(Every few weeks, we introduce one of our lab’s beloved peeps, so you can learn more about their research and why it matters for our planet)
Little is known about mechanisms driving density-dependence in the wild and how it regulates animal populations. Our very own PhD candidate Jean-Michel Matte’s (co-supervised by Dr. James Grant at Concordia U.) work addresses questions about density dependence through an in-stream experiment with brook trout in Cape Race Newfoundland and large-scale meta-analysis across taxa. Specifically, his work aims to understand if growth and survival of different populations of brook trout are regulated by density. For the meta-analysis, he is interested in understanding and comparing trends in density dependent mechanisms across taxa. His field-based, multi-population experiment and multi-taxa meta-analysis are the first to address these issues and can have applications for salmonid recovery programs as well as management of different taxa.
Jean-Michel, started his graduate studies as a MSc candidate and shortly thereafter fast -tracked to the PhD program. He is known as our resident “superhuman” as he has extensive field and statistical experience and is always willing to lend a hand on various graduate projects. Apart from academia, Jean-Michel has expressed that he would like to visit to Australia and New Zealand and enjoys the outdoors, fishing, playing magic the gathering and dungeons and dragons with friends and colleagues.
Part of Jean-Michel’s field experiment on Cape Race, Newfoundland, brook trout.
Jean-Michel in his element