UNews - Samantha Krause

Campus Bird Checklist an open invitation to enjoy birding on campus spaces

trevor.kenney — Fri, 08 Oct 2021 17:22:48 +0000

With one of the most unique settings in Canadian post-secondary, the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge is home to an abundance of wildlife, not the least of which is an extremely robust population of birds. How many varieties and species of birds pass through campus aren’t known entirely but a new project by master’s student Samantha Krause, available to the public, provides bird lovers the opportunity to see the scope of just what’s out there.

Krause, at the behest of fellow birder Dr. Jennifer Mather (Department of Psychology) and with support from Agility and the Campus Ecology Project, has created a Campus Bird Checklist. From geese, swans and ducks to flycatchers and wood warblers, Krause has documented 135 different birds that, at various times, have made their way through campus.

“I'm not surprised actually, because in the Lethbridge area as a whole, over 300 bird species have been seen, so it is possible another 100-plus species have flown over campus at some point, they just haven't been seen or logged yet,” says Krause.

She utilizes the E-Bird software developed by the Cornell ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Lab of Ornithology as a means to document her sightings as well as draw on the huge database populated by fellow birders.

“It’s an app that is used all over the world,” she says. “It allows you to log the species you’ve seen and then includes metadata such as where you are, the time of year, how many birds you’re seeing and so on. Ornithologists can’t possibly do this sort of monitoring on such a vast scale — there aren't anywhere near enough of them. So, the birders who use this app play a key role in building and maintaining an online database that both they and scientists can use.”

Krause came to the U of L after completing an undergraduate degree in biology at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Northern British Columbia. She’s completing her master’s in psychology under the guidance of Dr. David Logue, studying the Adelaide’s Warbler (Setophaga adelaidae) species in Puerto Rico and trying to figure out why mated males and females sing duets with each other. The Campus Bird Checklist came as an idea from Mather while they were out birding one day.

Master's student Samantha Krause says campus is on migration route for multiple species.

“There are quite a few good birders who consistently go to campus and have been building a database of birds they’d seen. I went online, downloaded the database and used that as my starting point for what birds had been recently logged on campus and what time of year they were logged there,” she says.

She credits local birders Ken Orich, Teresa Dolman and David Scott as experts who reviewed her checklist and added a few historic sightings, including the Sprague’s pipit, before it went public.

Krause describes the Lethbridge area as a migration corridor for birds as they move from the boreal forest regions down to southern climates and back again, hence the proliferation of multiple species.

“There are just tons that breed in the boreal forest and they use the prairies as a migration path, so there are way more birds out there than people realize,” she says.

Of the new species she’s logged this year, she’s most excited about spotting a Lazuli Bunting.

Krause is eager to grow the birding culture in the city and with the Campus Bird Checklist, it’s a way to get more people on campus and excited about the natural setting that invites these varied species.

“We’re looking at possibly putting a field guide together as well. This checklist is more for birders who know what they are looking for and can record their findings but with a field guide, we’d have pictures of birds that people could look at and then try and find throughout campus,” she says. “I’m already starting to talk to my local birding gurus about that.”

The Campus Bird Checklist is available here.

Faculty and student researchers buoyed by NSERC funding

trevor.kenney — Wed, 17 Oct 2018 18:07:49 +0000

A diverse and comprehensive group of ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge researchers was awarded $1.98 million in funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) this week, part of $558 million in total funding to post-secondary researchers and students, the largest investment in research from NSERC this year.

Projects in chemistry & biochemistry, neuroscience, kinesiology & physical education, mathematics & computer science, environmental science, biology and psychology all received funding support.

In addition, eight graduate students received $336,000 in funding, further broadening the impact of the federal government’s investment in research activities at the U of L.

“Canada supports science and our talented researchers. We are delivering on our historic investment in research and in the next generation of scientists. These remarkable researchers and students we are celebrating are working to make the world a better place and to secure a brighter future for all Canadians,” says The Honourable Kirsty Duncan, Minister of Science and Sport.

Dr. Erasmus Okine, the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ’s vice-president (research) says he is impressed with the breadth of research being funded.

“It speaks to the level of activity we have going on throughout the institution, and the variety of issues our researchers and students are tackling,” says Okine. “This level of funding is a recognition by NSERC that our people are making a real difference through their research work and will continue to do so.”

Projects in chemistry & biochemistry, neuroscience, kinesiology & physical education, mathematics & computer science, environmental science, biology and psychology all received funding support. Dr. Robert Sutherland’s study in the Department of Neuroscience, Hippocampus and memory: A systems level approach, earned $285,000 over five years, the largest award of the funded projects.

Sutherland describes the hippocampus as being situated at the hub of a set of distributed cortical networks that represent movement and perceptual information. Amnesia is the most prominent effect of damage to or dysfunction of the hippocampus and most forms of human memory disorder involve the hippocampus.

“The current proposal examines, in detail, how the interactions between the hippocampus and other cortical networks establish long-term memories,” says Sutherland, director of the Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience. “We will discover exactly which types of information depend on the hippocampus and how the hippocampus modifies the functioning of the cortex through long-term interactions.”

Dr. Louise Barrett, Canada Research Chair in Cognition, Evolution and Behaviour and member of the U of L’s Department of Psychology, will receive $200,000 over five years (plus an accelerator supplement of $120,000 over three years) for her project, Behavioural Flexibility, Fertility and Social Network Influences in Human and Non-Human Primates.

In her work, Barrett aims to understand how evolutionary processes influence the behaviour of human and non-human primates.

“More specifically, I am interested in exploring those aspects that we share with other primate species, and those that make us different,” she says.

Other funded researchers include:

Dr. Matthew Tata, neuroscience; Dr. Steven Mosimann, chemistry & biochemistry; Dr. Marc Roussel, chemistry & biochemistry; Dr. Athanasios Zovoilis, chemistry & biochemistry; Dr. Marc Bomhof, kinesiology & physical education; Dr. John Anvik, mathematics & computer science; Dr. Alexey Popov, mathematics & computer science; Dr. David Euston, neuroscience; Dr. Sergio Pellis, neuroscience; Dr. Stephanus Henzi, psychology; Dr. Cameron Goater, biological sciences; Dr. Majid Mohajerani, neuroscience.

Graduate students who received funding include:

Elijah Dueck, chemistry & biochemistry; Lukas Grasse, neuroscience; Samantha Krause, psychology; Kailyn Nelson, environmental science; Candace Burke, neuroscience; Serena Jenkins, neuroscience; Justin Lee, neuroscience; Conner MacNeil, chemistry & biochemistry.

UNews - Samantha Krause

Campus Bird Checklist an open invitation to enjoy birding on campus spaces

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Faculty and student researchers buoyed by NSERC funding

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