My Experience as a Summer Intern

Silvia Colucci

This summer, I had the opportunity to intern with the Biodiversity Conservation Solutions lab! My internship was organized through the Dean’s Summer Research Internship (DSRI) award at Carleton University. This was my first research related experience, and I learned so much from it. One of the things I loved most about this internship was the variety of different research projects I got to help with. I worked with four current Masters students in the lab on their thesis projects and learned a lot about different kinds of biodiversity conservation research. Here are some of the projects I was able to work on: 

I mainly worked with Aalia, helping with her systematic review paper about the different threats birds face in urban environments and potential solutions. I got to see the process of writing a systematic review and I was taught how to use the database Covidence. My tasks included screening articles for criteria requirements, supplemental searching, and data extraction. Over the course of the summer, I screened almost 2000 articles at the full-text stage. I learned how to properly read and extract information from scientific papers, a skill that will be very useful in my studies and future career. Additionally, it was interesting to learn about the different conservation efforts and solutions presented in the papers I was reading! 

I got to learn about urban fieldwork from Stasha through her project on bird-window collisions. I helped her install and take down acoustic monitors on campus and around downtown Ottawa, took notes for window analysis, and helped monitor carcasses for a persistence trial. Although hearing about bird-window collisions isn’t a very positive thing, I learned about different solutions that can prevent bird-window collisions, such as bird-friendly decals and murals.  

I also had the opportunity to visit Gatineau Park with Lilli, and her field technician, Laura, to observe what a day of fieldwork can look like. We serviced equipment at the sites and performed bird surveys by listening for their calls and trying to spot different species. I have very little knowledge about birds and their calls (I’m slowly learning though!), but we were able to spot a Scarlet Tanager, which I had never seen before! 

 Additionally, I learned a little about policy work analysis from Alyssa. I looked at government management plans for species at risk and learned about the different categories of risk that can affect endangered species in Canada.  

The Biodiversity Conservation Solutions lab team is a great group of people. School and work can sometimes feel like individual tasks, but it was inspiring to watch the lab team work together and help each other out with their projects. I really enjoyed lab lunches outside on the picnic benches, where people shared their research alongside funny anecdotes. I even had the chance to attend lab meetings, where they discussed ways to deal with stress, time management, and future career paths. I’m grateful that I had the opportunity to work for the Biodiversity Conservation Solutions lab. After this summer, I have a better idea of what research can look like, and I think it’s something I’d like to continue in the future!