Stephen Insley, PhD
Steve is the Western Arctic Program Director with WCS Canada, and leads all of our work in the western Canadian Arctic. Steve is also an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Biology at the University of Victoria.
William Halliday, PhD
Bill is the Arctic Acoustics Program Lead with WCS Canada, and leads the acoustic analyses of our Arctic Noise project. Bill manages our major projects on underwater noise, including both Canada Nature Fund for Aquatic Species at risk projects focused on bowhead whales and ringed seals. Bill is also an Adjunct Professor in the School of Earth and Ocean Sciences at the University of Victoria.
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Maya Chartier Maya is the Arctic Wildlife Technician for WCS Canada, and focused mainly on our ringed seal projects, including field work to help understand the impacts of underwater noise on ringed seals |
Matthew Pine, PhD
Matt is a collaborator with WCS Canada and the University of Victoria, and was previously a Mitacs Elevate post doctoral fellow. Matt has worked with our acoustic data to find sounds made by Arctic fish, and has also been modeling the noise footprints of ships traveling through the ISR. Matt is currently focused on modeling ship noise in bowhead whale areas and near communities in Nunavut, which we will use a case study for applying management measures for reducing underwater noise.
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Najeem Shajahan, PhD Najeem is a post doctoral fellow with WCS Canada (supervised by William Halliday). Najeem's research is focused on measuring source levels of vessels from passive acoustic data collected in the Arctic, starting with all of WCS Canada's datasets. |
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Alex Hare, PhD Alex is a Mitacs Elevate post doctoral fellow with WCS Canada and the University of Victoria (co-supervised by William Halliday and Stan Dosso). Alex's research is focused on understanding the vocal repertoire of bowhead whales in the western Canadian Arctic, as well as the exposure of bowheads to vessel noise and how they may change their vocalizations in response to vessel noise. |
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Annie Loosen, PhD Annie is a post doctoral fellow with WCS Canada (supervised by William Halliday and Stephen Insley). Annie's research focused on the spatial ecology of ringed seals and bowhead whales, particularly focused on the spring-time distribution of these species in the Amundsen Gulf using aerial surveys and other methods. |
Annika Heimrich
Annika is a PhD student in the Department of Biology at the University of Victoria (co-supervised by Francis Juanes and William Halliday), and is supported by a Mitacs Accelerate PhD fellowship with WCS Canada as a partner organization. Annika will be using WCS Canada acoustic data to study the marine soundscape and species distributions in the western Canadian Arctic. Annika's fellowship is part of our Canada Nature Fund for Aquatic Species at Risk grant on bowhead whales.
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Deborah Sharpe Debbie is a PhD student in the Department of Biology at the University of Victoria (co-supervised by Francis Juanes and Stephen Insley), and is supported by a Mitacs Accelerate PhD fellowship with WCS Canada as a partner organization. Debbie is studying the impacts of underwater noise from vessels on ringed seal movement behaviour. Debbie's fellowship is part of our Canada Nature Fund for Aquatic Species at Risk grant to study ringed seals. Karlee Zammit Karlee is a MSc student in the School of Earth and Ocean Sciences at the University of Victoria (co-supervised by Stan Dosso and William Halliday), and is supported by a Mitacs Accelerate PhD fellowship with WCS Canada as a partner organization. Karlee is developing a deep learning detector for the vocalizations of ringed seals, which our project will then use to study ringed seals within our passive acoustic data. Karlee's fellowship is part of our Canada Nature Fund for Aquatic Species at Risk grant to study ringed seals. Mariana Barbosa Mariana is a PhD student in the School of Earth and Ocean Sciences at the University of Victoria (co-supervised by Stan Dosso and William Halliday), and is supported by a Mitacs Accelerate PhD fellowship with WCS Canada as a partner organization. Mariana is studying the impacts of underwater noise from vessels on ringed seal vocal behaviour, and is also focused on ringed seal bioacoustics in the WCS Canada passive acoustic data. Mariana's fellowship is part of our Canada Nature Fund for Aquatic Species at Risk grant to study ringed seals. |
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Juliana Moron Juliana is a PhD student in the School of Earth and Ocean Sciences at the University of Victoria (co-supervised by Stan Dosso and William Halliday), and is supported by a DFO research grant in partnership with Nigel Hussey at the University of Windsor. Juliana's project focuses on analyzing passive acoustic data collected in conservation areas in southern Baffin Bay, and she will assess spatial and temporal patterns in use by different marine mammals, particularly narwhal, as well as the exposure of these marine mammals to vessel noise. |
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Cierra Hart
Cierra is an NSERC USRA student, soon to be MSc student, in the School of Earth and Ocean Sciences at the University of Victoria (co-supervised by Stan Dosso and William Halliday). Cierra is studying patterns in the acoustic presence of bearded seals across all of WCS Canada's acoustic datasets in the western Canadian Arctic. A major goal for this project is to provide updated distribution data for bearded seals, which can be used for forthcoming assessments of this species. |
Past Members
Morgan Martin, PhD
Morgan is a Mitacs Accelerate post doctoral fellow with WCS Canada and the University of Victoria (supervised by Francis Juanes and William Halliday). Morgan is examining the impact of ship traffic on whales (especially bowhead whales) in the Canadian Arctic, as part of our Canada Nature Fund for Aquatic Species at Risk grant on bowhead whales.
Niki Diogou, PhD
Niki is a Mitacs Accelerate post doctoral fellow with WCS Canada and the University of Victoria (supervised by Stan Dosso and William Halliday). Niki is conducting a large bioacoustic analysis for bowhead whales and other species in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region, with the explicit goal of delineating the spatial and temporal distribution of bowheads in this region. Niki's fellowship is part of our Canada Nature Fund for Aquatic Species at Risk grant on bowhead whales.
WCS Canada
Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) Canada uses a unique blend of on-the-ground scientific research and policy action to help protect wildlife across Canada. Our scientists are leaders in developing solutions to address conservation challenges, from the impacts of climate change on wildlife and wild areas to the cumulative effects of resource development and other human impacts. We work in some of the wildest corners of Canada to build a scientific case for the conservation of globally important wild area. We combine insights gained from our “muddy boots” fieldwork with a big-picture conservation vision to speak up for species such as caribou, wolverine, bats, bison, freshwater fish and marine mammals. WCS Canada is part of the WCS global network, which has conservation programs in more than 60 countries. www.wcscanada.org
Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) Canada uses a unique blend of on-the-ground scientific research and policy action to help protect wildlife across Canada. Our scientists are leaders in developing solutions to address conservation challenges, from the impacts of climate change on wildlife and wild areas to the cumulative effects of resource development and other human impacts. We work in some of the wildest corners of Canada to build a scientific case for the conservation of globally important wild area. We combine insights gained from our “muddy boots” fieldwork with a big-picture conservation vision to speak up for species such as caribou, wolverine, bats, bison, freshwater fish and marine mammals. WCS Canada is part of the WCS global network, which has conservation programs in more than 60 countries. www.wcscanada.org
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We stand for wildlife
www.wcscanada.org |