Focus on Fellows: Alex Sutton
Published
2025-12-15As a 2016 Weston Fellow, Alex Sutton studied Canada Jays at the southern edge of their range, focusing on juvenile survival and dispersal.
Today, he’s a lecturer in North Wales researching global change ecology - the study of how human activities and large-scale environmental changes are impacting ecosystems around the world.
Could you tell us about the research you did as part of your Weston Fellowship with WCS Canada?
Alex Sutton: The work I did was studying the Canada Jay, formerly known as the Gray Jay. My PhD research focused on understanding why a population of Canada Jays at the southern edge of their range was declining. I built a population model, but one of the big unknowns was juvenile survival.
The Weston Fellowship allowed me to launch a new project where we radio-tagged nestlings to track where they dispersed and how many survived. We believed juvenile survival was one of the main drivers of the decline.
Was there anything surprising about this research?
AS: Canada Jays are known as a resident species - they live and breed on year-round territories and usually spend all their time in relatively small areas. But with the radio telemetry study, we found they were dispersing much farther than expected. Some traveled just to the next territory, while others went several kilometers across the landscape.
It was remarkable to see how far they could go. One of the most exciting parts was going into areas we’d never surveyed before, unsure whether we’d find the bird alive. And then suddenly, it would emerge from the trees, settling into a new territory where we hadn’t known Canada Jays to be before.
What are you working on now?
AS: I’m a lecturer in North Wales - a little bit different than Canada - and I generally study global change ecology questions. I’m still really interested in understanding the effects of climate change and how they affect not only individuals, but also populations and the communities they’re part of. My research interests are quite broad, but most of my work focuses on birds and plants. More recently, I’ve been looking at how humans influence wildlife and how those human–wildlife interactions add complexity to understanding climate-change effects in a changing climate.
From your perspective, how has the conservation context in Canada changed since you began your career?
AS: I’ve been a bit more disconnected from Canadian conservation since moving away in 2020, but overall it feels both exciting and disheartening. There’s been a big push to bring conservation to the forefront of many conversations, and the general public is thinking more about conserving animals and the complexities that come with it - including human dynamics like how we use habitats. At the same time, conservation is still too often framed around species that are valuable to humans, which makes the balance tricky. We also need to conserve species that might not be immediately “useful” to people but are broadly important for ecosystems. Striking that balance between human priorities and wider ecological importance remains a key challenge.
Where do you think organizations like WCS Canada can have the most impact?
AS: I think in part it’s really by supporting young scientists. I was lucky enough to receive funding, but I know students before and after me who received support from WCS Canada as well. All of us really benefited, not only in terms of being able to pursue the science we were interested in during graduate school, but also in getting perspective on working with larger organizations.
For me, it was always exciting to see WCS - not just the Canadian chapter but also international chapters - doing such interesting and diverse work. That combination of supporting graduate students and acting as a bridge between academic communities, the general public, and policymakers is so important. It means conservation initiatives can be brought forward from multiple perspectives, not just a single one, and those perspectives are all vital.
How did the Weston Fellowship help shape or support your career path?
AS: I think it was really helpful in a lot of different ways. It gave me a boost for applying for funding - and actually receiving some - and let me do a project that was related to my PhD but not part of my immediate goals at the beginning. It gave me a platform to build from, as well as experience working with external partners and understanding how grants work.
The project then led into a multi-year effort. The grant provided the baseline and data collection that facilitated other grant applications with Ontario Parks and the Ministry of Natural Resources in Ontario, which helped us build out the project to look at multiple years of dispersal and juvenile movement and how they informed broader trends of Canada Jays in the park.
Do you have any advice for someone just starting out in conservation?
AS: This is always tricky - I tell my students something similar when I teach about climate change and its effects on wildlife: don’t get too bogged down in the negative stories. There’s too often a focus on what hasn’t worked or on the negative aspects of conservation - like when a major construction project goes ahead. There’s always hope in some aspect of conservation where you can make a difference, even if it seems small, or focused on a very specific species, or something along those lines. Those efforts can snowball in unexpected ways. Stay hopeful, try not to be too pessimistic, and keep pushing on - and allow yourself to follow your interests while working toward the goals that drew many of us into conservation in the first place.
