Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

A recent study found that almost 15% of the world's approximately 10,000 species of birds are threatened with extinction due to climate change, habitat loss, overharvesting of food sources, and other human activities. The same is also true for many other species of animal. Developing plans to save these species requires us to understand the complex relationships that species have with their environment and the ways in which we affect them both directly and indirectly. Many ongoing studies are being conducted to monitor threatened species and new methods of following animals are being developed. For example, the Motus wildlife tracking system is a unique collaborative project lead by Birds Canada that allows tracking of small neo-tropical migrant birds that breed in Canada during the summer and spend the winters in Central and South America. Data produced from these studies are often very complex, and advanced statistical methods are required to model the uncertainty in natural systems, link what we observe in the data back to the natural world, and make decisions in the face of complexity. I develop and apply novel statistical methodology to analyse data from complex ecological studies and to help us to understand the behaviour of wild animals and the impacts we have on their populations. I work particularly closely with ornithologists collecting data about birds, but the methods I develop can be applied generally to species across the animal kingdom. My work is important because it contributes to our understanding of threatened species and ultimately helps to develop strong conservation plans that will help to protect the natural world.