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Albrecht Schulte-Hostedde

Albrecht Schulte-Hostedde

Full Professor, School of Natural Sciences
School of Natural Sciences
Science, Engineering and Architecture
S-614, Science Building
705.675.1151 ext 2356 aschultehostedde@laurentian.ca

Biography

My parents emigrated to Toronto in the 1960s, and I was born and grew up in southern Ontario. I have had a life-long interest in animals and science, peaking in 1985 when I won first place in the Behavioural Sciences category as well as the Junior Coordinator's Award at the Hamilton District Science and Engineering Fair for my Gr 8 project "Hamsters and Mazes". After completing high school and a mediocre competitive swimming career, I went to the University of Western Ontario, where I completed a degree in Ecology and Evolution. Graduate school at Guelph (MSc) and back at Western (PhD) was focussed on small mammal evolutionary ecology, particulary the evolution of female-biased sexual size dimorphism in mammals (especially the yellow-pine chipmunk), while I worked on sperm competition in fish (lake whitefish, bluegill sunfish, walleye) and snakes (northern water snake) during my NSERC post-doc at Queen's University. I was hired at Laurentian in 2003, after a contentious and narrow departmental vote. In 2011 I was appointed a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Applied Evolutionary Ecology, which ended in 2022. I have been a visiting researcher as part of sabbatical visits to the Institut de Recherche pour la Developpement (IRD) with Karen McCoy (2016) and the Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionelle et Evolutive (CEFE) with Anne Charmantier (2023), both in Montpellier, France. I have been involved in governance on council of the Canadian Society for Ecology and Evolution, the Board of the Canadian Council on Animal Care, the Terrestrial Mammal Subcommittee of the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC), and the Board of the Algonquin Wildlife Research Station. I also serve/served as an Associate Editor/Editorial Board member for the journals Wildlife Research, Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, and Behavioral Ecology. 

Education

  • BSc - University of Western Ontario 1994
  • MSc - University of Guelph 1997
  • PhD - University of Western Ontario 2002
  • NSERC PDF - Queen's University 2002-2003

Academic Appointments

Canada Research Chair (Tier 2).- Applied Evolutionary Ecology (2011-2022)
Member - Terrestrial Mammal Subcommittee - Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) (2016-2023)
Secretary - Canadian Society for Ecology and Evolution (2017-2024)
Vice-Chair - Algonquin Wildlife Research Station
Associate Editor - Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology
Associate Editor - Wildlife Research
Associate Editor - Behavioral Ecology (2021-2023)
​Adjunct Professor - Trent University

On The Web

Evolutionary and Behavioural ecology of Vertebrates Lab 

Download vCard aschultehostedde@laurentian.ca 705.675.1151 ext 2356 @AlbrechtS_H

Research

Our research is generally of two types. First, we are interested in testing hypotheses in evolutionary and behavioural ecology, focussing on host/parasite interactions, sexual selection, and population/landscape genetics. In general, we use our long-term study of small mammals in Algonquin Provincial Park for our research, as well as urban populations of chipmunks here in Sudbury. Second, we are interested in using an evolutionary ecology framework to inform conservation science. To that end, we have worked with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, and the Toronto Zoo on various research projects related to pathogens, urban ecology and captive breeding programs. In general, our lab is highly collaborative, and we often have a number of colleagues involved in our work. Students that have graduated from our research group have gone on to graduate studies at other institutions (e.g. McGill Univ, Univ Alberta, Univ Windsor) or work for government, NGOs and the private sector.

Contact me via e-mail - aschultehostedde@laurentian.ca

Awards

  • Laurentian University Research Fellowship (2024-27)
  • Canada Research Chair (Tier II) - Applied Evolutionary Ecology (2011-2021)
  • Early Researcher Award - Ontario (2005)

Teaching

BIOL 3006 - Evolutionary Biology
BIOL 3007 - Evolutionary Medicine (on-line)
BIOL 4717 - Animal Behaviour

Publications

Google Scholar page - https://scholar.google.ca/citations?hl=en&user=rvneI7UAAAAJ 
(* indicates trainee/graduate student)

  • Ouellette, R.*, and A.I. Schulte-Hostedde. In Press. Effects of urbanization on diet in eastern chipmunks (Tamias striatus) as determined by stable isotopes. Canadian Journal of Zoology.

  • Van Leeuwen*, P.M.L., G. Mastromonaco, N. Mykytczuk, and A.I. Schulte-Hostedde. 2024. Captivity conditions matter for the gut microbiota of an endangered obligate hibernator. Conservation Physiology. 12:coae072.

  • Charmantier, A., T. Burkhard, L. Gervais, C. Perrier, A.I. Schulte-Hostedde and M. Thompson. 2024. How does urbanization affect natural selection? Functional Ecology. 38: 2522-2536.

  • Ouellette*, R., G. Mastromonaco, C.J. Garroway, and A.I. Schulte-Hostedde. 2023. Fecal glucocorticoid metabolites are correlated with urbanization but not body condition in eastern chipmunks (Tamias striatus). Urban Ecosystems. 26:1483–1492.

  • Falconer*, S., M. McAdie, G. Mastromonaco, and A.I. Schulte-Hostedde. 2023. Assessing stress physiology within a conservation breeding program for an endangered species. Conservation Physiology. 11:coad041.

  • Pyott*, B., L.M.M. Meads, A.L.M. Froese, S.D. Petersen, A.M. Mitchell, and A.I. Schulte-Hostedde. 2023. Evaluating captive-release strategies for the Western Burrowing Owl (Athene cunicularia hypugaea). Avian Conservation and Ecology. 18:20.

  • ​Van Leeuwen*, P.M.L., S. Falconer*, J. Veitch*, B. Pyott*, B. Hughes*, I. Zimmerman*, and A.I. Schulte-Hostedde. 2023. Zoos as sentinels? A meta-analysis of seroprevalence of terrestrial mammalian viruses in zoos. EcoHealth. 20:43–52.

  • Fellin*, E., and A.I. Schulte-Hostedde. 2022. Tick infestation effects on hemoglobin levels of deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus). Parasitology. 149: 209-217.

  • ​Veitch*, J.S.M., J. Bowman, G. Mastromonaco, and A.I. Schulte-Hostedde. 2021. Corticosterone response by Peromyscus mice to parasites, reproductive season, and age. General and Comparative Endocrinology. 300: 113640

  • Van Leuwen*, P., N. Mykytczuk, G. Mastromonaco, and A.I. Schulte-Hostedde. 2020. Effects of captivity, diet and relocation on the gut bacterial communities of white-footed mice. Ecology and Evolution. 10: 4677-4690.