Dave Wilson’s Animal Behaviour Lab
MEMORIAL UNIVERSITY OF NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR
Graduate Students
Dave Wilson’s Animal Behaviour Lab
MEMORIAL UNIVERSITY OF NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR
Graduate Students
Kathy Bonilla completed a BSc and Licenciatura degree at the University of Costa Rica, where she studied cultural variation in the songs of the white-eared ground sparrow. She joined our lab and the Cognitive and Behavioural Ecology program in September 2024. Her MSc research investigates morphological, phylogenetic, and ecological predictors of acoustic structure in the Alcidae, with a particular focus on the function of vocalizations in the Atlantic puffin.
Jenna Bustin joined the lab as an MSc student in the Cognitive and Behavioural Ecology program in 2024 after completing a BSc at Dalhousie University. Her Honours thesis research with Dr. Andy Horn investigated the effects of noise pollution on nestling begging calls in tree swallows. Her MSc research is investigating the relatively unexplored dimension of amplitude in avian song, with a focus on describing variation in the songs of Dark-eyed Juncos.
Sydney Collins completed an MSc on the spatial and foraging ecology of Leach’s Storm Petrels in Bill Montevecchi’s lab in spring 2021. She loved the petrels so much that she decided to immediately begin a PhD on the same species, this time focusing on the individual consistency of behavioural traits at multiple spatial and temporal scales. Sydney is in the Cognitive and Behavioural Ecology Program and is co-supervised by Dave Wilson and Bill Montevecchi.
Eleanor Gnam completed a BA in Human Ecology at College of the Atlantic, where she developed a passion for Leach’s storm-petrels. In 2024, she joined our lab to study the spatial ecology of pre-breeding adults in this cryptic species. Following her first field season, she transferred from the MSc to the PhD program.
Jessika Lamarre joined the lab in 2019 as an MSc student in the Cognitive and Behavioural Ecology program, but then rolled into the PhD program in January 2021. She is using comparative and experimental research to investigate the effects of omega-3 fatty acids on avian cognition, using ring-billed gulls as a model species.
Former Graduate Students
Chirathi Wijekulathilaka joined our group as an MSc student in the Cognitive and Behavioural Ecology program in May 2018 after completing a BSc at the University of Colombo. Her Honours thesis focused on geographic variation in genetic, morphological, and behavioural traits in dark-fronted babblers in India and Sri Lanka. For her MSc research, Chirathi investigated ecological, morphological, and behavioural predictors of fitness in dark-eyed juncos in Newfoundland.
Miguel Mejías joined the lab in 2017 after completing a BSc at Trent University and an MSc on tropicbirds at Memorial University. His PhD research investigated the evolution of song in the Vireonidae and, in particular, in the Bermudian white-eyed vireo. He completed his PhD in the Biology program in fall 2022.
Kaylee Busniuk joined the lab in 2017 after completing her BSc at Lakehead University. As a MSc student in the Cognitive and Behavioural Ecology program, she investigated kleptoparasitism of Atlantic puffins by herring gulls in Newfoundland’s Witless Bay Ecological Reserve.
Katrina Shwedack completed her BSc at Lakehead University, and then joined the lab as a M.Sc. student in the Cognitive and Behavioural Ecology program in May of 2017. She investigated the effects of anthropogenic noise on the songs of dark-eyed juncos, and how the resulting changes in song structure affect signal efficacy.
Jeffrey Ethier joined the lab in 2016 after completing his BSc in Biology at Trent University. His research used a new microphone array technology to ascertain the habitat and microhabitat preferences of landbird species at risk in the boreal forest of Labrador. He completed his MSc in the Cognitive and Behavioural Ecology program in fall 2018.
Bronwen Hennigar began her MSc in the Cognitive and Behavioural Ecology program in 2016 after completing an undergraduate degree in Biology at Trent University. Her research used an experimental approach to disentangle the effects of anthropogenic light and sound on the altered singing and spatial behaviour of birds in Labrador. Bronwen completed her program in fall 2018.
