CURRICULUM VITAE
Dr. Sarah Fortune - Academic history
January 2022 - Present
CANADIAN WILDLIFE FEDERATION CHAIR IN LARGE WHALE CONSERVATION, DALHOUSIE UNIVERSITY
Assistant Professor, Department of Oceanography
September 2020- December 2021
WESTERN FAMILY NORTHERN SCIENTIST, FISHERIES AND OCEANS CANADA
Postdoctoral fellow, Freshwater Institute
January 2019-September 2020
POSTDOCTORAL FELLOW, UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
Institute for Oceans and Fisheries, Marine Mammal Research Unit
September 2013 - November 2018
PHD, UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
Institute for Oceans and Fisheries, Zoology Department
and
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Biology Department (Guest Student)
September 2009 - April 2012
MSC, UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
Fisheries Centre, Zoology Department
September 2003 - April 2007
BAH, QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY
Environmental Science and Political Studies
SCIENTIFIC COMMUNICATION
PUBLICATIONS
Fortune, S., A. Trites, V. LeMay, M. Baumgartner and S. Ferguson. 2023. Year-round
foraging across large spatial scales suggest that bowhead whales have the potential to
adapt to climate change. Front Mar Sci 9:1827.
Pontbriand, T., G. Davoren, S. Fortune, C. Pomerleau, B. Young, S. Ferguson. 2023.
Differences in individual bowhead whale Balaena mysticetus habitat use, foraging dive
depth and diet during peak feeding season. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 706:109-123.
Halliday, W., N. Baron, J. Citta, J. Dawson, T. Doniol-Valcroze, M. Ferguson, S. Ferguson, S Fortune, L. Harwood, M. Heide-Jørgensen, L., Quakenbush, B. Young, D. Yurkowski, S. Insley (2022). Overlap between bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus) and vessel traffic in the North American Arctic and implications for conservation and management. Biological Conservation 276:109820.
McHuron, E., S. Adamczak, J. Arnould, E. Ashe, C. Booth, D. Bowen, F. Christiansen, M. Chudzinska, D. Costa, A. Fahlman, N. Farmer, S. Fortune, C. Gallagher, K. Keen, P. Madsen, C. McMahon, J. Nabe-Nielsen, D. Noren, S. Noren, E. Pirotta, D. Rosen, C. Speakman, S. Villegas-Amtmann, R. Williams (2022). Key questions in marine mammal bioenergetics. Conserv Physiol 10(1): 10.1093/conphys/coac055.
Sidrow, E., N. Heckman, S. Fortune, A. Trites, I. Murphy, and M. Auger-Méthé. 2021. Modelling multi-scale state-switching functional data with hidden Markov models. Canadian Journal of Statistics 50(1) 327-356.
Fortune, S., M. Moore, W. Perryman and A. Trites. 2021. Body growth of North Atlantic right whales (Eubalaena glacialis) revisited. Marine Mammal Science 37(2): 433-447.
Fortune, S., S. Ferguson, A. Trites, J. Hudson, and M. Baumgartner. 2020. Bowhead whales use two foraging strategies to maximize consumption of zooplankton in Cumberland Sound, Nunavut. Scientific Reports 10: 20249.
Gavrilchuck, K., V. Lesage, S. Fortune, A. Trites and S. Plourde. 2021. Foraging habitat for North Atlantic right whales has declined in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Canada and is insufficient for successful reproduction. Endangered Species Research 44: 113-136.
Fortune, S., B. Young and S. Ferguson. 2020. Age and sex-specific movement, behaviour and habitat use patterns of bowhead whales in the Eastern Canadian Arctic. Polar Biology 43:1725-1744.
Fortune, S., S. Ferguson, A. Trites, B. LeBlanc, W. LeMay, and M. Baumgartner. 2020. Seasonal and diel changes in bowhead whale feeding behaviour. Marine Ecology Progress Series 643: 197-217.
Agbayani, S., S. Fortune, A. Trites. 2020. Growth and development of North Pacific grey whales (Eschrichtius robustus). Journal of Mammalogy 3: 742-754.
Young, B., S. Fortune, W. Koski, S. Raverty, R. Kilabuk, and S. Ferguson. 2019. Observation of a bowhead whale carcass following a recent attack by killer whales in Cumberland Sound, Nunavut. Arctic Science 1:53-61.
Fortune, S., W. Koski, J. Higdon, A. Trites, M. Baumgartner, and S. Ferguson 2017. Evidence of molting and the function of “rock-nosing” behavior in bowhead whales in the eastern Canadian Arctic. PLoS ONE 12 (11): e0186156.
Reinhart, N., S. Fortune, P. Richard, and C. Matthews. 2014. Rare sightings of white-beaked dolphins (Lagenorhynchus albirostris) off southeastern Baffin Island, Canada. Marine Biodiversity Records 7:1-5.
Fortune, S., A. Trites, C. Mayo, D. Rosen, and P. Hamilton. 2013. Energetic requirements of North Atlantic right whales and the implications for species recovery. Marine Ecology Progress Series 478:253-272.
Fortune, S., A. Trites, W. Perryman, M. Moore, H. Pettis, and M. Lynn. 2012. Growth and rapid early development of North Atlantic right whales (Eubalaena glacialis). Journal of Mammalogy 93:1342-1354.
REPORTS
Fortune, S. and A. Trites. 2014. COSEWIC Status Report on North Atlantic right whales (Eubalaena glacialis) in Canada. Prepared for Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada.
BOOK CHAPTER
George, J., L. Horstmann, S. Fortune, T. Sformo, R. Elsner, & E. Follmann. (2021). Chapter 16 - Thermoregulation and energetics. In J. George & J. Thewissen (Eds.), The bowhead whale Balaena mysticetus: biology and human interactions (pp. 237–260).
AWARDS
W. Garfield Weston Postdoctoral Fellowship in Northern Research (2020)
W. Garfield Weston Postdoctoral Fellowship in Northern Research (2018 declined)
Emily Gallagher Memorial Award Best Graduate Student Talk (2018)
Dean Fisher Memorial Scholarship in Zoology (2017)
W. Garfield Weston Foundation Award (2016-2018)
BRITE Travel Award (the NSERC CREATE Training Program in Biodiversity Research) (2015)
People’s Choice Best Poster at Canadian Fisheries Research Network AGM (2014)
Michael Smith Foreign Study Supplements Program (NSERC) (2014)
Four Year Fellowships (PhD), University of British Columbia (2013-2017)
Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarship (NSERC CGSD) (2013-2016)
Faculty of Science Graduate Award, University of British Columbia (2010-2011)
Ruth Hiebert Memorial Fellowship (2009)
Queen’s Entrance Merit Award of Excellence (2003)