Members of the Forest Wildlife Ecology and Behaviour Lab
(a.k.a. "The Nocera Lab")
Current Graduate Students and Staff
Caitlin Campbell
M.Sc. Environmental Management
Caitlin is studying how the availability of rough cover affects the diet of staging Bobolinks in the fall. Her assessment will provide a useful guideline for how they use that habitat and how much of it needs to be provided. Her work uses DNA metabarcoding and remote sensing to answer these questions.
Alex Coenen
M.Sc. Environmental Management
Alex is investigating how recreational usage of Protected Natural Areas in New Brunswick may affect avian community structure and species presence/absence. Her work involves point counts, bird banding, diversity indices, and some high tech methods of detecting human movement patterns. In partnership with Fundy Biosphere Reserve, an important site is Mill Creek (Riverview, NB) where trail development will be aided by Alex's results.
Anna Doran
M.Sc. Environmental Management
Anna is assessing the movement of Chimney Swifts between and among roosts during the breeding season in New Brunswick. She is testing whether these roosts form a "network" and, if so, which are the most important roosts that hold that network together? To do this she is outfitting swifts with nanotags and using the MOTUS network, omni-directional antennas, and hand-held telemetry to locate the tagged birds as often as possible. This work will help managers prioritize which roosts to conserve with greater/lesser urgency.
Meghan Oliver
M.Sc. Environmental Management
Meghan is investigating the breeding dispersal of Bobolinks (Dolichonyx oryzivorus) after nest failure. She is testing the hypotheses that they remain at the site and try to renest, (ii) that they remain local but only as reproductive floaters, or (iii) they undertake longer distance dispersal and/or begin an early migration. She is using MOTUS radiotags to follow these movements. She is also undertaking a review of the amount of 'critical habitat' in New Brunswick.
Madeline Parlee
M.Sc. Environmental Management
Madee is researching how the biological insecticide "Btk" (used to control spruce budworm) changes avian diet. This biocide is used as part of an Early Intervention Strategy in managing NB's forests. She is capturing individuals of several focal species (budworm-linked warblers) and using DNA metabarcoding to determine diet pre- and post-spray. She is also estimating relative reproductive success in those same sites. Her work is in direct partnership and collaboration with the Healthy Forest Partnership and Natural Resources Canada.
Dani Warren
M.Sc. Forestry
Co-supervised with Chris Edge at Canadian Forest Service
Dani's research asks: What are the spatiotemporal patterns of co-occurrence of woodpeckers and Eastern Gray Treefrogs (Dryophytes versicolor)? In particular, she seeks to determine the cavity characteristics that Eastern Gray Treefrogs prefer, and which woodpecker species Eastern Gray Treefrogs most associate with (at their northeastern range extent).