Current Students
Undergraduate & Honours Students
Olivia Roy
I am currently pursuing an undergraduate degree in Biological Sciences with a concentration in ecology and environmental biology at the University of Manitoba. My research in the Davoren Lab examines how attaching GPS tracking devices to Atlantic puffins impacts chick growth. In my free time I enjoy hiking and kayaking in Nopiming Provincial Park, Manitoba, where my love for biology began!
Grace Miln
I'm finishing my third year at the University of Manitoba in pursuit of an undergraduate degree in Biological Sciences, with a minor in English. I have a passion for the marine environment and hope to contribute to its long-term security through my research. I joined the Davoren Lab in 2026 to complete my honours project, where I will be researching how the at-sea calls of the Common Murre may influence the foraging behaviour of marine predators through local enhancement. After I complete my undergraduate degree I plan on pursuing a Master's in the field of marine biology. When not at school or work I'm often birding, drawing, or writing stories.
Leena Hutchison
I am an undergraduate student at the University of Manitoba entering my third year of Honours Biological Science, with a concentration in ecology and evolutionary biology. This summer I will be studying herring spawning bays, focusing on whether adult herring spawn in their natal bay. Aside from this, you can find me running, tending to my garden, and working on crochet projects!
Masters Students
Amanda Olsen
Hi, I'm Amanda! I joined the Davoren Lab in 2026 after completing my Bachelor of Environmental Science (Co-Op), with a minor in Biological Sciences, at the University of Manitoba. I am currently a M.Sc. student co-supervised by Dr. Gail Davoren (The University of Manitoba) and Dr. Matthew Guzzo (Fisheries and Oceans Canada). For my master's, I will investigate the population genomics of capelin (Mallotus villosus) throughout Canadian waters, in addition to their trophic ecology on the west coast of Hudson Bay in the Kivalliq region of Nunavut. In my spare time, you'll usually find me out on a trail with my dog, Zeus!
Avital Shalev
I am joining the Davoren Lab as a master's student in 2026 after completing my B.Sc. (Honours) at the University of Manitoba. My honours research focused on monitoring the growth and survival of Purple Martin nestlings in southern Manitoba. For my master's thesis I will investigate Razorbill nestling development in Newfoundland and examine how chick growth and condition relate to the timing, abundance, and quality of capelin during the breeding season. Outside of research, I enjoy birdwatching and pressing flowers.
Abigail Muscat
I am a master's student in the Davoren Lab investigating daily energy expenditure over the annual cycle of razorbills in the North Atlantic. I completed my undergraduate degree in Marine Sciences at the University of Maine and then worked with Project Puffin monitoring black guillemots and common terns, which ignited my passion for seabird ecology. After a few years in industry, I joined the lab and moved here from Massachusetts. I am excited to explore Manitoba! In my free time I enjoy hiking, birdwatching, scuba diving, and alpine skiing.
Kate Vonderbank (she/they)
I am a master's student in the Davoren Lab. For my master's thesis I will use stable isotopes to investigate the food web interactions of three main jellyfish species (Lion's mane, Moon, and Comb jellies) in coastal Newfoundland, which is the unceded traditional territory of the Beothuk and Mi'kmaq. I completed my B.Sc (Honours) at the University of Manitoba under the supervision of Dr. Gail Davoren. In my honours, I examined the quality of capelin and sand lance as prey items for many top predators in Newfoundland, by determining their energy densities. In my spare time I love making art!
Caitlyn Friesen
I joined the Davoren Lab in 2025 after completing my B.Sc. in Biological Sciences with Honours, Co-op and a minor in Philosophy from the University of Manitoba. My honours thesis explored the impact of parasitic swim bladder nematodes on the body condition of mature lake whitefish in Great Slave Lake. I am currently a M.Sc. student in the Davoren Lab co-supervised by Dr. Gail Davoren (University of Manitoba) and Dr. Karen Dunmall (Fisheries and Oceans Canada). My master's will focus on sockeye salmon within the Inuvialuit Settlement Region and the potential dietary overlap with native fish species.
Megan Dalton (she/her), Master's of Science student
Hello! I am from Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, and most of my background is in monitoring threatened and endangered bird species in remote locales.
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For my master's degree, I have the opportunity to study Atlantic puffins and razorbill foraging ecology in northeastern Newfoundland waters. Specifically, I am quantifying "foraging effort" in both species by using GPS-TDR tags that track metrics such as foraging trip distances and durations, as well as dive depths and durations. Because the Davoren Lab can quantify prey abundance in local waters each summer, I can compare foraging effort in puffins and razorbills in the context of varying prey abundance over two summers.
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Since Gail and I also share an interest in the sensory ecology of seabirds, we are looking into puffin chicks' behavioural responses to prey-related odours to help determine whether puffins use olfaction to find their prey. While the importance of olfaction is much better known in tube-nosed seabirds (e.g petrels and shearwaters), much less is known about this subject for alcid species like puffins.
Sierra Schlief
Hi, I'm Sierra! I'm from Bemidji, MN, and I moved to Canada to complete my Bachelor of Environmental Science at the University of Manitoba. I joined the Davoren lab in the fall of 2023 to start my master's. For my first chapter, I will determine if capelin beach spawning locations have site-specific chemical signatures based on larval capelin otolith microchemistry. My second chapter will examine sand lance otolith signatures to uncover their life-history traits.
Carolyn Currie (she/her)
I am a M.Sc. student in the Davoren Lab co-supervised by Dr. Gail Davoren (University of Manitoba) and Dr. Hannah Murphy (Fisheries and Oceans Canada). For my M.Sc., I will use otolith chemistry to explore natal homing and connectivity of Atlantic herring in Newfoundland - the unceded, traditional territory of the Beothuk and the Mi'kmaq. I recently graduated with a B.Sc. (Hons) from the University of Manitoba. In my honours thesis research I used stable isotope methods to determine the primary flight feather moult patterns of Atlantic puffins, under the supervision of Dr. Gail Davoren. If I’m not on campus or doing field work, you can likely find me canoe-camping or at the pool, where I enjoy coaching artistic swimming!
Gibson Rieger
I joined the Davoren Lab in 2021, writing my honours thesis on predation and kleptoparasitism on Atlantic puffins by gulls at a seabird breeding colony. I completed my B.Sc. in Biological Sciences, majoring in Ecology & Environmental Biology with a minor in Microbiology, at the University of Manitoba in February 2023 and began work as an aquatic science technician with Fisheries and Oceans Canada at the Freshwater Institute in Winnipeg. Now continuing in the Davoren Lab, I started my M.Sc. in May 2023 looking at the diel behaviour of sand lance and mapping forage fish habitat on the Newfoundland coast.
Doctoral Students
Mikala completed her M.Sc. in fall 2019, which continued the project she started during her B.Sc., investigating humpback whale vocalizations in the Newfoundland region using a hydrophone to passively record on a known capelin spawning site. Her research focused on characterizing the vocalizations and comparing a subset of the repertoire to calls recorded on a Hawaiian breeding ground in the 1980's. After a small break Mikala has rejoined the Davoren lab to do her Ph.D. in collaboration with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada.
Emily Runnells (she/her)
A first-generation student of settler origin, originally from the unceded lands of the Pennacook Abanaki, I returned to academia to start my PhD in January 2020. My research is based in the ancestral homeland of the Beothuk and Mi’kmaq, in Northeastern Newfoundland, where I focus on the non-breeding ecology of seabirds, addressing questions about niche overlap of alcids, migratory connectivity of Atlantic Puffins, and carry-over effects and molt energetics of Razorbills (aka Tinker). I previously worked as a Marine Zoologist for the New York Natural Heritage Program and received my M.Sc. from the University of Washington's School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, where I studied changes in seabird foraging, forage fish, and plankton community composition in the Salish Sea.
@E_Runnells
Post-Doctoral Fellows
Ashley Tripp (she/her)
I am a settler from the Treaty 4 lands of the Haudenosaunee People in southern Ontario. My research examines recruitment dynamics of larval capelin, an important cultural, ecological, and commercial forage fish species in Newfoundland, the unceded ancestral homelands of the Beothuk and the Mi'kmaq. My research is interested in factors influencing the Newfoundland and Labrador capelin stock that might be impeding recovery following a population collapse in the early 1990s and exploring connectivity using otolith chemistry in recently hatched fish. I am a recent Ph.D. graduate in Nov 2023 from the Davoren Lab and I’m so pleased to be able to continue my work with capelin and local fishers in Newfoundland. When I’m not at the lab bench or in the field I enjoy playing soccer and paper crafting.