Mount A students wow at Bay of Fundy Ecosystem Partnership Meeting
2009-06-16 10:21:27
SACKVILLE, NB — Mount Allison University students proved they know their stuff once again, this time at the 8th annual Bay of Fundy Ecosystem Partnership Meeting held this spring. Entitled, “Resource Development and its implications in the Bay of Fundy and Gulf of Maine,” the meeting was hosted at Acadia University this year and several Mount Allison biology students walked away with awards for their presentations and research.
Mount Allison’s Dean of Science Dr. Jeff Ollerhead accompanied the students to the meeting. He says, “Our students’ success at the Bay of Fundy Ecosystem Partnership Meeting is a real testament to the level of research they are completing at Mount Allison. We were very pleased with their presentations and the work they are doing in this important field, studying ecosystems in an area that affects our entire region, the Bay of Fundy.”
2009 honours biology graduates Miriam Coulthard (Halifax, NS) and Beth MacDonald (Stellarton, NS) captured first and second prizes in the undergraduate category for their presentations entitled “The effect of Ilyanassa obsoleta on the vertical distribution of Corophium volutator in mudflat ecosystems of the Bay of Fundy” and “Nocturnal foraging behaviour of Semipalmated Sandpipers (Calidris pusilla) and how it relates to prey availability,” respectively. Both did their honours research in biology professor Dr. Diana Hamilton’s lab.
Acadia University Master's student and 2008 Mount Allison honours biology graduate Elisabeth Wallace of Cumberland Bay, NB took top spot in the graduate category for her talk on her undergraduate honours project, entitled “Effects of Foraging Semipalmated Sandpipers on the Vertical Distribution of Corophium volutator.” She completed this study with Dr. Hamilton. Miriam, Beth, and Elisabeth thus captured three of the four presentation awards at the conference.
David Drolet, a new postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Hamilton’s lab at Mount Allison also received honours at the meeting, placing first in the poster category for graduate students. His study focussed on variation in density, demography and movement of Corophium volutator at a local mudflat. David completed his PhD research at the University of New Brunswick with Dr. Myriam Barbeau, and is currently waiting to defend his thesis. While at Mount Allison, he will continue research on upper Bay of Fundy mudflats. He is helping to supervise students and manage a large collaborate research project involving researchers from UNB, Carleton University, and Mount Allison. The research project is funded by a strategic grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).
The Bay of Fundy Ecosystem Partnership is a “Virtual Institute” open to individuals and groups that seek the well-being of the Bay of Fundy. The partnership does this by promoting the integrity, vitality, biodiversity, and productivity of the Bay of Fundy Ecosystem, and the social well-being and economic sustainability of its coastal communities. The partnership also works to facilitate communication and co-operation among individuals and organizations interested in understanding, sustainably using and conserving the resources, habitats and ecological processes of the Bay of Fundy (www.bofep.org).
Photo caption: From left to right Elisabeth Wallace, Miriam Coulthard, David Drolet, and Beth MacDonald at the 8th annual Bay of Fundy Ecosystem Partnership Meeting held this spring (Photo credit: Jon Percy).