Ecology Everywhere

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. Growing up, Samy was a huge fan of shark week, but did not really see many female representation in shark science. Being a former basketball player, she did not shy away from the potential challenge it could be to pave her way in the field. But it would not take long for Samy to realize that she was not alone. During an undergraduate internship in South Africa, she met with a female Canadian scientist who was running the project and whose team was mainly composed of women. A similar situation also arose during a research project in the Bahamas. With the PhD being the next step for Samy, we are not done hearing about sharks and conservation.  If you would like to get in touch with Samy, send us an email at ecologypodcast@gmail.com Twitter: @SamSavesSharks

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. Anne-Sophie spends most of her free time doing science communication work with different organisations like 500 Women Scientists MTL, Symposium for Women Entering Ecology and Evolution Today (SWEEET), The Beagle from Quebec Centre for Biodiversity Science (QCBS) and ComSciCon-QC.  Twitter: @AnneSoCaron If you would like to get in touch with Anne-Sophie Caron by any other means, feel free to message us at: ecologyeverywherepodcast@gmail.com

Episode 11 of the Ecology Everywhere Podcast. This week we’re talking about life history strategies, domestication of dogs, and animal development. Geiger, M., Evin, A., Sanchez-Villagra, M.R., Gascho, D., Mainini, C., Zollikofer, C.P.E. (2017) Neomorphosis and heterochrony of skull shape in dog domestication. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-12582-2 Join the conversation at wildarun.com! Background soundscapes provided by the National Park Service.

Episode 9 of the Ecology Podcast. This week we’re talking about how we define a species and how it impacts conservation. Zachos, F. E. (2014) Taxonomic inflation, the Phylogenetic Species Concept and lineages in the Tree of Life – a cautionary comment on species splitting. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/jzs.12088 Join the conversation at wildarun.com! Background soundscapes provided by the National Park Service.

Episode 7 of the Ecology Everywhere Podcast. This week we’re talking about the history of evolutionary theory and the debate between natural selection and group selection. Traulsen, A., Nowak, M.A., (2006) Evolution of cooperation by multilevel selection. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0602530103 Join the conversation at wildarun.com! Background soundscapes provided by the National Park Service.

Episode 5 of the Ecology Podcast. This week we’re talking about decomposition and nutrient cycling, how we define “natural,” and impacts on biodiversity. Mlambo, M.C., Paavola, R., Fritze, H., Louhi, P., Muotka, T. (2019) Leaf litter decomposition and decomposer communities in streams affected by intensive forest biomass removal. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X19300512 Join the conversation at wildarun.com! Background soundscapes provided by the National Park Service.

Episode 3 of the Ecology Everywhere Podcast. This week we’re talking about organism adaptations to the environment, statistical significance, and making decisions in research. Delić, T., Trontelj, P., Zakšek, V., Fišer, C. (2015) Biotic and abiotic determinants of appendage length evolution in a cave amphipod. https://zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jzo.12318 Join the conversation at wildarun.com! Background soundscapes provided by the National Park Service.

Episode 1 of The Ecology Everywhere Podcast, hosted by Arun Dayanandan, Charles Plaisir, and Kyle Grant. In this episode we talk about who we are, what got us interested in ecology, and where we hope to take the show. Join the conversation at wildarun.com!