Marie Auger-Méthé

Assistant Professor
Department of Statistics, Institute for the Oceans & Fisheries
University of British Columbia
auger-methe@stat.ubc.ca
I am a statistical ecologist with a passion for polar and marine ecosystems. I love to tackle difficult problems and much of my work involves developing statistical tools that help answer challenging ecological questions. While my interest are diverse, I am fascinated by animal behaviour and much of my work has focused on developing statistical tools to understand the movement strategies used by animals to find resources and cope with the dynamics of their habitat. I am currently interested in developing statistical methods to help identify important habitats for marine animals.

Ron Togunov

PhD Student
Department of Zoology
Ron is doing a PhD on Arctic mammal foraging ecology. He is studying the relationship between foraging behaviour of polar bears, beluga whales, and narwhals, and the environmental conditions that are required for predation. He is using state-space models to identify foraging events and modelling their relationship to environmental factors such as sea ice concentration, ice drift, wind speeds, and presence of industrial noise. He will also map areas where habitats critical to foraging are at risk, and link foraging behaviour and environmental conditions to fitness consequences to polar bears. The importance of foraging makes it a reliable metric from which to model species distribution. His research will help develop species distribution modelling techniques, expand ecological understanding of top Arctic predators, aid conservation and management, and can help improve livelihood in Northern communities.

Sarah Dier-McComb

MSc Student
Department of Zoology
Using movement and physiological data, Sarah investigates foraging efficiency and winter habitat of Gentoo penguin and how it relates to their reproductive success and physiological condition. She hopes to identify the conservation value to Gentoo penguins of the marine areas around the Falkland Islands. This research will advance our understanding of the impact of foraging location decisions and their carryover effects on breeding success.

Alumni

Sarah Dier-McComb

BSc honours in marine biology
Department of Biology (Dalhousie University)
Sarah investigates the location of long-finned pilot whale behaviour off the coast of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada. Through R, ArcGIS, and GeoDa she is comparing the behaviour locations from 12 years of data to assess the consistency of feeding and resting locations along the coast. Sarah is co-supervised by Dr. Hal Whitehead.

Joanna Wong

BSc honours in marine biology and sustainability
Department of Biology (Dalhousie University)
Joanna is studying the accuracy of laser photogrammetry by measuring dorsal-fin dimensions of long-finned pilot whales in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. By attaching two parallel lasers to a camera, a scale is projected onto the photographed whale, and linkages may be made between dorsal base lengths and the sex of an individual. Pilot whales have interesting social structure, and she is also using photo analysis to investigate hypotheses about leaders within a cluster. Joanna is co-supervised by Dr. Hal Whitehead.

Emily Butler

BSc honours in marine biology (statistics minor)
Department of Biology (Dalhousie University)
Emily is modeling the spatial ecology of black-browed and grey-headed albatrosses during their non-breeding periods in the Southern Ocean, and linking individual variation in migratory behaviour to oceanographic conditions, physiological state, and sex. Emily is applying advanced state-space models to geolocation data. She is co-supervised by Dr. Glenn Crossin.

Joana Costa

BSc honours in marine biology
Department of Biology (Dalhousie University)
Joana is studying the changes in the distribution of long-finned pilot whales off the western coast of Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. She uses ArcGIS to visually compare GPS data from pilot whale encounters in 2003 and 2004 to data collected in 2013 and 2014. The mean distance of pilot whale encounters to the nearest shore and to the harbour are compared for each year in order to assess whether environmental factors or whale watching pressures are involved in the observed changes in distribution. Joana is co-supervised by Dr. Hal Whitehead.