Our Team

Dr. Oliver P. Love

Associate Professor, Canada Research Chair
olove@uwindsor.ca

Research in our lab examines the physiological mechanisms driving life-history trade-offs and variation in fitness in both terrestrial and aquatic vertebrates spanning from temperate to Arctic ecosystems. We seek to solve applied issues in species of conservation concern using mechanisms that link environmental change with performance and fitness. Our work is supported by a number of research awards (NSERC Discovery, Northern Supplement, Canada Foundation for Innovation) as well as a recent Canada Research Chair in Integrative Ecology. Dr. Love received his BSc from Concordia University, his MSc from McGill, and his PhD from Simon Fraser University. His NSERC-funded post-doc at the Université du Québec à Rimouski involved work in the Eastern Canadian Arctic and he joined the Biology Department at the University of Windsor in 2009. Dr. Love has also been a hybrid member of the Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research (GLIER) since 2014.

Sarah Senécal (co-supervised w/ Dr. François Vézina)

PhD Candidate
2021 - Present

We all know that using more time, energy or even resources during one part of our lives will eventually come back to impact a future stage of our lives. Sarah is examining just that by looking at the carry-over effects of the costs of breeding to subsequent life history stages (e.g., winter) in Black-capped chickadees. To examine these complex effects, Sarah is using a diversity of cutting-edge experimental techniques in a free-living population of chickadees that she and her team can track all through the year. Based at the Université du Québec à Rimouski (UQAR) where she is working with her primary supervisor Dr. François Vézina, Sarah’s fascinating project combines energetic physiology, behavioural ecology and a strong emphasis on life history trade-offs. We are very happy to be included in this amazing work with such a great research team, and we are looking forward to helping them to break new ground in asking how organisms manage the costs of living across their entire lifetime. Welcome Sarah!

Patricia Rokitnicki (co-supervised by Dr. Emily McKinnon)

PhD Candidate
2023 - Present

Patricia completed her Master’s in Science at Western University in May 2023, where her research primarily focused on the migratory movements of Black-throated Blue Warblers. In the Fall of 2023, Patricia joined the Love lab and is co-supervised by Dr. Emily McKinnon at the University of Manitoba. Patricia will be examining the costs and benefits of an urban lifestyle in the context of climate change, specifically focusing on Snow Buntings living in Iqaluit, Nunavut. Her primary objective is to explore the impact of urbanization and rising temperatures on the breeding decisions and reproductive success of Snow Buntings. Welcome to our team Patricia!

Rachel Dow (co-supervised w/ Dr. Christina Semeniuk)

MSc Student
2024 - Present

Rachel joined the Love and Semeniuk labs in Fall 2024 and is incredibly passionate about various topics within avian research. Rachel has previously worked with several shorebird species in Southern New Brunswick. Through this work, she has gained valuable experience and skills, and she is excited to expand her skills with her master’s project which will focus on the behaviour of snow buntings in Iqaluit, Nunavut. She will examine the behavioural flexibility of this Arctic species and how that might help individuals adapt to an urban landscape. Welcome to the team Rachel!

Elena Tranze-Drabinia (co-supervised by Dr. François Vézina)

MSc Student
2024 - Present

Elena joined the Love lab in Fall 2024 after completing an honour’s project and working as a research coordinator in Dr. Kyle Elliott’s Arctic Ecology Lab at McGill University. Elena is continuing the Arctic research theme by joining the snow bunting team based out of Iqaluit for her Master’s project. The project uses novel RFID thermal tag technology and ambient temperature loggers to examine how snow buntings respond to heat stress within the context of climate change and increasing urbanization. Elena hopes to estimate how increasing temperatures, and urban sprawl will affect the cold adapted avian residents of Iqaluit and provide a framework of how this may affect other Northern communities as animals and people move poleward. Welcome to our team Elena!

Caitlyn Goodwin

MSc Student
2026 - Present

Caitlyn joined the Love lab in Fall 2026 after earning her undergraduate degree in Wildlife Biology from McGill University in February 2026. She completed an honour’s project in Dr. Kyle Elliott’s Arctic Ecology Lab, where she investigated plastic ingestion in herring gulls breeding across the St. Lawrence System in Québec. Caitlyn also has experience working with Trent University, studying the foraging behaviour of shorebirds in Churchill, Manitoba. With a passion for Arctic bird research, Caitlyn’s Master’s project focuses on the diet of nestling snow buntings in Iqaluit, Nunavut. Her research aims to investigate how nestling diet composition and growth vary as parent snow buntings exploit different urban foraging contexts. Welcome to our team Caitlyn!

Nola Sheets

MSc Student
2026 - Present