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Opportunities

I am always happy to discuss potential research projects with graduate and undergraduate students. In some cases, Independent Study or Honour's projects can arise as a component of summer employment opportunities in my lab. I also have a long history of co-supervising undergraduate research projects with colleagues based at the Lethbridge Research Station, especially Dr. Doug Colwell and Dr. Kevin Floate. Many of the examples of previous Independent Studies that I list below arose from initial expressions of interest from keen students.

Examples of previous Independent Studies in the lab:

  • Flower choice in zombie ants infected with larvae of Dicrocoelium dendriticum
  • Host-related and between-lake variation in prevalence and intensity of Ichthyocotylurus erraticus metacercariae in lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis).
  • Growth and reproduction of a generalist parasite in alternative hosts: Dicrocoelium dendriticum in sheep versus cattle.
  • Interactions between falciparum malaria and HIV: a literature review
  • Variation of larval fluke (Dicrocoelium dendriticum) intensity in Formica spp. ants: effects of site and size
  • Phylogeography of land snails, Oreohelix spp., in Cypress Hills Provincial Park, AB
  • Tardigrade biodiversity and density on mosses from fescue grasslands in southern Albert
  • Antibody imaging and confocal microscopy of the tegument of the trematode Dicrocoelium dendriticum
  • Paleolimnology of Tyrrell Lake sediments
  • GI parasites of sheep in Alberta
  • Spatial variation of defense morphology of zooplankton in Waterton Lakes
  • Histology of a brain-encysting parasites of fathead minnows

Ideas for Independent Studies in the lab:

  • Behaviour of minnows infected with two species of trematode larvae: A test of the hitchhiker hypothesis
  • The ‘devil’s dance’: Behavioural attraction of trematode larvae towards host versus non-host snails
  • Behaviour of Hyallela (Amphipoda) infected with a larval acanthocephalan
  • Overwinter survival of nematode larvae of horses on Alberta pasture
  • Swimming performance of trematode-infected minnows in an experimental flume
  • Thermal tolerance of minnows infected with a brain-encysting trematode