Where Do New Species Come From?

Samantha Renshaw's research looks at determining the effectiveness of marine protected areas for elasmobranch species like sharks, skates and rays. These areas typically exclude fishing and boat travel, but we do not necessarily know how efficient these are at conserving the species within them. Did you know we had shark species off the east coast of Canada? Well Samy will tell you a whole lot about it.

Peter Soroye is a PhD student looking at climate change, habitat loss and how both factors affect ecosystems around the globe. He primarily focuses on pollinators (i.e bees and butterflies) as model species. As a conservation biologist, he primarily asks a lot of ecological questions based on broad patterns and what we can do to mitigate the impacts of climate change and design protected areas and implement practices that would be more environmentally friendly for wildlife.

The main goal of Ève's research is to better understand how tree swallows choose their nest site, and to determine if the installation of nest boxes can lead to non-ideal habitat choice. Tree swallows are aerial insectivores who usually breed in secondary cavities (i.e. tree cavities excavated by another species). Because those cavities are quite rare, they readily use nest boxes, which is why we often install them as a conservation tool.

Anne-Sophie studies trophic interactions related to forest pest species with cyclical outbreaks. She more precisely looks at the Forest Tent Caterpillar (Malacosoma disstria), a pest species known to affect aspen and maple trees, among others. She is interested in the impacts that different sources of mortality have on Forest Tent Caterpillar colonies during and just after outbreaks. Her PhD aims to provide more information on what causes the crash of a population and what keeps it at low density.

Episode 12 of the Ecology Everywhere Podcast. This week we’re talking about Mendel’s Laws and killer genes.