(*) Be aware, the formatting of this page is a permanent “work in progress”
Pedro A. Quijón. I’m a Professor of Biology whose career started in Valdivia, Chile, with BSc (Biology) and MSc (Zoology) degrees working with Eduardo Jaramillo (former Instituto de Zoología, Universidad Austral de Chile). Then, I moved to St. John’s, NL to do a PhD in Marine Biology with Paul Snelgrove (Ocean Sciences Centre, Memorial University), and to NJ-USA, to do postdoctoral research with Judy Grassle (Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University). Then, back to Atlantic Canada to take this position at the Department of Biology.
K. Devon Lynn did a PhD in Environmental Sciences and is currently a Postdoctoral Associate in the lab coordinating the lab activities taking place in Basin Head MPA. She did her PhD on the ecology of sandy beach amphipods in relation to light pollution and other stressors. In addition to spending most of her time in the water, before entering graduate school, she did a BSc-Honors in Biology (UPEI), and completed two NSERC-USRAs in this lab.
Paula Tummon Flynn did her PhD in Environmental Sciences and until very recently, was working on the Basin Head MPA postdoctoral portfolio (she moved to a position with the Biology Department but is still managing to work with us in the summer). Her PhD was on direct and indirect species interactions with a focus on giant Irish moss, green crabs and other consumers. Before her PhD, Paula did her BSc-Honors and two NSERC-USRAs in this lab.
Diego Quintanilla is a close collaborator and a member of the lab who just defended his PhD. He was co-supervised by Dr Cristian Duarte (Universidad Andres Bello, UNAB, Santiago-Chile) and the focus of his PhD was the influence of stressors on coastal organisms, particularly light pollution, for which he has done research in both Chile and Canada. Before the PhD, Diego did his Marine biology and MSc degrees at UNAB working on marine habitats (rocky shores) of the Chilean littoral.
Will Bissett is a new MSc-Environmental Sciences student whose focus is on the condition of the giant Irish moss and its close association with blue mussels, and on the interactions between crustacean decapods that normally wonder around those two species. Before the MSc, Will completed the BSc Biology program at UPEI and did some volunteering work the graduate students in the lab.
Emily Gibbons just defended her MSc – Environmental Sciences in which she worked on the condition the local-scale biodiversity role of mussel-giant Irish moss clumps at Basin Head MPA. She is still working with us, assisting us on field trips and on the lab work that Will is taking over. Before enrolling in the MSc, Emily did a BSc in Biology at UPEI and completed two NSERC-USRA projects with us working on predator-prey interactions.
Myra Barquilla was a summer research assistant earlier this year and is about to start her honors program with us. She has worked on the monitoring of amphipods in the island north shore sandy beaches (National Park) in collaboration with Devon, and has also worked on the identification of a variety of invertebrates associated with different shoreline habitats.
Former students and lab associates (not really gone, not forgotten either)
Brandon Vriends was a MSc – Environmental Sciences student who used laboratory and field experiments to study the interactions between green crabs and other species prominently found in Basin Head and other island shorelines. Brandon focus is on a three-level trophic system involving large crabs, small crabs and oyster spat. Before joining the lab he completed his BSc in Biology at UPEI.
Tyler Power recently completed his MSc in Environmental Sciences working on a project about biodiversity associated with critical coastal habitats, including eelgrass beds, different oyster leases and bare subtidal sediments. Before that, he graduated with a BSc in Wildlife Conservation at UPEI, and used to work on birds (Bank swallows) with Parks Canada and in watershed organizations. He is currently working with the PEI Fishermen Association.
Maddi Richard is a Biology BSc student at UPEI and did a NSERC-USRA summer term working with us on biodiversity and condition of giant Irish moss associated with blue mussels. She used field methods to learn about the effects of these clumps on epifaunal colonization rates and the interactions between Irish moss and eelgrass beds.
Jenna Cahill completed her MSc – Environmental Sciences under the supervision of Kevin Teather first, and then under Pedro’s supervision. Jenna worked on shorebirds in Orwell Bay and Malpeque Bay in areas associated with and nearby oyster aquaculture leases. Her work was funded by MITACs and the PEI Nature Trust. Before her MSc and our lab, Jenna did a BSc at UPEI and a Master program at Memorial University.
Mark Saunders was a Biology Honors student working on a project involving oyster restoration and shellfish enhancement, and then a summer student funded by a NSERC-USRA who conducted deployments and measured barnacle and mussel settlement rates. Since then, he moved to a different lab to start a MSc program but still collaborates with us every now and then.
Will Ingram was a Biology honors student working under the co-supervision of Dr Luke Poirier (famous among other things for being a former PhD student of this lab; see below). Will studied the short-term response of oysters to predator cues. We are waiting for his photo…
Cristian Duarte, Karin Acuňa (and little Florencia) were recent visitors during a fall and winter period (October 2018- February 2019). They are close collaborators from Santiago-Chile (Universidad Andres Bello), working on joint projects and publications on climate stressors and their influence on coastal species (see Publications). They share research interests and some deep roots with Valdivia and southern Chile.
Emma Goodwin recently completed a NSERC-USRA. This past summer she was working on a collaborative project involving the effects of light pollution on invertebrate settlement/recruitment. Emma was working on modified settlement plates, trying to measure settlement rates in a widespread species of barnacle. Emma is also doing her Biology-Coop program.
Keegan McCarvill was until recently a NSERC-USRA student with us. He enjoyed playing around with cages and measuring green crab predation rates on conspecifics (cannibalism) and on mud crabs, both in bare sediments and on sediments associated to Irish moss and mussel clumps. His work took place in Basin Head, Murray Harbour and Meadowbank, PEI.
Luke Poirier was until recently a PhD student co-supervised with Sophie St-Hilaire (Health Management, Atlantic Veterinary College). Luke developed a project involving the ecology and management of green crab populations in the Canadian Maritimes. His work involved green crab expansion, impacts on oysters, and control strategies. Before committing to his PhD, he completed a MSc at Acadia University (NS) and a BSc in Biology here at UPEI.
Hannah Gehrels was a MSc student who joined our lab in January 2015 and completed her program in December 2016. She explored 
the interactions between different stages of green crabs and between this species and mud crabs, in the context of management and conservation of shellfish resources. Before us, Hannah completed a BSc Honors (Coop) in Simon Fraser University and worked at the Bamfield Marine Science Centre (BC).
Melanie Rossong completed her PhD program under the co-supervision of Paul Snelgrove and myself. She was formally enrolled at Memorial University. 
Melanie studied behavior and interactions of European green crab populations in the Atlantic Canada region, particularly in Newfoundland. Her research was the result of a close collaboration with researchers in DFO Gulf and NL divisions. Before her PhD, Melanie did a MSc at UNB-Saint John and a BSc at St. Francis Xavier University.
Tessa Bartlett was a Biology Honors student working on the monitoring of green crab in Basin Head and Murray Harbour, Prince Edward Island. Tessa was interested on the seasonal dynamics of females occurrence and egg development.
Megan Sandiford is a recent BSc Psychology graduate who worked with us the last two summers as a research assistant. Her work involved Irish moss, green crabs, blue mussels, and a lot of data collection from surveys and experiments. She worked primarily at Basin Head MPA, although some of her work also took place in laboratory facilities in Duffy and AVC.
Kristina Ivkov is a recent graduate of the Wildlife Conservation program here at UPEI and has been helping my students as a part-time assistant for two summers already. Kristina has been involved on green crab monitoring, experiments with mussels, Irish moss, and several other projects in the lab.
Ellen Chapman did a NSERC-USRA project on the extraction of potential bioactive compounds from the European green crab, in collaboration with Rob Hurta. Currently, Ellen is conducting a second USRA project involving crab-mussel interactions which is also part of her Honors program in Biology.
Rebecca Croke (no photo) conducted research in coral reef habitats in Indonesia. She traveled and did work there under the umbrella of an Operation Wallace program. Rebecca’s work was part of her honors in Biology program and was co-supervised by Ruth Cox (CERC, Health Management, AVC).
Shane Gilbert (he refuses to give us a photo) conducted research in eastern PEI developing and testing a new methodology to study oyster sources of mortality, in particular, mortality of young oysters. Shane’s project was part of his honors in Biology and was co-supervised by Ruth Cox (CERC, Health Management, AVC).
Siobhan Marie-Curry was a MSc student working on plankton com
munities and aquatic invasive species (AIS) in Canada’s main ports (Atlantic, Pacific, Arctic and the Great Lakes). Based on the AVC MSc program, Siobhan’s work was co-supervised by Jeff Davidson (Health Management, AVC) and Andrea Locke (formerly at DFO-Gulf Division). Siobhan successfully completed her MSc in 2014.
Emily Norton did a NSERC-USRA research project on the bycatch associated to the harvesting of green crab populations with different types of gear (two types of trap and fyke nets). Her work took place in Basin Head MPA and Murray Harbour, both in the east coast of Prince Edward Island.
Laura O’
Meara conducted a NSERC-USRA project working on the diversity of invertebrates associated to mussel clumps. We are interested on these clumps because they represent patches of highly structured habitat embedded within more uniform matrix of sandy and muddy intertidal sediments.
Emiley MacKinnon (no photo) did an honors project in collaboration with Jeff Davidson, Sophie St-Hilaire (Health Management), Maya Groner and Ruth Cox (CERC-Health Management). Emiley studied the prevalence of wasting disease in eelgrass beds in relation to green crab feeding activities.
Lynn Symington did work with us as a summer research assistant in oyster and green crab projects in estuaries of the western, central and eastern areas of the island. Her work was funded by a NSERC grant and research collaborations with Sophie St-Hilaire and Jeff Davidson.
Silei Peng was a summer research assistant in eelgrass disruption and green crab-oyster interaction projects managed in collaboration with Ruth Cox, Sophie St-Hilaire and Jeff Davidson (Health Management).
Meghan Boswall completed a summer season of research under the NSERC-USRA program. She used laboratory experiments to study the influence of adult predatory species (visual and chemo-tactile) upon the feeding rates exhibited by juvenile crabs on small-sized American oysters.
Elizabeth Teixeira was an interchange student from the 
Universidade Federal de Alagoas, Brazil (so when she was not working, she was literally freezing!). She completed a summer of research with us investigating the role of three distinctive habitats types on the rates of cannibalism exhibited by adult crabs.
Jessie Ch
ampion was a BSc (Honors) student working on the causes of oyster mortality and growth depletion in southern PEI estuaries, particularly, the Hillsborough system. Her work was done in collaboration with the AVC Shellfish lab and was co-supervised with Jeff Davidson and Sophie St-Hilaire (AVC Health Management).
Mitchell Ma
cMillan (MSc) studied sandy beach community structure in relation to physical properties and stranded seaweed characteristics along PEI’s north shore system. Mitchell’s work was conducted primarily within the PEI National Park that includes a long line of sandy beaches and dunes (see publications). The fish in his hands came from somewhere else.
Kevin Sorochan (MSc) studied the distribution of decapod meroplankton communities (crab larvae) in the Strait of Georgia, British Columbia. His research was funded by the Canadian Healthy Oceans Network (CHONe), and part of it was done in the facilities of the University of Victoria with a great deal of collaboration with John Dower’s lab.
Tyler Pick
ering (MSc) studied green crab prey preference and the influence of this predator on wild oyster beds of PEI’s North River and Bedeque Bay (southern shore of PEI). Tyler’s research was supported by AFRI under a collaborative grant between the PEI Shellfish Association and the Atlantic Shrimp Corporation.
Vanessa Lutz-C
ollins (BSc) did her honors project on the epifauna associated to mussel aquaculture lines in the Brunedell-Montague river system. Later on, she conducted MSc research on benthic ecology in Basin Head lagoon and Souris estuary, both in the East coast of the island.
Cassandra Mellish (BSc) conducted a NSERC-USRA and then an honors on green crab populations from Souris and North River. She studied population changes and the potential use of this invasive species to help mitigate its effects on shellfish. Her honors was co-supervised by Mary McNiven at the Atlantic Veterinary College (AVC).
Kathleen MacDonald (BSc, no photo available) studied lobster fishery catches in PEI main fishing areas. She also made a comparison of two distinctive lobster trap designs to determine how effective they were.
Veronique D
ufour (BSc) studied epifaunal biodiversity associated to blue mussel aquaculture lines in eastern PEI locations. Her work was co-supervised by Jeff Davidson (AVC).
Kristen Murray (BSc) conducted a 
NSERC-USRA and an honors project examining green crab – oyster predator-prey interactions in southern PEI shorelines. She focused on trials assessing functional response and worked along Tyler and Luke.
Jessica Willis (BSc; photo not available) did a NSERC-USRA and then an honors project applying molecular tools to early detection of the tunicate Diplosoma sp. Her work was co-supervised by Spencer Greenwood (Lobster Science Centre, AVC).
Marianne Parent (BSc) worked on strategies of mitigation of PEI invasive tunicates, particularly the vase tunicate, Ciona intestinalis. Her work was co-supervised by Jeff Davidson.
Andrey Ma
lyshev (BSc) did a NSERC-USRA and an honors project on eelgrass beds health and green crab disturbance in several estuaries of Prince Edward Island. The photo is misleading. He does that not only when is sunny outside…
Michael 
Wadowski (BSc) studied fouling diversity and tunicate mitigation in PEI aquaculture lines located in eastern PEI. Talented like no other… his research was co-supervised by Jeff Davidson.
Joseph Desreux (BSc; no photo) studied tunicate colonization in an array of estuarine areas of Prince Edward Island and was co-supervised by Jeff Davidson.
Garr
y Gregory (BSc) did an honors and a NSERC-USRA in our lab. He studied the feeding ecology of green crabs in eastern Prince Edward Island, particularly in Souris and Basin Head.
Sarah Jones (BSc; no photo) studied microbiology and health in PEI lobster populations and was co-supervised by Spencer Greenwood.
Jonathan Hill (BSc) studied the interactions between green crabs and invasive tunicates in areas of mussel aquaculture in eastern Prince Edward Island. His work was co-supervised by Jeff Davidson and was done in collaboration with DFO-Gulf Division.
Katrina Brown (BSc; no photo) studied decapod assemblages associated to shallow subtidal habitats of PEI’s North, East, and South shores.
Kyle MacMillan (BSc) was the first MacMillan of the lab. He studied green crab dispersal and sediment disturbance in PEI’s first and only Marine protected area (Basin Head), at the east coast of the island.
Katherine Dewar (BSc, no photo) did research on invertebrate communities associated to juvenile lobster habitats. Her research was co-supervised by Kevin Teather (Biology) and Gerhard Pohle (Huntsman Research Station).
Man-Sum Yao (BSc) was may very first honors student at UPEI; she studied oyster habitat in the Bras d’or lakes, Cape Breton, NS. Her work was co-supervised by Donna Giberson (Biology) and Jeff Davidson (AVC).
Photo credits
© K Murray: monitoring of inclusion experiments in southern PEI shorelines. The majority of the other (individual) pictures were taken by the students and are posted with their permission.