Since completing my BSc at the
University of Guelph, I’ve worked with several
conservation programs in Canada, the US and
Mauritius. This included my MSc at Acadia
University where I studied the threatened eastern
ribbonsnake and helped with research on the
endangered Blanding's turtle. I've also
worked with reintroduction programs for loggerhead
shrikes in Ontario, and kestrels and other species
in Mauritius, as well as surveys for piping
plovers on the Gulf Coast after the Deepwater
Horizon (BP) oil spill.
My PhD addresses the alarming worldwide decline in
swallows and other aerial insectivores (birds that
catch their food on the wing), a decline that is
especially severe in our region. I'm trying to
identify the threats that our four swallow species
(bank, barn, cliff and tree swallows) face
throughout the year. The project involves not only
fieldwork in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, but
also new techniques, such as telomere and stress
hormone analyses, that measure the stresses these
birds face on their migration and wintering
grounds.
There's more information, including a video about
the swallow work, on the Wildlife Preservation
Centre's site here,
and a blog on our field research here.
Publications
Imlay TL,
Steiner JC, Bird DM. Age and experience affect
the reproductive success of captive Loggerhead
Shrikes. Ibis, in preparation.
Parmley EJ, Pearl DL,
Vogt N, Yates S, Campbell GD, Steiner S, Imlay
TL, Hollamby S, Tuininga K, Barker IK.
Investigating mortality in a captive breeding
population of Eastern Loggerhead Shrike (Lanius
ludovicianus migrans) in Canada. BMC
Veterinary Research, in preparation.
Imlay TL,
Saroli J, Herman TB, Mockford SW.
Seasonal movements and site fidelity of the
eastern ribbonsnake in Nova Scotia.
Canadian Field Naturalist, accepted.
Amirault-Langlais DL,
Imlay TL, Boyne AW. 2014. Dispersal
patterns suggest two breeding populations of
Piping Plovers in Eastern Canada. The
Wilson Journal of Ornithology 126(2): 352-359.
Lagios EL, Robbins KF,
Lapierre JM, Steiner JC, Imlay TL.
2014. Recruitment of juvenile, captive-reared
eastern loggerhead shrikes into the wild
population. Oryx: 1-8. DOI:
10.1017/S0030605313000690
Steiner J, Chabot AA,
Imlay T, Savard JPL, Stutchbury
BJM. 2013. Field propagation and release
of migratory Eastern Loggerhead Shrike to
supplement wild populations in Ontario,
Canada. 80-84. In Soorae, PS
(Ed.). Global Re-introduction Perspectives:
2013. Further case studies from around the
globe. IUCN/SSC Re-introduction
Specialist Group, Abu Dhabi, UAE.(Book
Chapter)
Imlay T,
Dale R, Buckland S, Jones CG, Cole N.
2012. A novel approach to counting
geckos: Phelsuma density in Mauritian
forests. Herpetological Review 43(3):
391-396.
Anderson F, Brunt J,
Cameron R, Caverhill B, Clapp D, Clapp H,
Coulthard B, Hart S, Helmer L, Hubley S,
Hurlburt D, Imlay T, Jameson R,
Laroque C, Marotte R, Marshall K, Mitchell SC,
Neily T, Nickerson K, O’Neill N, Phillips B,
Pross C, Proulx G, Proulx L, Reardon C, Todd
J, Towers J. 2012. BioBlitz of the Lake
Rossignol Wilderness Area. Proceedings of the
Nova Scotia Institute of Science 47(1): 33-57.
