auk: Ornithological Advances
Erica Bonderud, M.Sc. - Another former honours student that can’t escape, Erica is working on dominance and paternity in mountain chickadees. Co-supervised by Dr. Ken Otter (UNBC)
Bonderud, E. S.**, Otter, K. A., Murray, B. W., Burg, T. M., Marini, K. L. D.** & Reudink, M. W. In press. Effects of parental condition and nesting habitat on sex allocation in the mountain chickadee. Behaviour.
Bonderud, E.S.*, N.J. Flood, J.D. Van Hamme, C.A.W. Boyda, and M.W. Reudink. 2016. Females mated to more colourful mountain bluebirds (Sialia currucoides) produce male-biased broods. Behaviour 153: 367-386.
Bonderud, E. S., Otter, K. A., Burg, T. M., Marini, K. L. D. & Reudink, M. W. In press. Patterns of extra-pair paternity in the mountain chickadee. Ethology.
Kristen Marini, M.Sc. 2016 - Kristen continued work in the lab after a directed studies and honours and is now switching gears from plumage evolution and is examining the effects of urbanization on mountain chickadees. Kristen is co-supervised by Dr. Ken Otter (UNBC).
Marini, K.L.D.**, Reudink, M.W., LaZerte S., and K.A. Otter. 2017. Males in more urbanized areas begin vocalizing earlier, vocalize more, and have greater dawn chorus output than rural male mountain chickadees (Poecile gambeli). Behaviour 154: 1197-1214.
Bonderud, E. S., Otter, K. A., Burg, T. M., Marini, K. L. D. & Reudink, M. W. In press. Patterns of extra-pair paternity in the mountain chickadee. Ethology.
Bonderud, E. S.**, Otter, K. A., Murray, B. W., Burg, T. M., Marini, K. L. D.** & Reudink, M. W. accepted . Effects of parental condition and nesting habitat on sex allocation in the mountain chickadee. Behaviour.
Marini, K.L.D.**, K.A. Otter, S.E. LaZerte, and M.W. Reudink. 2017. Urban environments are associated with earlier clutches and faster nestling feather growth compared to natural habitats. Urban Ecosystems published online 27June2017
Marini, K.L.D.*, A.E. McKellar, L.M. Ratcliffe, P.P. Marra, and M.W. Reudink. 2015. Age-related change in carotenoid-based plumage of the American redstart (Setophaga ruticllla). Journal of Ornithology. 156: 783-793.
Reudink, M.W., A. E. McKellar, S. McArthur**, K.L.D. Marini*, P. P. Marra, and L.M. Ratcliffe. 2015. Inter-annual variation in American redstart (Setophaga ruticilla) plumage colour is associated with rainfall and temperature during moult: an 11-year study. Oecologia. 178: 161-173.
Sarah McArthur, M.Sc. (2013-2015) Sarah joined us from U. Victoria and is using RFID technology to examine parental care in mountain bluebirds and the determinants of nestling mortality using long-term datasets. (Awarded NSERC USRA, North American Bluebird Society Research Award).
McArthur, S.L., A.E. McKellar, N.J. Flood, M.J. Paetkau, J.M. Bailey, and M.W. Reudink. In press. Local weather and nest box characteristics, not parental care, influence Mountain Bluebird (Sialia currucoides) fledging success. Wilson Journal of Ornithology.
Evans, D.R.**, S.L. McArthur*, J.M. Bailey**, J.S. Church, and M.W. Reudink. 2015. A high-accuracy, time-saving method for extracting nest watch data from video recordings. Journal of Ornithology 156: 1125-1129.
Reudink, M.W., A.E. McKellar, K.L.D. Marini**, S.L. McArthur*, P.P. Marra, and L.M. Ratcliffe. 2015. Inter-annual variation in American redstart (Setophaga ruticilla) plumage colour is associated with rainfall and temperature during moult: an 11-year study. Oecologia 178: 161-173.
Andrew Pillar, M.Sc. 2012-2014 - Andrew graduated from TRU in Geography and is his M.Sc. focused on using isotopes and geolocators to examine migratory connectivity in Bullock’s orioles and examine impacts of environmental factors occurring throughout the year on population abundance. (Awarded NSERC PGS). Resulting publications:
Pillar, A.G.*, P.P. Marra, N.J. Flood, and M.W. Reudink. 2016. Moult-migration in Bullock’s orioles (Icterus bullockii) confirmed by geolocators and stable isotope analysis. Journal of Ornithology 157: 265-275
Pillar, A.G.*, S. Wilson, N.J. Flood, and M.W. Reudink. 2015. Population response to environmental productivity throughout the annual cycle in a migratory songbird. Population Ecology 57: 163-173.