Collaboration is key

Class of 2009: Dalnews profiles some of the 2,700 graduates who'll walk across the stage of the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium during Spring Convocation, May 19 to 27.

Anna Calvert

Anna Calvert is taking on the considerable challenge of Canadian wildlife conservation, new PhD in hand.

She notes that “climate change” is often thrown around as a threat to many aspects of life on Earth, yet surprisingly little is known about which life forms may be most vulnerable to the impending changes. Her PhD thesis examines that question using her studies of migratory songbirds and mathematical models to assess how important weather and climate are to the decisions they make while migrating. Improving the design for modeling mark-recapture data, she found that songbirds will respond to both broad climatic patterns and to local-scale weather variation, but that shorter-distance migrants may respond more readily to weather changes. This leaves longer-distance migrants potentially more vulnerable in the future.

While her academic work keeps her busy, her favourite non-academic aspect of life in Nova Scotia is the easy access to hundreds of quiet, beautiful lakes. Over the last four-and-a-half years, she has spent as much time as possible canoeing and camping around the province with her husband and dog. “The rocky landscapes, abundant cranberries and peaceful campsites gave me the energy I needed to fuel my studies,” she says.

Collaboration has been a key element of her academic success at Dal. “I really benefited from the support, collaboration and friendship of a great network of fellow grad students and professors,” she says. “One of the biggest things I’ve learned during the course of my PhD studies is that collaboration with others in similar or complementary fields of study is key to effective, efficient and enjoyable research.”

As to the future, Ms. Calvert wants to remain involved in conservation research for Canadian wildlife, and specifically hopes to use her quantitative modeling skills to develop improved population projections and targeted conservation plans. “I hope to do some post-doctoral research for a few years, and then to lead into work with the federal government related to declining or endangered populations of birds or other wildlife at risk,” she adds, taking up the conservation challenge with a renewed vigour and optimism for the future.