Chantelle Burke
Chantelle Burke
Chantelle Burke is completing an MSc program in Cognitive and Behavioral Ecology, an interdisciplinary graduate program involving animal behaviour and behavioural ecology at Memorial. “My specialization is seabird ecology, under the supervision of Dr. Bill Montevecchi. My thesis investigates how breeding Common Murres and Atlantic Puffins respond to shifts in the availability of their preferred prey, which is capelin in Newfoundland. As highly visible, colonial animals, we can use seabird diets and breeding parameters to detect shifts in the marine foodweb at lower trophic levels that can occur because of climate/ oceanographic change or from human activities like over-fishing that place stress on the system. The results of my research will contribute to our understanding of the importance of capelin in the marine foodweb. My research is sponsored by NSERC and involves a group of international researchers and students from a variety of disciplines (biology, physics and geography).”
From Long Harbour, Placentia Bay, Newfoundland, Chantelle completed her undergrad degree in English Literature here at MUN and moved on to complete a Diploma of Marine Environmental Technology at the Marine Institute.
“I choose to pursue graduate studies after four years of working as a Research Assistant for Dr. Bill Montevecchi. During this time I worked on a number of research projects with Bill and his students and I became very motivated by the important work they were doing for the conservation of seabirds in Newfoundland. I also became aware of the fact that if I wanted to continue working with seabirds, I was in one of the best places in the world to do it.”
“Pursuing my field of study at Memorial allows me to live and work at home and have access to world-class research facilities. I collect my data at Funk Island off the NE coast of Newfoundland. This is a world-class seabird colony that is the largest colony of Common Murres in the world and the major colony of the now extinct Great Auks.”
“The Cognitive and Behavioral Ecology Programme is an excellent program that combines the expertise of great researchers from a variety of backgrounds. Students in the programme study a wide range of species (e.g. seabirds, passerines, whales, and fish) and the behavioral component of the programme adds a great strength to the training of researchers.”
“Memorial has a wonderful reputation for research the Newfoundland provides the perfect setting for a student interested in studying the marine ecosystem.”
“St. John’s is my favorite city and I’ve always enjoyed studying at Memorial. I am very committed to living in Newfoundland and have spent most of my life here, fortunately I love what I do and I get to do it here.”
“I plan to continue research in seabird ecology but I haven’t decided definitively whether this will follow the traditional academic route, as there are opportunities available to gain employment as a researcher in Newfoundland.”