And now for something completely different….

Between 2019 and 2023, my work took a detour away from bats, to horses and dunes! I was so fortunate to work as a Research Manager for the Sable Island Institute. They have partnered with Parks Canada to launch a large study to better understand the very unique, every-changing ecosystem on this beautiful, majestic, remote island: Fences in the Sand

With upwards of 500 horses grazing on the island, a frequent question that gets asked is “how do the horses influence the island’s ecosystems and organisms”? To answer this, we excluded horses from 9 plots (1ha or less) on the island and changes in plant and animal communities are being monitored and compared to where horses continue to have access.

Before excluding the horses, I spent 2 months during summer 2021 collecting data on the island’s geomorphology, soil quality, soil communities, plant communities, and invertebrate communities. I had a lot of help from an amazing field technician, Erica Geldart, as well as the awesome Parks Canada Summer Intern, Almeera Ahmed.

Erica (L) & Krista (R) using quadrat to sample plant community. Photo credit: Almeera Ahmed

L – R: Krista, Erica Geldart, Almeera Ahmed, Dan Kehler ,

The data we collected will be used to monitor changes over 4 years to examine what happens when horses are excluded from the 9 areas. To exclude horses, myself, Parks Canada staff, and a hard-working group of volunteers spent 2 weeks in the fall building electric fences.

In 2022, myself and Alex Newall collected the first year of data after installing the fences. These data will continue to be collected by members of the Sable Island Institute and Parks Canada until 2025. Stay tuned to Fences in The Sand to see what they find out!