M. Sc.
My research interests include investigating the roles of and impacts on marine mammals in changing high-latitude or industrialized marine ecosystems. I have particular interest in the use and development of genetic methods to answer ecological questions and inform ecosystem-based management and conservation. My Ph.D. research aims to quantify the degree to which genetic factors, and inbreeding in particular, are influencing individual health and survival in North Atlantic right whales and St. Lawrence beluga whales. I will also quantify how individual effects combine to shape overall recovery potential at the population level and the degree to which inbreeding is limiting the recovery of these endangered species.