Shasta Webb

PhD Candidate; Dr. Melin's Lab, Department of Anthropology & Archaeology

University of Calgary

Host-Parasite Interactions

BA (cum laude) – Anthropology

Macalester College, 2013

MA – Biological Anthropology

University of Calgary, 2017

Contact information

Location

University of Calgary, Main Campus : Earth Sciences720A

Courses

2020 - Introduction to R & RStudio Workshop Series at University of Calgary

  • Co-creator and co-instructor (with Dr. Mareike Janiak) for virtual workshop series geared toward graduate trainees new to R-coding

Research and teaching

Activities

My research focus on questions of plasticity in how animals cope with seasonal environments. Specifically, I investigate the potential short-term roles the gut microbiota of capuchins may play in helping them cope with changing environmental resources. In my PhD research, I combine behavioural primatology methods in the field with metagenomics methods in the laboratory to explore host-microbe symbioses and their connection to plasticity and adaptation in wild animal systems. Thus far, my work has focused on a population of wild, white-faced capuchin monkeys at Sector Santa Rosa, Área de Conservacion Guanacaste in Guanacaste, Costa Rica.


Biography

In 2013, I received my Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology from Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota under the supervision of Dr. Scott Legge. My undergraduate honours project explored human-non-human primate interactions with a focus on white-faced capuchin monkeys (Cebus capucinus imitator) in Costa Rica.

In 2016, I moved to Calgary, Alberta to begin a Master of Arts program in Biological Anthropology at the University of Calgary.

Under the supervision of Dr. Amanda Melin, I completed my MA in 2017. My MA thesis focused on how wild, white-faced capuchin monkeys at Sector Santa Rosa—located in the Área de Conservación Guanacaste, Costa Rica—cope with increased energy costs associated with pregnancy and lactation. In late 2017, I began my PhD—also with Dr. Melin whereby I am working on gut microbiota and behavioural flexibility in white-faced capuchin monkeys in response to short-term environmental changes

Outside of research, I’m passionate about bicycling in essentially every form. I am a (mostly) 4-season bike commuter in Calgary, and I spend the summers mountain biking and bikepacking whenever possible. In the past couple of summers, I have worked with Two Wheel View, a Calgary-based non-profit organization that uses bikes as tools to build resiliency in youth. I have led multiple youth bike tours for Two Wheel View in Alberta and British Columbia. I am also a passionate sourdough bread baker, mild coffee nerd, enthusiastic birder, and Oakland Athletics fanatic—topics I will happily chat about with interested folks.

 

 


Publications

Amanda D. Melin, Katharine M. Jack, Jeremy D. Hogan, Fernando A. Campos, Eva Wikberg, Gillian King-Bailey, Shasta E. Webb, Urs Kalbitzer, Norberto Asensio, Evin Murillo-Chacon, Saul Cheves Hernandez, Adrian Guadamuz Chavarria, Colleen M. Schaffner, Shoji Kawamura, Filippo Aureli, Linda Fedigan. (In review, 2020) Contributions from long-term research on three primate species in the Área de Conservación Guanacaste, Costa Rica. Biotropica.

Joseph D. Orkin*, Shasta E. Webb*, and Amanda D. Melin. (2019). Small to modest impact of social group on the gut microbiome of wild Costa Rican capuchins in a seasonal forest. American Journal of Primatology. 0:e22985.

Amanda D. Melin, Shasta E. Webb, Rachel E. Williamson, and Kenneth Chiou (2018). Methods in Primate Foraging Ecology. In U. Kalbitzer & K. M. Jack (Eds.), Primate Life History, Sex Roles, and Adaptability - Essays in Honour of Linda M. Fedigan. Switzerland: Springer International Publishing.


Awards

2018-2021 - Alberta Innovates Technology Futures Scholarship (PhD)  

2018-2021 - Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship (NSERC)

2017-2021 - UCalgary Eyes High Doctoral Recruitment Scholarship  

2016-2017 - Dr. D. Grant Gall Graduate Student Traineeship

2016 - Alberta Innovates Technology Futures Scholarship (MA)