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| Murray M. Humphries | Research | People | Research Equipment | Pictures | Collaborators & Funding |
| Research
Interests & Approaches In general, our research explores how environment, physiology and behaviour influence the abundance, distribution, and coexistence of mammal populations. Our research is conducted both in the lab and in the field, often in collaboration with northern communities or one of our many partners (Click here to visit our Collaborators & Funding Section). One of our research focuses is on energetics (the process by which animals acquire and assimilate energy from the environment, and allocate assimilated energy between maintenance, growth, and reproduction). We firmly believe that understanding the ecological implications of energetics ultimately requires field studies that integrate measures of energy intake and expenditure, under conditions of known resource availability, and in situations where behaviour, survival and reproductive success can be documented. Another of our research focuses is on understanding, predicting and monitoring environmental change impacts on northern wildlife and traditional food security in Canada. On-going Research Projects **Click on project titles for details** Wildlife Energetics Kluane Red Squirrel Project  We are interested in the many energetic linkages between red squirrels' environment, metabolism, reproduction, and behaviour. We maintain an active, long-term collaboration with Stan Boutin (Alberta), Andrew McAdam (Guelph), John Speakman (Aberdeen) and colleagues in investigating the ecology of a free-ranging population of red squirrels in Kluane, Yukon (Kluane Red Squirrel Project). Red squirrels are interesting because they are small, live in cold places, and rely on a boom and bust food supply, but yet do not hibernate. Kluane red squirrels provide a unique opportunity to identify the energetic solutions to these environmental challenges within a well-quantified resource, life history, and fitness context. Representative Publications
Emily Studd (MSc) Former Graduate Students Devan Archibald (MSc), Quinn Fletcher (PhD), Elad Ben-Ezra (MSc), Sarah Woods (MSc) and Tricia Kerr (MSc) Former Co-Supervised Graduate Student Meghan Larivee (MSc; S Boutin, Alberta) Nature Conservancy Chipmunk Project  We are interested in the energetics of resource anticipation, acquisition and amplification in eastern chipmunks. We work with Denis Reale (UQAM), Fanie Pelletier (Sherbrooke), and Dany Garant (Sherbrooke) to study, in the eastern townships of Quebec (Nature Conservancy), the behavioural, physiological, and genetic responses of a free-ranging population of eastern chipmunks to natural and artificial resource variation. Chipmunks are particularly interesting from an energetic viewpoint because, as a food-hoarding hibernator, they have incredible energetic flexibility that they use to deal with extreme natural variability in resource abundance. This collaboration provides a unique opportunity to assess correlations between metabolic and behavioural traits, and how these traits independently and collectively influence free-ranging populations. Related Publications
Manuelle Landry-Cuerrier (MSc) Former Co-Supervised Graduate Student Vincent Careau (PhD; D Thomas, Sherbrooke) Captive Wildlife Facility 
This facility, allowing us to combine field and captive approaches in our research on energetics and ecophysiology, is located on Macdonald campus. It is equipped with 30 individual cages consisting of one compartment held within a controlled environmental chamber and connected to another compartment at natural outside temperatures and photoperiod. In the same facility, there is a flow-through respirometry system available to measure metabolic rate of captive animals. It is now operational, hosting eastern chipmunks during the hibernation period. Our current design tries to encourage natural behaviours and examine physiological and behavioural consequences of torpor expression in eastern chipmunks Current Graduate Student Marianne Gagnon (MSc) Former Graduate Student Amy Thompson (MSc) Environmental Change, Wildlife & Traditional Food Security  In collaboration with northern partners and indigenous communities, we are interested in understanding, predicting and monitoring impacts of environmental change on traditional food and furbearing mammal species. Working with Laurie Chan (UNBC), Colin Scott (McGill), Stan Boutin (Alberta), and Dominique Berteaux (UQAR), our approach combines community-based participatory research with studies of climatic and environmental determinants of the distribution and abundance of species. Related Publications
Former Co-Supervised Graduate Students Wemindji Beaver and Furbearer Project  We work with the Cree Nation of Wemindji (near James Bay, Quebec) and the Wemindji Cree Trappers Association, as part of the Paakumshumwaau-Wemindji Protected Area Project, to better understand environmental determinants of local traditonal food and furbearing species abundance, with a particular focus on the beaver. With the collaboration of Wemindji Cree trappers and community members, who have provided beaver tissue samples and guided us in the field, we are investigating beaver's diet and population structure using DNA and isotope analyses, and also estimating local wildlife abundance using simple winter snowtracking surveys. Related Publications
Current Graduate Student Former Graduate Student  As part of the YNNK IPY project on environmental change and traditional use of the Old Crow Flats (OCF), near Old Crow, Yukon, we work with a mutlidisciplinary research team including the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation (VGFN). In particular, we are studying the distribution and abundance of wildlife in relation with environmental change and traditional food security. In close collaboration with Yukon Environment, North Yukon Renewable Resource Council, VGFN Government and with the Old Crow community, we are involved in monitoring moose movements in and out of OCF using telemetry, estimating muskrat abundance by doing aerial surveys and in developing a community-based muskrat carcass collection program to monitor muskrat condition and genetic relatedness. Current Graduate Students Pond Inlet Narwhal Project  As part of The Narwhal Expedition, we collaborate with the Mittimatalik Hunters and Trappers Organization, with Marie Auger-Méthé and Hal Whitehead at Dalhousie University, and with Polar Sea Adventures, to study and monitor narwhal populations in northern Canada. We use visual observation, photo-identification and acoustic recording to investigate narwhal movements and social behaviour in relation with environmental change and increased shipping traffic. Related Publication
Marianne Marcoux (PhD) |
Created: November 2005
Last Updated: January 2012
