Annual OCTWS Conference & General Meeting

Our 2023 conference will be a hybrid format with in-person events held in Peterborough

Program

Important Dates 

Call for abstracts & student travel awards
open now

Abstract & student travel awards due
February 3rd, 2023

Registration opens
February 10th, 2023

Deadline to book a room at the Holiday Inn at a discounted rate
​February 24th, 2023 
Tentative Schedule: 
Friday, March 24th
Analysis/R workshops (hybrid)
Movement Ecology (2 hours)
Mark-Recap using JAGS (2 hours)
Stable isotopes (2 hours)

Saturday, March 25th 
Methods in Wildlife Research Plenary (in person & live-streamed)
Dr. Erica Nol - Trent University
Philip DeWitt - OMNRF
 Jessica Linton - Natural Resource Solutions Inc.

Contributed Paper Presentations (in person & live-streamed)
Student Posters (in person & virtual) 
Banquet dinner (in-person)
Student Presentation Awards (in-person)
Student-Professional Mixer (in-person)

Sunday, March 26th 
OCTWS Annual General Meeting (in-person & live-streamed)
Keynote Speaker (in-person & live-streamed)
Dr. Brad Fedy - Univeristy of Waterloo ​

Contributed Talks

deadline to submit: Friday, February 3rd by midnight

Registration

Coming soon!

PAnel SPeakers

Specialized field methods for studying cryptic species at risk
Jessica Linton, M.E.S.
Natural Resource Solutions Inc
Jessica Linton is a Senior Biologist and Environmental Consultant at Natural Resource Solutions Inc. in Waterloo, ON.  Her consulting work is varied and involves overseeing Environmental Impact Studies, Environmental Assessments, Natural Heritage Studies, and specialized wildlife surveys and monitoring programs.  A large portion of Jessica's work is focused on species at risk as as part of this work she has been appointed as a member of the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) Arthropod Species Specialist Subcommittee and as Chair of the Ontario Butterfly Species at Risk Recovery Team.  
How do they get from point A to point B? A brief review of movement ecology in birds
Erica Nol, PhD
​Trent University
​I started my ornithological career surveying waterfowl during winter along a river in southeastern Michigan, as part of my Bachelor's degree. This led me to work for Dr. Ricky Dunn on nesting Black Terns at Long Point, ON, where I also helped with the bird banding operation there. I was introduced to banding shorebirds by Michael Bradstreet, a well- known local biologist who taught me how to catch Killdeer on the nest.  That experience gave me the opportunity to band and mark shorebirds in large numbers in James Bay with Dr. Guy Morrison. I then worked as a consultant one summer where I had the privilege of traveling, for the first time, to the Canadian Arctic, where I was delighted and intrigued by the aerial displays of breeding shorebirds and their habitats. I was hooked on both the arctic and breeding shorebirds. I conducted my master's thesis research on Killdeer and then my Ph.D. research on American Oystercatchers. I conducted work on Killdeer and Snipe for a post-doctoral project, as well as a range of breeding shorebirds nesting in and around Churchill, MB, a hot spot for shorebird diversity because of its mix of habitat from boreal to tundra. After my appointment at Trent University in Peterborough, ON, I started my long-term study on Semipalmated Plovers and have been engaged in over 30 years of research and graduate teaching in various arctic and sub-arctic locations and on several species. Much of this work has been in collaboration with other shorebird researchers who have greatly enhanced my understanding and contributed to my fondness for this interesting (and now declining) group of birds! My long-term study on Semipalmated Plovers has moved from their breeding to their migratory and non-breeding areas including Brazil, Venezuela, Suriname, French Guiana and Cuba. Shorter term studies on Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus), Dunlin (Calidris alpina), Red-necked Phalaropes, and other species have focussed on understanding how current and future habitat changes will alter their probability of success, movements and persistence across their annual cycles. 
 
Camera traps: a wealth of information amid a bestiary of challenges 
​Philip DeWitt
Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry
​Philip DeWitt is a Senior Biologist with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry. His work primarily focuses on quantifying ecological relationships between wildlife, habitat, climate, and human activities using a combination of empirical and simulation methods. His areas of specialization include wildlife ecology, applied statistics, data analysis, and landscape-scale monitoring. Phil has worked in both the private and public sectors, and currently leads the technical design and delivery of various provincial wildlife monitoring programs for the Ministry’s Science and Research Branch.

Keynote speaker

Developing model complexity in the analysis of wildlife data
Brad Fedy, PhD
University of Waterloo
​Dr. Fedy is an Associate Professor at the University of Waterloo. His research examines the factors that influence the fitness of animal populations at multiple scales–from genes to landscapes. Much of the research in his lab emerges from important conservation issues; however, they also endeavour to answer general ecological questions to improve concepts and theory in ecology and evolution. Research in his lab focuses on wildlife questions examining habitat selection, landscape genetics, population trends, and social behaviour. This has led to expertise in multiple field-based methodologies including, animal capture and handling,  wildlife survey techniques, telemetry, camera-traps, and drones. His research uses multiple analytical approaches applied to both empirical and simulated data. He has published using non-linear modeling, Bayesian approaches, mixed-models, circuit theory, machine learning, multivariate statistics, and  landscape genetic analyses. Dr. Fedy also teaches a graduate-level methods class that surveys both qualitative and quantitative methods.  

Workshops

Friday, March 24th  |  Advance registration required   |  Space limited

Workshop descriptions are available here
Introduction to movement ecology in R 
Jed Long, PhD
​Dr Jed Long is an Associate Professor of GIScience in the Department of Geography & Environment at Western University. His research focuses on the quantitative and computational aspects of analyzing movement data – in both human and wildlife systems. He is the co-author of the (forthcoming) chapter ‘Spatial Analysis of Wildlife Movements’ in the upcoming 9th edition of The Wildlife Techniques Manual. He also developed the wildlifeDI R package which is widely used for studying spatial-temporal interactions in wildlife tracking data. He and his team have worked on a wide range of movement ecology applications ranging from understanding impacts of outdoor recreation activity on wildlife to global migrations of birds.
Introduction to stable isotope assignment in R 
Jackson Kusak, MSc
I’m a PhD candidate at Western University, in London Ontario where I live with my partner and two (indoor) cats. So far in my graduate research I have focused on birds (American Black Ducks, Barn Swallows, and House Finches), but my primary career goal is the conservation of Canadian wildlife in general. For my current PhD research, I use stable isotopes and band returns to better understand the connectivity of waterfowl populations in the Great Lakes. 
Introduction to Bayesian analysis of mark-recapture data 
Simon Boner, PhD
coming soon 

Venue

In person events will be held at the Holiday Inn - Waterfront 
 150 George St N, Peterborough, ON
Accommodations can be booked at a discounted rate until February 24th 

Sponsors

​Gold Tier

Respectful Conduct ​
​We are committed to fostering a welcoming and inclusive community. Unacceptable behaviour includes any discrimination, harassment, or verbal remarks related to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, disabilities, or physical or mental health. Any harassment, discrimination, unwanted interest, or any behaviour that makes an attendee of this conference feel uncomfortable will not be tolerated. We are always here to learn and support you - if you have felt uncomfortable for any reason during this event, please email us.