Shannon & Mae involved in fisher reintroduction.

Our dynamic-duo fisher team (Mae and Shannon) have been actively involved in helping reintroduce a set of fisher kits orphaned through the death of the mother (fortunately,Shannon’s radio-telemetry work on the mother had previously revealed where the kits were stationed). The BC Wildlife Park has played an important role in this as well, housing the kits and helping prepare them for a life back in the forest. See this article for more information.

https://www.100milefreepress.net/news/orphaned-fisher-kits-return-to-wild-in-south-cariboo-7617634

Rulon Clark visits

From Oct 2-5, Dr. Rulon Clark, San Diego State University rattlesnake researcher, travelled to TRU to give a seminar, and spend quite a bit of time talking to members of our lab about his work, students’ work, and mutual interests. The day after his presentation a number of us took him in the field for a brisk cool den visit, and despite the weather not being terribly cooperative, we did manage to see a total of 10 rattlesnake ‘stragglers’, probably making a last push to get to the safe confines of their dens.

Canadian Herpetological Society – Sidney 2024

In September, current and former members of our lab met in Sidney, BC (on Vancouver Island – NOT THAT Sydney). It was a great meeting so kudos to the organizers. Karl delivered the Plenary Talk, and Chloe, Kara, Lindsay and Caroline presented as well. Recent lab grad Jade joined up with us too. Pictured below from L –> R, Kara, Chloe, Karl, Jade and Lindsay.

Jean Jay from Taiwan visits

Dr. Jean-Jay Mao, Assistant Professor from National Ilan University in Taiwan, visited our White Lake study site this week. Jean-Jay studies snakes in Taiwan, so he took the opportunity to go out and see our BC species. Summer techs Jenna and Robin were there to show him around in the 40 C heat, but thanks to our telemetered animals, Jean-Jay was able to get some sightings in.

June 2024 starts off with a bang

Two big events in our lab unfolded during the first week of June. First off, Chloe received the TRU Master’s Medal in Environmental Science as top graduate in the program, with her thesis on rattlesnake movements and juvenile ecology. Two days later, Jade successfully defended her thesis on the road ecology of the community of snakes at our White Lake study site. Congrats to both!

String of successful defenses

We’ve had a series of very successful defenses in the past few months. Chloe, Rory and Camille (pictured above) all completed their MSc degrees in fine fashion. Volunteering their time to act as external examiners were Dr. Jackie Litzgus (Laurentian U.), Dr. Cole Burton (UBC) and Dr. Lisa Shipley Washington State U.), respectively – a big thanks to them. Congratulations to all three of our lab mates who have now moved on to new things.

Number 27.

Number 27

In September we conducted our 27th consecutive year of small mammal live-trapping at our three long-term study blocks. This work largely is powered by the senior undergraduate students in the Natural Resource Science program. This year, however, Kara from our lab played a leader role in coordination, and used the opportunity to put out radio-collars as part of her research on deer mice and voles. Afterwards there was a combination pancake breakfast – trap bleaching session at Karl’s house.
Lot’sa fun.

A couple big accomplishments in the lab.

Two big accomplishments in the lab to report: On September 27, 2023, Chloe defended her thesis on “Western Rattlesnake Migration and Habitat Use in British Columbia, Canada”. One of her chapters already appears in print (see Can. J. Zool. https://doi.org/10.1139/cjz-2022-0173). Also on the rattlesnake front, Veronica took top prize for student presentations (15-minute category) at the 2023 Canadian Herpetological Society annual meeting in Ottawa. Her talk was entitled “Intra- and interspecific hibernation site selection of three sympatric snake species”. Congrats to both of them for helping keep rattlesnakes at the forefront 🙂