The Prairie University Biology Symposium (PUBS 2015) takes place at UWinnipeg from February 19-21, 2015 at at the Richardson College for the Environment, 599 Portage Avenue. PUBS is an annual conference that is organized “by students for students” and attracts undergraduates, MSc and PhD candidates, from across the prairies.
This year’s invited speakers are UWinnipeg’s Dr. Annette Trimbee, Dr. Susan Lingle and Dr. Stephen Petersen, (Head of Conservation and Research, Assiniboine Zoo).
“This is a great event and a fantastic way to showcase research being done by UWinnipeg students.
This symposium is two days of oral presentations with a poster session on Friday, February 20. It concludes with a dinner on Saturday, February 21. This year the symposium will showcase research of undergraduate and graduate students from nine Canadian prairie universities. This symposium attracts a wide range of research presented by students. PUBS encourages participants to network with other students and professors and engage in intellectual discussions to stimulate future academic relationships and collaborations.
Quinn Webber, UWinnipeg MSc student, Bioscience, Technology and Public Policy program student + Chairperson of PUBS 2015
“The students involved in organizing PUBS on campus feel this conference is important and relevant,” said Quinn Webber, UWinnipeg MSc student, Bioscience, Technology and Public Policy program student + Chairperson of PUBS 2015. “This symposium is an excellent opportunity to showcase the research currently being conducted by talented undergraduate and graduate students. In addition, it also gives them the opportunity to present their research in a comfortable and familiar environment which adds to the academic learning experience.”
UWinnipeg’s PUBS 2015 committee is made up of the following dedicated students (pursing a degree which is noted after their name); Sheena Manghera, MSc.(working with Dr. Renee Douville); Matthew Turnbull, MSc. (working with Dr. Renee Douville); Dylan Baloun, BSc. Honours (working with Dr. Craig Willis); Katie Florko, BSc Honours, (working with Dr. Stephen Petersen); and Jordan Min, BSc (Research Assistant with Dr. Anuraag Shrivastav).
Dr. Susan Lingle, photo supplied
Dr. Susan Lingle
Lingle teaches “Principles of Ecology” and “Evolution and Ecology of Mammals” at UWinnipeg. She she enjoys taking extremely enthusiastic students to Grasslands National Park and to the McIntyre Ranch during a field course called “Behavioural Ecology and the Prairie Grasslands”. Students in her lab currently conduct research into animal communication, deer mating systems, and predator-prey interactions.
Lingle started working with mule deer and white-tailed deer at the McIntyre Ranch in southern Alberta when doing fieldwork for her PhD (Zoology, Univ. of Cambridge, UK). She discovered that coyotes formed packs that hunt deer year-round, and was able to witness these hunts first-hand due to the open vistas of the prairie. Her research on predatorprey interactions has revealed how prey defences against predators (e.g.,fight versus flight) influence multiple aspects of their ecology, social behaviour and even their psychology. Much of her current research focuses on cross-species commonalities in emotional vocal communication, inspired by the distress vocalizations or cries that fawns emit when attacked by coyotes.
Dr. Stephen D. Petersen
Dr. Stephen Petersen
Petersen is the Head of Conservation and Research for Assiniboine Park Zoo. This department runs active field and zoo research programs from the labs and offices at the International Polar Bear Conservation Centre. Stephen completed his B.Sc. at the University of Alberta before moving to Nova Scotia to study the phylogenetics of southern flying squirrels for his M.Sc. He continued his education at Trent University where he studied population genetics of Arctic mammals as part of his Ph.D. Following his doctoral research, Stephen moved to Winnipeg to work at the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada on the genetics of Arctic marine mammals. Stephen joined Assiniboine Park Zoo in 2011 to start the new Conservation and Research Department and has been building a research program focused on Arctic marine mammals but also a diversity of other species that are held at the Zoo. In the last several years, his students have studied polar bear denning habitat using Traditional Ecological Knowledge, the population genetics of bearded seals, ringed seals, and polar bear, and haul-out use in Hudson Bay harbour seals.
For more information please visit The Prairie University Biology Symposium (PUBS 2015).
UWinnipeg’s Richardson College is establishing itself as a centre of excellence in applied research and policy in the area of climate change, including climate change mitigation and adaptation. Working in co-operation with government, industry and leading environmental organizations, faculty and staff associated with the Richardson College are attracting research funding for projects that lead to relevant policy development and real world solutions.
