MNR Researchers in the DNA Building
Dr. Ken Abraham
Research Interests:
My primary research interests are with wetlands, waterfowl and shorebirds. The natural history of the Hudson Bay Lowland is of particular interest to me. I am involved with the Hudson Bay Lowland Wetland and Waterbird Research and Monitoring Program, a collaborative investigation of the interaction of geese and wetlands in the Hudson Bay and James Bay area.
Dr. Jeff Bowman
Research Interests:
My interests are primarily in the population ecology of mammals and birds. I have particular interests in spatial aspects of population dynamics, including dispersal, and landscape ecology. I am interested in demographic and genetic measures of population dynamics. I tend to use large spatial scales to study factors controlling species distribution.
Dr. David Evans
Research Interests:
My research interests include the ecology of freshwater fishes, physiological ecology, and population ecology, especially of coldwater species, such as lake trout and brook trout. Current projects are investigating the spatial ecology, habitat needs and water quality requirements of these species as well as the impacts of external influences on their populations. I am employing remote sensing, hydro-acoustic surveys, direct observational techniques distance sampling methods, and conventional fisheries survey techniques in my field research to investigate the impacts of major stressors including, fishing mortality, stock and species introductions, shoreline and watershed development, water level regulation, and climate change.
Dr. Martyn Obbard
Research Interests:
My research focuses on carnivore ecology and reproductive strategies. The conservation of large carnivores (especially bears) is especially interesting as are animal movements and the analysis related to habitat selection.
Dr. Nick Jones
Research Interests:
Research in my lab focuses on the ecology and management of flowing waters. My students, collaborators, and I are especially interested in the interaction of stream fishes and invertebrates at the individual, population and community levels with their habitat at different spatial and temporal scales across Ontario. Laboratory and field experiments are combined with broad-scale comparisons in studies of community organization, population dynamics and life history. Recently, my lab has been working on broad-scale ecological classification of flowing waters in Ontario via flow and thermal regimes, water chemistry, turbidity, and geomorphology.
Dr. Nigel Lester
Research Interests:
I am interested in researching population dynamics, the design of monitoring programs, sampling methods used for fish and fisheries, modeling, and database management. I have a particular research interest in life history theory, development of a broad-scale monitoring program for inland lakes, a regional model for managing exploitation of walleye, habitat supply models for fish, calibrating index fishing methods of estimating lake trout abundance, and calibrating sonar methods of estimating lake trout abundance.
Dr. Brent Patterson
Research Interests:
My primary research interests are in understanding the dynamics of vertebrate predator-prey systems and in determining the proximate and ultimate factors that cause changes in abundance of wildlife populations. Presently, my research is focused on understanding the population dynamics of wolves and moose.
Dr. Bruce Pond
Research Interests:
I am interested in the response of wildlife populations and ecosystems to anthropogenic disturbance (particularly private land development) in support of broad-scale land use policy evaluation. Specifically, my research includes the development of indicators for monitoring ecosystem integrity at multiple scales and the analysis of broad-scale human impacts on wildlife genetics and populations. As well, spatial and temporal modeling of the distribution of wildlife in the context of contemporary landcover and human disturbance interests me, as does the application of spatial data and analytical methods to natural resource issues.
Dr. Mark Ridgway
Research Interests:
My research interests are in the area of fisheries science with an emphasis in population ecology, lake food webs and fish habitat requirements. Recently, my interests have focused on the interactions between waterbirds and fish populations, brook trout habitat requirements for groundwater, and bass fisheries.
Dr. Rick Rosatte
Research Interests:
My research interests include determining the environmental impact of restoring a species once native to Ontario--elk, developing tactics to control rabies in wildlife and the ecology of several species including raccoons, foxes, skunks, elk and wolves. Currently, I am leading a collaborative research program to determine the environmental impact of restoring elk to Ontario.
Dr. Chris Wilson
Research Interests:
My research is primarily focused on the structure of aquatic biodiversity (variation) in Ontario. I use genetic and biogeographic tools to examine the factors underlying observed patterns of diversity within and among species. Genetic markers are important in my research, as they can highlight past and present influences of environmental and human-induced factors on species and community structure at different spatial and temporal scale. My major research projects include solving the geographic and adaptive genetic structure in exploited (harvested) and endangered aquatic species, and using genetic markers (allozymes and microsatellite DNA) to assess local and regional stock structure and gene flow among exploited or fragmented populations.
