 |
Axel Moehrenschlager
Head of the Centre for Conservation Research
Dr. Moehrenschlager joined the Calgary Zoo in 1999, following his PhD work at Oxford University's Wildlife Conservation Research Unit. His work focused on coyotes, red foxes, and on Canada's most endangered carnivore, the Swift Fox. He is a member of the World Conservation Union (IUCN) Canid and Reintroduction Specialist Groups, co-chair of the Canadian Swift Fox Recovery Team, and also sits on numerous conservation committees. Dr. Moehrenschlager is an Adjunct Associate Professor in the University of Calgary's Ecology Division and a Senior Research Associate Fellow at Oxford University's Department of Zoology. Previous field research on wood bison, wolves, red squirrels and peregrine falcons founded his strong interest in restoration ecology, which is reflected in all of the Centre's projects today.
|
Des Smith
Conservation Biologist
Dr. Smith is a New Zealander with over 14 years experience in conservation management. This includes having worked in translocation and field monitoring of takahe - the world’s rarest species of rail - in New Zealand’s remote Fiordland National Park. He has also worked with several other endangered New Zealand birds including kiwi and kaka. Dr. Smith did his MSc and PhD on ermine at Otago University. In New Zealand ermine are an invasive species and, as predators, are implicated in the decline of New Zealand’s native bird fauna. Dr. Smith’s doctoral work was the first ever investigation into ermine population dynamics in New Zealand’s alpine grasslands. Prior to joining the Centre for Conservation Research, Dr. Smith worked for the Department of Conservation (New Zealand’s parks service) developing national monitoring protocols for a variety of animal species. His work at the Centre for Conservation Research involves Northern Leopard Frogs, Whooping Cranes and Burrowing Owls.
|  |
 |
Natasha Lloyd
Endangered Species Researcher
Natasha graduated with a BSc in Zoology from the University of Calgary where her studies included predator-prey interactions between Western spruce budworm moths and various species of bats. Natasha joined the Centre for Conservation Research in 2003 and received the Centre's national Conservation Research Fellowship in 2004. She has assisted with many of the Centre's research initiatives including Northern Leopard Frogs, Vancouver Island Marmots, Burrowing Owls and the Centre's fundamental Reintroduction Research study. In 2006, Natasha received Wildlife Preservation Canada's prestigious New Noah scholarship. Through this scholarship she studied endangered species management at the Jersey Zoo's International Training Centre and then conducted 8 months of field work helping to save critically endangered Mauritius passerine species such as the Mauritius olive white eye and the Mauritius fody. Now back at the Centre, Natasha is beginning her Masters of Science in collaboration with the University of Calgary. Her studies will focus on developing a greater understanding of Black-tailed Prairie Dog ecology in Canada - an important component to ensuring the success of Black-footed Ferrets recovery efforts in our country.
|
Breana McKnight
Endangered Species Researcher
Breana was the recipient of the 2008 Canadian Conservation Research Fellowship. Breana has recently received two degrees from the University of Calgary, one in Ecology and the second with Honors in Primatology. Her extensive field experience has lead her to remote locations around the world, including studying howler monkeys in Belize, ecosystem dynamics in Kenya and community based conservation at the Wechiau Hippo Sanctuary in Ghana. Here at the Centre, Breana has been involved in several research projects including the study on Black-tailed Prairie Dogs in Grasslands National Park and the investigation of Northern Leopard Frog populations in Alberta. These projects have allowed Breana to gain valuable hands-on experience and expand her knowledge of conservation.
|  |
 | Abbey Camaclang
2009 Canadian Conservation Research Fellowship Recipient
Abbey joined the Centre for Conservation Research in April as the recipient of the 2009 Canadian Research Fellowship. Before joining the research team, Abbey obtained a Masters in Environmental Studies from Dalhousie University. Research for her Masters thesis focused on the conservation biology of endangered Blanding’s turtles in Nova Scotia. Before her Masters, Abbey received a BSc with Honours in Ecology from the University of Calgary. Currently, Abbey is involved with the Northern Leopard Frog and Black-tailed Prairie Dog research projects at the Centre. |
Tian Everest
Conservation Research Program Coordinator
After working with the Calgary Zoo in a number of capacities, Tian joined the Centre for Conservation Research in September of 2000. She received her B.Sc. from the University of Victoria in 1996 with a major in Biology and Environmental Science. Tian's diverse experiences range from observing and monitoring orca behaviour to teaching about alpine plant ecology. She has studied health parameters in mountain bluebirds and is currently evaluating burrow selection of one of Canada's smallest birds of prey, the burrowing owl. In addition to leading fund development initiatives and providing support for projects within the Centre, Tian coordinates the Zoo's Biological Research Review Panel for external scientists proposing to conduct research involving the Zoo. She is also a member of Canada's Black-footed Ferret and Black-tailed Prairie Dog Recovery Team. Tian is also the proud mother of a one-year old baby girl.
| |
 |
Jill Hockaday Conservation Research Community Administrator
Jill joined the Centre for Conservation Research in April 2008. Before joining the CCR, she completed a B.Sc. in Geography from the University of Calgary, with a focus on soils, remote sensing, vegetation and Environmental Impact Assessments related to mining in Alberta. Her background also includes Communications in the areas of agriculture, food and environment. In addition to providing administrative and coordination support for various Research projects within the Centre, Jill is charged with the task of relaying the Conservation Research message to the general public in a creative and engaging manner. Jill is also a member of the Canadian Black-footed Ferret Recovery Communications Team.
|
Donna Sheppard
Wechiau Hippo Sanctuary Advisor
Donna has joined the Centre for Conservation Research through collaborationwith the Zoo’s Conservation Outreach Department. The two departments are pursuing a publication partnership aimed at documenting evidence of success in community based conservation initiatives such as the Wechiau Hippo Sanctuary. Through the Conservation Outreach Department, The Calgary Zoo provides financial and technical support to a number of responsible Canadian and international conservation initiatives. The Wechiau Hippo Sanctuary is an exemplary international grassroots enterprise deserving of this outreach support. Donna has been with the Conservation Outreach Department since 1999, working with some of the Zoo’s international conservation partnerships. As a result, Donna spends very little time on Canadian soil. During her first international placement with the Zoo, she spent 4 years at the Guyana Zoo in South America as part of the Calgary Zoo’s sister zoo program. Then in 2004, Donna moved to Ghana, West Africa to be an advisor to the Wechiau Community Hippo
Sanctuary. More recently, Donna’s role was expanded to include technical and research support to similar communalconservation approaches in Ghana involving the Western sitatunga and the West African manatee. Donna holds an MA in Physical Anthropology from the University of Calgary where she studied the comparative ecology of redtail monkeys living in logged and unlogged forest compartments in Uganda, East Africa.
|  |
 |
Jana McPherson
Conservation Ecologist
Dr. McPherson is a conservation ecologist interested in documenting, understanding and mitigating human impacts on the distribution of individual species, biodiversity and ecosystem function. She joined the Centre for Conservation Research in January 2000 to assist an assessment of the socio-economic and biological outcomes of the Wechiau Hippo Sanctuary, a zoo-supported community-based conservation initiative in Ghana. Her expertise lies in modelling the occurrence and abundance of species in space and time, and in developing tools and protocols to analyse data that challenge the assumptions underlying most conventional statistical methods. She is currently applying these skills to an analysis of human impacts on the composition of reef fish communities in the Pacific islands, work she began prior to joining the Calgary Zoo during postdoctoral studies at Dalhousie University. Her doctoral studies at the University of Oxford examined how distribution models based on satellite-derived environmental data could enhance field observations of birds in southern and eastern Africa, and thus contribute to the conservation of that region’s more than 1,500 avian species.
|
|
