Anne-Chistine Auge

​My PhD work will focus on spatial ecology and ecophysiology of Blanding’s turtles in response to residential development, and will be co-supervised by Dr. Dennis Murray and Dr. Gabriel Blouin-Demers (University of Ottawa).
The Blanding’s turtle, as most turtle species in Ontario, is considered threatened. Core threats are habitat fragmentation, destruction of wetlands and shore development due to anthropogenic disturbances. I am interested in studying if and how the ecology, behaviour and physiology of Blanding’s turtles in the Ottawa region are influenced by residential development. This will include investigating movement and habitat use patterns in developed areas using methods such as VHF and GPS telemetry.
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As an ectothermic species, a turtle’s physiological processes are thermoregulated. Thus, temperature affects the turtle’s development, reproduction and ultimately fitness; and is expected to have an important and limiting effect within Ottawa’s surrounding area – the Blanding’s turtle’s northernmost habitat. One of the main goals of my PhD project will be to describe factors that influence the survival and fitness by developing bioenergetics models. The work on this project will have important conservation implications, and current measures, such as road underpasses, will be evaluated.

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Education

• 2017-present, PhD Environmental and Life Sciences Graduate Program, Trent University, Peterborough, ON.​

Contact:
email: achr.auge[AT]gmail[DOT]com