Bonnycastle Fellowship for Wetland and Waterfowl Research

Supports talented young professionals who are dedicated to furthering conservation in North America.

About the fellowship

This fellowship honours the conservation vision of Richard H. G. Bonnycastle.

Mr. Bonnycastle was a dedicated conservationist who served as president for Ducks Unlimited Canada from 1957 to 1960. The purpose of the Bonnycastle Fellowship for Wetland and Waterfowl Research is to support talented young professionals who are dedicated to furthering conservation in North America and advancing our scientific understanding of wetland and waterfowl biology.

The competition is open to graduate students based at any North American university. Applications from doctoral candidates are preferred, but strong Master’s candidates are also urged to apply.

The award of up to $8,000 per year (Canadian funds) is available to provide personal or research support for successful applicants. The award is renewable for up to two additional years for PhD students and once for Master’s students, assuming annual approval of a satisfactory progress report and the need for continuing financial support.

It will be awarded based upon the following criteria:

Applicant qualifications
scientific soundness of the research proposal
Originality and creativity in study design
Expected contributions to wetland or waterfowl ecology
The importance of the proposed research to conservation
Achievability of the work

Interested in applying or have any questions?

Take your research to the next level. Apply for a Ducks Unlimited fellowship.

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Recent fellowship winner

Corinne Sweeney

For her PhD research at the University of Missouri. Corinne’s research will evaluate the effects of insecticide concentrations in wetland sediments on the aquatic insects that use those environments.

Neonicotinoids are a widely used group of pesticides that benefit agricultural producers by providing effective crop protection while having low toxicity to vertebrates. However, widespread application and the chemical properties of neonicotinoids have resulted in impacts on non-target species, including many aquatic insects that form an important component of wetland food webs. Corinne will:

Evaluate the persistence, toxicity, and bioavailability of sediment-associated neonicotinoids and establish toxicity benchmarks for aquatic invertebrates exposed to contaminated sediments
Quantify changes in aquatic invertebrate communities over time in Missouri wetlands and evaluate the role neonicotinoids have in community changes
Measure neonicotinoid concentrations in collected aquatic invertebrates

Her results will close knowledge gaps around sediments as a pathway of exposure for aquatic insects and improve our understanding of risks to aquatic insects in Missouri wetlands and thus the organisms, like ducks, that depend on them for food.

Past Winners of the Bonnycastle Fellowship for Wetland and Waterfowl Research

2021-2022: Brett Leach, MSc. Quantifying blue-winged teal migration routes, phenology, and habitat selection patterns at important staging and wintering areas, University of Missouri

Past Winners of the Bonnycastle Fellowship for Prairie Ecosystem Studies

2018-2020: Samantha Fino, PhD. Evaluating relationships between predator community dynamics and duck nest survival in eastern South Dakota, South Dakota State University

2016-2017: Christine Rohal, PhD. Invasive Phragmites australis Management in Great Salt Lake Wetlands: Context Dependency and Scale Effects on Vegetation and Seed Banks, Utah State University

2014-2016: Hannah Specht, PhD. Occupancy of wetland dependent waterbirds in the Bakken Oil Field, North Dakota: Developing methods to assess impacts on low density, low detection species of concern, University of Minnesota

2011-2013: Lauren Bortolotti, PhD. The recovery of ecosystem function and biodiversity in restored prairie wetlands, University of Alberta

2006-2008: Ryan Fisher, PhD. Effect of landscape composition on habitat selection of grassland birds, University of Regina

Institute for Wetland and Waterfowl Research

Bonnycastle Fellowship for Wetland and Waterfowl Research

About the fellowship

Interested in applying or have any questions?

Recent fellowship winner

Past Winners of the Bonnycastle Fellowship for Wetland and Waterfowl Research

Past Winners of the Bonnycastle Fellowship for Prairie Ecosystem Studies

Institute for Wetland and Waterfowl Research

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