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Wildlife

Scuba divers for fish count

Media release

A new research program led by marine ecologist John Volpe and grad student Stefania Gorgopa is a great opportunity for scuba divers to get involved as citizen scientists. The UVic researchers are turning to the local sport diving community for help conducting surveys of marine fish populations around Victoria and the Gulf Islands.

New study on salmon hot spots

The Ring

Tracking the salmon-eating habits of grizzly and black bears for nearly two decades has revealed some surprising results for UVic geography PhD candidate and Raincoast scientist Megan Adams. She hopes the study will inform land-use managers on how the bear-salmon system goes well beyond the coastal areas into interior habitats of BC.

Co-op graduate preserves BC’s natural world

The Ring

Growing up in some of BC's most beautiful landscapes—from the snow-covered peaks in Whistler to the shores of the Salish Sea in Victoria—inspired Keegan Meyers to develop a deep appreciation for the natural world.

Detecting invasive species

The Ring

A research group at the University of Victoria can now detect the presence of invasive species in water or soil using environmental DNA—giving humans a better chance at defending the ecological balance of delicate habitat.

A new way to find invasive species

Media release

Wouldn't it be great if we could take a scoop of water from a pond and tell if an invasive species has recently been there? A research group at UVic can now do just that by measuring the DNA that every organism leaves behind.

Banting fellows shed light on Indigenous language, orca survival

The Ring

An endangered Indigenous language and an endangered West Coast wildlife icon stand to benefit from the work of two new Banting Postdoctoral Fellows at UVic. Valued at $70,000 per year for two years, the fellowships are intended to groom Canada's next generation of research leaders.

How to tag a tiger shark

The Ring

This summer UVic geographer Phil Dearden assisted an international research team with the placement of the first-ever satellite tracking tag on a tiger shark in the Philippines' Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park—a UNESCO world heritage site—and is now tracking its movements in real time. Sharks play a crucial role in marine biodiversity and the new research will have significant impact on shark conservation in Southeast Asia and the Philippines.

Paving a path to med school

The Ring

MacGillivray spent his childhood in Kamloops, playing hockey and discussing the finer points of science with his parents. Inspired by his experiences and conversations his father, who works as a science teacher, MacGillivray started at UVic as an undergraduate biology student, with the idea of being a wildlife veterinarian.

A digital field guide for BC central coastal species

The Ring

Take a virtual tour from seaweeds and sea stars to wolves and eagles, with a new digital field guide. The guide provides experts and amateurs with a tool to identify over 700 species in the Great Bear Rainforest to help deepen our appreciation of the biodiversity along BC’s central coast.

The genetic rule for salmon

The Ring

In an article published today in the prestigious journal Nature, an international team of scientists co-led by University of Victoria biologist Ben Koop describes how the Atlantic salmon genome—that’s the complete set of its genes—has made a full backup copy of itself.

The genetic rule for salmon: keep a back-up copy

Media release

Salmon possess an unusual genetic feature that’s of great interest to evolutionary scientists and fisheries managers alike, as described in a UVic research article published in Nature.

Gliders glimpse BC whales' secrets

The Ring

Majestic and mysterious, whales continue to fascinate researchers and nature lovers, but how whales live in the ocean’s depths is largely unknown. Now, the University of Victoria is on a mission to deepen our knowledge of rare and threatened baleen whales and help protect them from ship strikes. Over the next three weeks, a two-metre underwater ocean glider equipped with acoustic sensors, sonar and hydrophones will allow researchers to track whale movements by listening to and recording their sounds along the shelf break in Clayoquot Canyon.

WHaLE mission now underway near Tofino

Media release

A mission to deepen our knowledge of rare and threatened baleen whales and help protect them from ship strikes is underway off Flores Island in Clayoquot Sound, led by David Duffus, director of UVic’s Whale Research Lab.

What raccoons can teach us

The Ring

It’s long been known that animals living without fear of predation will thrive and reproduce faster. Think rabbits and deer. What hadn’t been demonstrated is that fear of large carnivores—or lack of it—has ripple effects on the whole web of life.

Are humans unsustainable ‘super predators’?

Media release

Research published in the journal Science by a team led by Dr. Chris Darimont, the Hakai-Raincoast professor of geography at UVic, reveals new insight behind widespread wildlife extinctions, shrinking fish sizes and disruptions to global food chains.

What can fish see?

The Ring

Artists and biologists collaborate on flatfish camouflage response study The gap between the molecular basis of fish vision and the colour calibrations of a large-format printer may seem as wide as the space between the biology and visual arts departments, but a recent collaborative project brought the two much closer together.

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