Canada resources

Regional meetings

Congrès régional

2022

The 14th North American Regional Meeting of ISAE was held April 29-30, 2022 at the University of California, Davis. A total of 95 students and professional members from the US and Canada attended the event, with an additional 16 individuals joining the virtual viewing sessions. The keynote lecture was given by Dr. Gail Patricelli (Dept. Ecology and Evolution, UC Davis), which focused on her research of communication and reproductive strategies among sage-grouse. This event was sponsored by USDA NIFA and Boehringer Ingelheim. The final proceedings can be viewed here:

proceedings

14^thNorth American Regional Meeting of ISAE Student Competition:

Poster presentations
- #1 ($150) Jessica Bonney, University of Florida
- #2 ($100) Ashlynn Kirk, University of California Davis
- #3 ($50) Faith Reyes, University of Wisconsin Madison
Oral presentations
- #1 ($150) JoAnna Rogowski, Purdue University
- #2 ($100) Bailey Eagan, University of British Columbia
- #3 ($50) Blair Downey, University of California Davis”

2022 14th NA ISAE image

2017

The 13th North American Regional Meeting of the ISAE was held from 12-13 May in Ames, Iowa, USA. The meeting was held at Iowa State University, hosted by local organisers Suzanne Millman and Anna Johnson.

proceedings

The conference had a good turnout, with 60 in attendance from 19 institutions and a mix of ISAE members and non-members. A total of 22 oral presentations were given and 11 posters. Oral presentation session topics included the social behaviour of pigs, housing and environment, welfare assessment, health and pain relief, and behavioural variability. The conference proceedings can be viewed on the ISAE meetings webpage.

Many thanks to our theatre and poster judges. Awards were given for outstanding oral and poster presentations to the following:

Oral presentations

1^st Place – Megan R. LaFollette: “It’s no laughing matter: Cage color and light intensity alter rat affect
2^nd Place – Catherine Hixson: “Behavioural changes in group-housed dairy calves infected with Mannheimia haemolytica”
3^rd Place – Erin Davis: “The pain response of piglets after castration when using three different analgesics: Results from a behavioral test”
Undergraduate – Hannah Pearsall: “The relationship between social aggression and play behavior in finisher pigs: do pigs that play less fight more?”

Poster presentations

1^st Place – Kathryn Henley: “An aural-visual classification of the vocal repertoire of adult pigs (Sus scrofa domesticus)
2^nd Place – Christopher Byrd: “It’s getting hot in here: A preliminary study to evaluate the impact of in utero heat stress on piglet behavior after weaning and transport
3^rd Place – Lydiane Aubé: “Sows’ preference for different fresh and dry mixed forages”
Undergraduate – Ashley Birakos: “Comparison of perching behavior and its effects on keel bone deviations of laying hens in two types of enriched colony cages”

Dr. Cheryl Morris of Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium gave the keynote lecture, in which she spoke of advancements in animal care through training. The presentation was well received and led to a lengthy question-and-answer session.

A business meeting was conducted with a discussion on the future approach to organising regional ISAE meetings. No decisions were made and the final plan was to survey current members in the US and Canadian regions to determine preferences. No volunteers were found to organise the next meeting, so that will be addressed in the future.

At the time of writing, the Canadian region has 65 members, and the USAE region has 122.

2017 NAm winners

^{Winners of the undergraduate and graduate student competitions. From L to R: Kathryn Henley, Lydiane Aubé, Ashley Birakos, Hannah Pearsall, Christopher Byrd, Erin Davis, and Megan R. LaFollette (Catherine Hixson not pictured)}

2017 NAm cheese

^{Local cheese was part of the social hour before dinner}

2017 NAm banquet

^{Deep conversation among attendees at the conference banquet}

2014

The 2014 North American Regional Meeting was held at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan, USA from May 30-31. You will find the proceedings on the ISAE Meetings page.

Other meetings of interest in North-America 2016

Autres conférences d'intérêt en Amérique du Nord en 2016

40ème Congrès Annuel de la Société Québécoise pour l'Étude Biologique du Comportement (SQEBC) à l’Université du Québec à Rimouski du 4 au 6 novembre 2016, sous le thème « Comportement 2.0 : vers une approche intégrée ». http://www.er.uqam.ca/nobel/sqebc/

16th Animal Welfare Judging & Assessment Contest, in Columbus (OH), November 12-13, 2016. http://www.awjac.org/

2016 American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior Meeting in Las Vegas (Nevada), December 9-11, 2016. http://avsabonline.org/symposium

Regional news

Nouvelles régionales

In Spring 2013, a survey was conducted to determine the interest of Canadian ISAE members for developing a collaborative database for professors, research scientists, post-docs and students in applied ethology across Canada. The result of this survey can be found here: Can ISAE Network Survey results.