The EcoEvo Retreat is a conference that gives graduate students, undergrads, and post-docs the opportunity to share their research in ecology and evolutionary biology. Participating institutions include the University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University and the University of Victoria. The 2013 conference took place November 1–3 at the Cheakamus Centre, in Brackendale BC, near Squamish.
Keynote speaker Dr. Julia Baum talked about “Ecological & Mental Resilience,” offering her insights on how to thrive in a science career. Some of her advice included the following: be persistent; recognize that your time is valuable; guard your integrity; and engage in science outreach. Slides from the keynote talk are available by clicking here.
Several UVic participants gave presentations related to the ocean. Easton White, a Fulbright Scholar visiting at UVic, and working with the Baum Lab, gave a presentation on modelling demographic stochasticity in lemon sharks. James Robinson, also at the Baum Lab, presented results on the relationship between species richness, sampling effort, and estimates of species evenness. Dr. Brett Favaro, a Liber Ero postdoctoral fellow, gave a talk titled “Putting the Freeze on bycatch in the Canadian Arctic”, and presented his plans for studying Arctic Fisheries and finding ways of limiting bycatch. Cameron Freshwater, of the Juanes Lab, talked about his research on body size, growth and migration in juvenile Sockeye Salmon.
Cayla Naumann of the Hintz Lab presented her master’s thesis research on genetic diversity in Saprolegnia parasitica at aquaculture facilities in British Columbia. Marie Vance, a doctoral student, presented her work on genetic variation in subalpine larch (Larix lyallii). Both Cayla and Marie are at the Centre for Forest Biology. Dr. John Taylor (of the Taylor Lab) spoke about the genetics of colour-blindness in Neanderthals.
Ocean Networks Canada learning team member Allan Roberts presented on using Ocean Networks Canada data as a tool for developing data analysis skills, through workshops held at the University of Victoria. One of the themes of the presentation was that data from our observatories can be made relevant across many different disciplines, when the data are used to develop skills that students and researchers are interested in learning. (See previous Learning Blog posts to read about recent data workshops that have been held at UVic.) Furthermore, it was mentioned that online access to Ocean Networks Canada data is free for students, researchers and the general public.
