Lindsay Gray Carlson

About

I am currently a PhD student at University of Saskatchewan. Over the last decade, field research has taken me from the barrier islands of Kasegaluk Lagoon on the North Slope of Alaska to the bottomland hardwoods of Arkansas's Mississippi Alluvial Valley, from the peaks of Glacier National Park to the coast of the Gulf of Maine. My previous work primarily focused on waterfowl species including geese (Pacific black brant), sea ducks (Common eiders), and dabbling ducks (Midcontinent mallards), but much of my work incorporates broader ecological themes such as the impact of phenologic mismatch nutrient quality of forage plants. I code in Program R, and I enjoy teaching others programming, data visualization, and statistical skills. I am passionate about fostering an inclusive, welcoming culture in the field of waterfowl ecology.

PhD Research

I am advised by Dr. Mitch Weegman on a project with an incredible group of international collaborators. Our work is focused on movement and behaviour of Atlantic brant throughout their annual migratory cycle, and we are specifically interested in understanding movement and habitat use within spring and fall staging areas on James Bay.

Over the last two decades, the Atlantic brant population has fluctuated around 150,000 individuals, following a “boom and bust” cycle of productivity. During the same period, Cree land users along the eastern coast of James Bay (Eeyou Istchee) have noted a decline in the number of Atlantic brant using historically important staging areas. We are leveraging data from more than 200 tagged Atlantic brant to understand how migration characteristics (stopover timing, duration), behavior (proportion of time feeding, habitat used), and weather patterns (precipitation, temperature, winter severity) influence reproductive success (productivity) both directly and through carry-over effects for a full annual cycle perspective. A full annual cycle understanding will allow us to connect effects of land use and climate change throughout the annual cycle, linking wintering, staging, breeding areas for greatest conservation focus and impact.

Curriculum Vitae

Lindsay Gray Carlson

Pronouns: she/her

Certified Associate Ecologist, Ecological Society of America

Leadership Team Member, 500 Women Scientists

Founding Member, Women in Waterfowl

lindsaygcarlson@gmail.com

Education

PhD Student, Ecology

January 2022-present

University of Saskatchewan, Department of Biology

Advisor: Dr. Mitch D. Weegman

Master of Science, Ecology

2015-2017

Utah State University, Department of Wildland Resources

Advisor: Dr. Karen H. Beard

Bachelor of Science, Biological Science

2011-2014

Montana Technological University, Department of Biological Science

Award: Outstanding Graduate from the Department of Biological Science (2014)

Quantitative Research

Graduate Research Assistant

2022-present

University of Saskatchewan, Ducks Unlimited Canada

Ascribing the importance of Atlantic brant staging areas for holistic conservation planning

Quantitative Research Associate

2019 - 2021

Gulf of Maine Research Institute

Trends in growth and survival of Carlin-tagged Atlantic salmon
Evaluating community adaptive capacity to shifting species distributions based on commercial reliance, emerging species, and socio-economic indicators
Methods to evaluate leading and trailing edges of species distributions

Program Technician

2017 - 2019

University of Arkansas Forest Resources Center

Wintering harvest distribution and migration chronology of Arkansas-banded mallards
Wintering distribution and diet composition of midcontinent Arctic nesting geese (Code sample from analysis)

Graduate Research Assistant

2015 - 2017

Utah State University

Effect of phenologic mismatch on grazing lawn forage quality in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta (Outreach curriculum here)
Direct effects of warming increase woody plant abundance in a subarctic wetland

Undergraduate Research Intern

2014

Montana Institute on Ecosystems

Effect of fire frequency on forest understory communities in the Bob Marshall Wilderness

Field Research

Biological Science Technician

2018

United States Geological Service, Alaska Science Center

Environmental incubation time and transmission of avian influenza viruses
Age ratios of Pacific black brant staging in Izembek Lagoon, AK

Research Technician

2018

Wildlife Conservation Society

Susceptibility of nesting common eiders to climate and anthropogenic disturbance on Kasegaluk Lagoon barrier islands (National Petroleum Reserve)

Research Technician

2017 - 2018

University of Nevada, Reno

Pacific black brant nesting ecology and mark-recapture, Yukon Delta NWR, AK

Research Technician

2014

Montana Technological University

Impacts of climate change on alpine plants at the edges of receding glaciers and snowfields, Glacier National Park, MT

Independent Research

North American Duck Symposium

2019 - Present

Women in Waterfowl Session

Underemployment and gender-wage inequality for early-career wildlife graduates (Code sample from analysis)
Confidence and the prevalence of "impostor syndrome" among early-career wildlife graduates
Co-authors: Sally Yannuzzi, Cheyenne Beach, Casey Setash

American Ornithological Society

2017 - 2018

Student and Postdoctoral Research Award

Linking forage vegetation characteristics to life history trade-offs for Tutakoke River Colony Pacific black brant broods in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta
Co-author: Cody Deane

Courses and Workshops Taught

Foundations of Data Managment in R (BAN300)

2019

University of Southern Maine School of Business

Introduction to Data Analysis in R Workshop

2020

NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) at GMRI

Tidy visualization in ggplot2 for Ecologists

2019

North American Duck Symposium

Introduction to Tidyverse Syntax

2019

GMRI Quantitative Group

Research and Travel Grants

Arctic Goose Joint Venture

2021

TBD

Improving Lincoln estimates of Arctic goose abundance with indirect recoveries and a Bayesian Brownie model that incorporates reporting probability in the likelihood

University of Southern Maine Center for Collaboration and Development

2020

$600

Registration fee for Bayesian Population Analysis in JAGS workshop

USGS Cooperative Research Units Travel Award

2019

$1,500

North American Duck Symposium

Student Travel Award

2018

$500

North American Arctic Goose Conference

American Ornithological Society Student and Postdoctoral Research Award

2017

$2,328

Linking vegetation characteristics to life history trade-offs for Pacific black brant

Utah State University Ecology Center Graduate Research Award; Utah State University Graduate Research & Creative Opportunities Award

2015-2016

$4,200

Effects of goose herbivory and climate induced shrubification in a subarctic wetland

Montana Tech of the University of Montana Undergraduate Research Award; Montana Institute on Ecosystems Research Award

2014

$6,000

Investigating fire severity mosaic effects on understory and soil composition

Publications

Carlson LG, Sheehan TF, Tillotson MD, Mills KE (2021) Date of marine annulus formation in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) and implications for retrospective growth analysis using scales. Journal of Fish Biology. https://doi.org/10.1111/jfb.14763

Massey, ER, Carlson LG, Osborne DC (2020) Temporal Trends in Body Condition of Arctic Geese Wintering in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley. Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management 11(1):11-21. https://doi.org/10.3996/062018-JFWM-047

Osborne DC, Wilson RE, Carlson LG, Songsthagen SA, Tablot SL (2019) DNA sequencing confirms Tundra Bean Goose (Anser serrirostris serrirostris) occurrence in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley in Arkansas, USA. Waterbirds 11(1):11-21. https://doi.org/10.1675/063.042.0310*

*Covered in: Magnolia Reporter article "Bird of a different feather: Tundra bean goose meets its fate in Arkansas Delta"

Beard KH, Leffler AJ, Kelsey KC, Choi RC, Carlson LG, Schmutz JA, Welker JM (2019) Migratory goose arrival time plays a larger role in influencing forage quality than advancing springs in an Arctic coastal wetland PLOS One 14(3):e0213037 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0213037*

*Covered in: Utah State Today article "The Early Bird Gets the Protein Despite a Changing Climate"

Carlson LG, Beard KH, Adler PB (2018) Direct effects of warming increase woody plant abundance in a subarctic wetland. Ecol Evol 2018:00:1-12. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.3902

Apple ME, Ricketts MK, Carlson LG (2015) Rhizomes and roots of rare arctic alpine snowfield plants on the edges of retreating snowfields at Glacier National Park, Montana. Microscopy and Microanalysis 21(S3):709-710. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1431927615004341

Photos from the field