Evelyn Jensen (postdoc now at Yale), Christina Tollett (PhD student), and Kristen Hayward (starting an MSc in September all presented facets of work being done at Queen’s University at the 2019 annual meeting of the Canadian Society of Ecology and Evolution in Fredericton NB.
Christina talking about sea ice loss and potential impact of polar bear populations.Kristen with her poster in which she discusses a new genotyping method for polar bear scat.
After co-teaching a course to first and second year undergraduates on wildlife conservation, Steve Lougheed gave a departmental lecture in the School of Life Sciences on goals and progress of two Genome Canada-funded projects: BearWatch and Towards a Sustainable Fishery for Nunavumiat.
PI Steve Lougheed beginning his talk on TSFN and BearWatch.
The Bearwatch team is excited to be back in Gjoa Haven, Nunavut for a series of polar bear workshops this week. We will be collecting Traditional Knowledge on bears including changes seen in recent years, hearing about the impacts of polar bear management on the community and discussing monitoring opportunities.
Thanks to the people of Gjoa Haven for the warm welcome this week, and a special thank you to Jacob Keanik for his translation services. We would also like to thank the Gjoa Haven Hunters and Trappers Association, community Elders and Hunters for their participation in polar bear traditional knowledge workshops and meetings exploring the impacts of polar bear management on the community.
Our PI Stephen Lougheed updated the Inuvialuit Game Council meeting on March 8 2019 in Inuvik, NWT, presented an overview of progress on our pan-Arctic genomic surveys, development of the scat toolkit, and consultations with Inuvialuit Settlment Region communities.
Dr. Evelyn Jensen presented an overview of our work to develop genomic tools for scat-based monitoring of polar bears across the Canadian Arctic. ArcticNet took place in Ottawa from the 10-14 of December 2018 and was attended by Evelyn, Christina Tollett, Peter VC de Groot, Graham Whitelaw, Tristan Pearce, Kim Flock and Steve Lougheed.
We are very pleased to have Christina Tollett join us from the University of Saskatchewan. Christina is starting her doctorate with us working on genomic surveys of population structure and helping to develop the scat-based genomics toolkit. Welcome!
Evelyn presented an overview of the BearWatch project at the annual meeting of the CanadianSociety of Ecology and Evolution held at the University of Guelph. The title of her poster was ‘Genomic tools to enable non-invasive community-based monitoring of polar bears in Canada.’
Graham Whitelaw and Steve Lougheed traveled to Tuktoyaktuk NWT to present to members of the Inuvialuit Game Council, and seek input and insights into the objectives of BEARWATCH.