People
Dr. Karen Dunmall
Hello! I lead the Arctic Salmon and Arctic Coast team. Together, and with people from communities across the Canadian Arctic, we research fish biodiversity change and coastal ecosystems using community-led approaches. Originally from Winnipeg, I completed my BSc at Queen's University, my MSc at the University of Waterloo, my PhD at the University of Manitoba, and was a Liber Ero postdoctoral fellow. I have lived in the North and have researched fish, and especially salmon, in Norway, in the US (Washington, Oregon, and Alaska), and in northern Canada. I am currently an Aquatic Biologist supporting the Arctic Region at Fisheries and Oceans Canada and an Adjunct Professor at the University of Victoria and Carleton University.
Find Karen on Research Gate or Google Scholar
Biologists:
Darcy McNicholl
Hi! I’m Darcy, a biologist with Fisheries and Oceans Canada, at the Freshwater Institute in Winnipeg, MB. I began working with Arctic fishes in 2013 as a component of my master’s thesis, and have continued to study coastal change among communities across the Canadian Arctic ever since. I specialize in investigating food web dynamics of co-occurring fishes, and using stable isotopes to determine the potential for competition among native and non-native species. The information collected by our programs allows for decisions to be made by Indigenous leaders and management in order to protect biological and culturally significant parts of the Canadian Arctic. Before becoming a biologist I worked with high Arctic plants, Namibian elephants, large cats in South Africa, and am a Students on Ice alumni for 2006/2007.
Laurissa Christie
Ullukkut! My name is Laurissa and I live in Winnipeg, but I grew up on a farm in Ontario. I have been a biologist with Arctic Coast/ Arctic Salmon since February 2020 where I coordinate coastal monitoring and local knowledge documentation programs in Hudson Bay using community-led approaches. I am especially interested in understanding food web dynamics and energy flow within the Arctic marine environment using a variety of approaches including: tracer analysis, local knowledge documentation, and ecosystem monitoring. I also created the Arctic Salmon cookbook. I love that my position combines two of my passions Arctic science and working with communities! It is a dream come true.
Technicians:
Kevin Gully
Hi! My name is Kevin Gully and I am from Sachs Harbour, NWT. I am the team technician, and I sample fish, lead the organization of our lab and freezer space, assist with logistics for all the projects, and do field work. I am also interested in sea ice change and am analyzing imagery and data about sea ice and making a tool for other people from the north to be able to do this too. I am also a student at the University of Manitoba, pursuing a BSc degree.
Miranda Bilous
Hi, I'm Miranda and I'm from Winnipeg! I started working with the Arctic Salmon team as a Co-op student at the University of Manitoba and I now work as a Research Assistant. Most of my work involves writing papers focused on changing biodiversity, all within a broader theme of the biological and environmental changes associated with climate warming. I've been with the Arctic Salmon team for almost two years now and it's been a pleasure to contribute my research to important and ongoing conversations about Arctic biodiversity!
Postdocs:
Dr. Eranga Galappaththi
Hi! I’m Eranga Galappaththi. I used to live in many places in the past ten years, including Winnipeg, Montreal, and Waterloo. I was born in Sri Lanka, a beautiful island in the Indian Ocean. I began my career as an aquaculture farmer (in Sri Lanka). Now, I am a Postdoctoral Research Scientist in the Arctic and Aquatic Research Division of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada. My role within this group is to bring social science perspective to Arctic fisheries research. My research is central to climate change adaptation in remote Indigenous communities and their local food systems. My theoretical approach integrates concepts from social-ecological resilience, vulnerability, adaptation, and theoretical elements of commons, with an emphasis on community-based management, (adaptive) co-management, Indigenous knowledge systems, co-learning, and knowledge co-production. Also, I bring a broader perspective to my research, using systematic literature reviews that contribute to global-level assessments.
Students:
Arctic Salmon
Zander Chila
Hi! I’m Zander, a Master’s student with the Arctic Salmon Project. I’m based at the University of Victoria where I’m co-supervised by Trevor Lantz in the Arctic Landscape Ecology Lab. I split my time between Vancouver and Victoria, but was crazy enough to decide I had to go to the Arctic to study salmon! My research focuses on the factors influencing the availability of fish in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region. Using multiple, interdisciplinary methods and partnerships I am investigating how fish distributions, namely salmon, are changing in the region, and the environmental factors influencing peoples’ access to fish.
Elizabeth Mik'aq Lindley
Hi! I'm Elizabeth Mik'aq Lindley, or Mik' for short! I am a MSc student at the University of Alaska Fairbanks co-supervised by Peter Westley. I am Yup'ik and was born and raised in Bethel, Alaska along the Kuskokwim River in southwest Alaska. My deep cultural ties to salmon as a subsistence species catalyzed my interest in studying them during my MSc research. My research focuses on the northward distribution and range expansion of Pacific salmon into the Alaskan Arctic. I'll also be conducting a common garden lab experiment with chum, pink, and sockeye salmon to quantify minimum thermal thresholds during egg development, which will allow us to determine whether colder temperatures present a barrier to the colonization of new Arctic systems.
Arctic Coast
Allison Drake
Hello! My name is Allison Drake, and I live in Ottawa, Ontario. I am an MSc student at Carleton University co-supervised by Vivian Nguyen. I am very excited to be studying the weaving of Inuit and Western scientific knowledge of coastal and marine ecosystems in the Canadian Arctic. One main component of my research is to compile and document local knowledge of changes in aquatic biodiversity with the community of ᑭᙵᐃᑦ (Kinngait), Nunavut. I am passionate about my work because I care deeply about conserving the diversity of northern species and habitats, and about the wellbeing of Indigenous Peoples in the context of climate change and development. I am a settler ally committed to learning and unlearning about Indigenous realities, and recognize that this is a lifelong journey.
Adam Perkovic
Hello! I'm Adam and I'm from Ottawa, Ontario. I'm an MSc student at Carleton University co-supervised by Vivian Nguyen. I am working on a literature review compiling the last decade of scientific research and data collection in the Hudson Bay Complex, as well as documenting Local Knowledge of the aquatic environment in Igloolik, Nunavut. I am very excited about working in this holistic and interdisciplinary space and for the potential for this research to help to build resilience and adaptation to climate change in the Canadian Arctic.