Naomi Pleizier (M.Sc. candidate) recently returned from enjoying the Mangroves as Fish Habitat Symposium of the AFS Western Division meeting in sunny Mazatlán, Mexico. She presented her results of the effects of cortisol on the personality of checkered pufferfish to a receptive audience. Others presenting talks about mangrove fish behaviour included Cooke lab alumna Karen Murchie, and Cape Eleuthera colleagues Aaron Schultz and Brendan Talwar. Other presenters discussed the ecosystem services mangroves provide including fish habitat (Joe Serafy and others) and carbon storage (Boone Kaufman, Pedram Daneshgar), as well as methods for mangrove restoration (Francisco Verdugo and Daniel Benitez-Pardo). Naomi also had the opportunity to attend part of the Fate of Fish Released from Fisheries Symposium, including talks by Cooke alumnae Alison Colotelo and Katrina Cook.
Overall, it was a great opportunity to get a sense of the research being done on mangrove ecosystems and to connect with leading and emerging researchers in this field. Thanks are due to the organizers of the conference, as well as to Carleton University and our NSERC Discovery Grant for providing funding to attend the event.
