Assessing the risk of climate change and anthropogenic stressors to Arctic seabirds in northern Hudson Bay

I am a Postdoctoral Fellow at McGill University and Environment and Climate Change Canada, studying the effects of climate change and anthropogenic stressors on Arctic seabirds in the northern Hudson Bay ecosystem. I completed my PhD in Biological Sciences at the University of Manitoba and Fisheries and Oceans Canada. My PhD research was part of a community-based monitoring program in partnership with Indigenous communities in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region, and focused on the interrelationships of prey, body condition, and diving physiology of beluga whales as a sentinel species of environmental change in the Beaufort Sea ecosystem. My current careers goals are to work on research projects in partnership with northern communities on the impacts of climate change and multiple stressors on top predators and Arctic marine ecosystems. In 5 years, I would like to be an assistant professor at a Canadian University.For my postdoctoral research, I am examining the impacts of multiple stressors on thick-billed murres, including contaminants, warming temperatures, and changes in prey availability. My current research has demonstrated that variation in contaminants is affected by the prey and habitat use of murres, and possibly environmental factors such as sea ice concentrations. By working in interdisplinary networks such as MEOPAR and ArcticNet, I would be able to collaborate with experts working in different fields within the Northern Hudson Bay region. As I am interested in modeling the impacts of multiple stressors, my project would benefit from the knowledge of experts researching ship traffic, sea ice, and oceanography in Arctic marine systems, which may also influence the movements and contaminants of seabird populations. As murres are an important harvest to communities in Greenland, Newfoundland and Labrador, I hope to develop collaborative opportunities and communicate my research with northern Indigenous communities, particularly in the Kivalliq Region of Nunavut.