The woodland caribou is a subspecies of caribou that can be found across the boreal forests of North America. The subspecies is further divided into several Designatable Units for conservation, each of which has their own unique natural history and conservation concerns. Some of these Designatable Units are also referred to as ecotypes, since they have recognizable differences in behaviour and ecology that make them unique from other subpopulations.

I am studying two ecotypes of woodland caribou found in northern Ontario, both of which are considered species at risk. The boreal ecotype is found in the boreal forest year-round, and females give birth alone in patches of forest where they are less likely to be detected by predators. The eastern migratory ecotype migrates out of the boreal forest into the Hudson Bay lowlands during the calving season, where females aggregate on large calving grounds in the open. Despite the general knowledge of these differences, there is still a lot of uncertainty about where animals spend their time throughout the year, and how much individuals from the two ecotypes overlap in space and time.

My work involves the use of GPS collar data and vegetation data to map and analyze caribou movements, calving locations, and habitat use. I collate and clean spatial data from many different sources to help answer important conservation questions about the two caribou ecotypes in Ontario's Far North. This work will help to inform management plans for caribou in Ontario, and is funded by the Caribou Conservation Stewardship Plan.