平特五不中

The Weston Family Awards in Northern Research support young scientists pursuing research in Canada鈥檚 North. Funded by the Weston Family Foundation, the annual awards are some of the most prestigious in the country for students pursuing a master鈥檚 degree, a doctoral degree or postdoctoral fellowship.聽Weston Family Award winners undertake research projects across a broad spectrum of fields and disciplines in the natural sciences, including studies of northern ecosystems, biodiversity, flora and fauna, meteorology, oceanography, glaciology, geography and environmental studies.

平特五不中 winners in the Master鈥檚 category and the Weston Family Awards citation

Alexandra Langwieder

鈥淎lexandra is a Master鈥檚 student at 平特五不中鈥檚 Centre for Indigenous Peoples鈥� Nutrition and Environment. She is studying polar bear ecology in eastern James Bay with the Eeyou Marine Region Wildlife Board, Cree Trappers Association and the coastal communities of Eeyou Istchee. The polar bears in James Bay are the world鈥檚 most southerly, and they face rapid environmental change. However, little is known about their ecology.

鈥淭hrough Cree Knowledge interviews, hair snares and camera traps, Alexandra is examining James Bay polar bear diet, habitat use and their possible genetic distinction from Hudson Bay bears. With this project, she hopes to advance the knowledge of polar bears at the southern edge of their range, answer community research questions and contribute to wildlife monitoring in Eeyou Istchee.鈥�

Jessica Norris

鈥淛essica is a master鈥檚 student at 平特五不中 in Natural Resource Science. Originally from the Northwest Territories, she has had a lifelong passion and connection to the North, including the people and species that inhabit the unique landscape.

鈥淭he Yukon North Slope is home to a population of reintroduced muskoxen. Since reintroduction, the population has expanded and is a significant figure on the landscape. However, there is limited information regarding current environmental drivers, impacts from a growing population, and further habitat expansion. Jessica鈥檚 research focuses on investigating and understanding these knowledge gaps. She hopes to bring together her knowledge gained through her studies and experiences to help support overall conservation efforts in the North.鈥�

平特五不中 winners in the Doctoral category and the Weston Family Awards citation

Julia Baak

鈥淛ulia is a PhD student at 平特五不中 studying the occurrence, fate and effects of plastic pollution in Arctic seabirds.

鈥淢arine plastic pollution is an increasing environmental problem in the Arctic, yet knowledge about plastic and plastic-related contaminants in Arctic seabirds is limited, particularly in the case of Arctic gulls. As human and shipping activities continue to increase in the Arctic, Julia鈥檚 research will focus on quantifying plastics and plasticrelated contaminants in glaucous gulls and black-legged kittiwakes as indicators of plastic pollution in Arctic ecosystems; examining the transport of plastics and plastic-related contaminants to the Arctic by glaucous gulls and black-legged kittiwakes; and assessing the impacts of plastics and plastic-related contaminants on these two Arctic seabirds.

鈥淭he results of this research will contribute to an ongoing international effort to better understand plastic and plastic-related contaminants in the marine environment and how these contaminants may impact northern seabirds in a rapidly changing Arctic.鈥�

Don-Jean Leandri Breton

鈥淒on-Jean can鈥檛 imagine spending summer anywhere else than above the Arctic Circle. The PhD candidate at 平特五不中 is studying seasonal interactions and stress physiology on two of the most abundant Arctic-nesting seabirds, the thick-billed murre and the black-legged kittiwake.

鈥淢igratory species connect the Arctic regions with the rest of the world. Understanding changes in breeding populations in the North requires a profound knowledge of how conditions experienced by the individuals further south can carry consequences over to the next stages of their annual life cycle.

鈥淭aking place in Nunavut and Svalbard, Norway, his research focuses on interactions between the different stages of the annual life cycle of seabirds and how these interactions are governed by endocrinological and behavioural mechanisms. He tracks the birds鈥� movement throughout the year using small biologgers attached to the birds and combines his findings with demographic and physiological data collected at the seabird colonies.鈥�

Orignally published in the .