We used satellite tracking data and found that humpback whales in the southern Pacific adapt to climate change by shifting the timing of their migration. The right timing is critical for the whales to make it to the Southern Ocean exactly on time for the bloom in productivity which follows the break-up of the sea ice each year; but how do the whales know when to leave the warm waters of their breeding grounds? Read on to find out!

What a great way to wrap-up the year! This work started in 2018 when Frédérique Truchon worked on her MSc under our supervision. Students in my lab have been collecting more data every year since then, and there is more to do still.

The fall 2025 edition of the BFSS this year had a cohort of 20 students who presented the results of their research project earlier this month. We had a special guest this year for the oral presentations that took place at Bellairs, and McGill president Deep Saini was very much impressed.

​Congratulations to all !

If you are interested in the BFSS, please check out the web page @ www.mcgill.ca/bfss/. I am recruiting for fall 2026, and spaces are limited. Dont wait to apply!

First day at the Gault Nature Reserve on Monday: setting up camera traps and dragging for ticks, in good company (Strix varia and Trillium grandiflorum)

A very nice piece written by Etienne Plamondon Emond for Québec Science here.

​« On est vraiment dans l’inconnu. Un tel cocktail ne s’est jamais produit. On ne peut pas se référer à la librairie de fossiles » pour envisager l’avenir.

Kudos to Kelsey who made it in the McGil Reporter! Kelsey received a Graduate Mobility Award to travel to Panama and collect her field data in the Winter 2023. Her MSc research would not have been possible without this award

Shout-out to Anthony Howell, the curator in charge of the collections at the Redpath Museum. I donated to the Redpath Museum my entire collection of voucher specimens; over 3,000 specimens of small mammals we collected in my lab across all of Quebec since 2008! There's Jonathan Diamond's beavers in the lot too, some of those coming all the way from Nunavut. Each specimen is preserved as skeletal material (skull) and tissue samples stored in massive -80C freezers. This is a unique collection; I do not think there is anything like that anywhere else in the world. Fifteen years of sampling documenting evolution in action! Anthony organized it all and this collection is now available for study to the rest of the research community.   

Just published by Jonathan Diamond! The beaver is shifting its distribution North, and as it goes, is adapting to new forage type. 

Kirsten defended brilliantly her PhD thesis and received incredible feedback and encouragements from her committee. Two papers published and another two in revision, it's a wrap!

Kirsten joined my lab 8 years ago for an independent studies, and landed a job in the one place where she will be able to share her expertise and apply her knowledge in the most meaningful way at the INSPQ. I am very proud.

​

I have been working for 2 years to prepare this program on Sustainable development in the Caribbean. We have a group of students from McGill and the Cave Hill campus of the University of West Indies and have a full schedule for the Fall semester. First lectures today, but also some time to get familiar with the local surroundings.