sCRIbbles

2010 Hynes Lecturer is Prof. Stuart Bunn, Director, Australian Rivers Institute

2010-09-22T15:40:00.005-04:00

The CRI is delighted to announce our upcoming 8th Hynes Lecturer,Professor Stuart Bunn, Ph.D., Director of the Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith University, Brisbane, and Australian Water Commissioner. His major research interests are in the ecology of river and wetland systems with a particular focus on the science to nderpin river protection and restoration, including the assessment of environmental flows and aquatic ecosystem health.

Professor Bunn has extensive experience working with international and Australian government agencies on water resource management issues. He is the Chair of the Scientific Advisory Panel for the Lake Eyre Basin Ministerial Council, Deputy Chair of the Scientific Expert Panel for the Southeast Queensland Healthy Waterways Partnership and leads the Australian Climate Change Adaptation Research Network for Water Resources and Freshwater Biodiversity. In 2008, he was appointed as an Australian National Water Commissioner.

Please mark your calendars for Professor Bunn's Hynes Lectures:
1) Public lecture: Balancing water needs for humans and nature. 20 October 2010,7 pm, UNB Saint John, Hazen Hall Lecture Theatre.

2) Science Lecture: Using stable isotopes to understand river foodwebs. 22 October 2010, 3 pm, UNB Fredericton, Loring Bailey Hall, Room 146.

For further information, please contact Dr. Karen Kidd, Hynes Lecture Committee (kiddk@unbsj.ca), or Heather Boyd-Kinnie (hkinnie@unb.ca,506-453-4770),Communications and Marketing Coordinator.

http://www.unb.ca/research/institutes/cri/about/hynes.html

NB Museum (Saint John) hosts Waterscapes display - 1 Jun to 6 Sep

2010-07-08T14:29:00.003-04:00

Yours to Enjoy, Explore and Protect
From June 1 to september 6, 2010

Explore some of Canada’s beautiful waterscapes in this fun, new exhibition. Discover the amazing diversity of life that depends on our aquatic ecosystems. You can follow an imaginary Whooping Crane’s ‘diary’, listen to frog calls, and even create your own ocean sounds! From the Great Lakes to our seashores, we are a nation connected by water.

Visit Canada’s Waterscapes and find out how you can help protect our most precious resource. Located at the NB Museum, 1 Market Square, Saint John NB.

Also associated with the exhibit is the RBC National Lecture Series (at NB Museum as well):
- 15 July, 7pm: Dr. Kelly Munkittrick - New Brunswick Waterscapes: A Rich but Threatened Resource.
- 12 August, 7pm: Dr. Karen Kidd - Why Small Amounts of Pollution Can Cause Big Problems for Fish in Canada.
- 26 August, 7pm: Dr. Donald McAlpine - Frogwater: parasites, deformed frogs, and other bizarre stuff that swims in the water you might drink.

Exhibition produced by Canada Museum of Nature.
With support from Canadian Geographic.
Presented nationally in partnership with Parks Canada, NSERC, the Canadian Water Network, and the RBC Blue Water Project.

NB Water Grandmother program gets some attention

2010-06-22T15:26:00.003-04:00

Cecelia Brooks (NB Water Grandmother) and Allen Curry (CRI Director)
Photo credit: Shawn Berry

The Daily Gleaner and NB Telegraph Journal printed articles on June 22nd announcing the NB Environmental Trust Fund funding and creation of the Water Grandmother program through the CRI.

Cecelia Brooks has had a great relationship with the CRI over the past few years and now we are happy to be able to have her as a CRIer and as New Brunswick's Water Grandmother!

Please click on the links below to read the articles written recently on Cecelia and the CRI's new water education program for First Nations communities in NB, and also visit her new website that will feature her project as it progresses.

Daily Gleaner article
NB Telegraph Journal article

It's a GIRL

2010-03-12T09:05:00.005-04:00

Mark Gautreau (Curry Lab Technician and CRI Gradaute Student), his wife Lisa, and the new big brother Riley are proud to announce that they have added a little baby girl to the family.

Born on March 12, she weighed in at 7 lbs 15oz and both baby and mom Lisa are doing really well.

Welcome Julia Marie Gautreau to the CRI Baby Club!

Upcoming Water Themed Talks at UNB

2010-03-11T11:04:00.002-04:00

World Water Day is March 22nd and here are a few water-themed events/lectures happening here at UNB.

UNB Undergraduate Engineering Society initiative:

March 15 .2010
The Global Water Crisis
Lynn Patterson, Director of Corporate Responsibility, RBC

March 19 .2010
Future Engineers must Lobby for Public Policy
Geoff Norququay, Principal of Earnscliffe Strategy Group

April 6 .2010
Vertical Farming
Dr. Dickson Despommier, Columbia University

UNB Department of Political Science:

The Department of Political Science invites you to an interdisciplinary
FORUM ON ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS

March 18, 2010
Keynote Speaker: Andrew Biro, Acadia University
‘Water Wars’ from Global to Local: Violence and the Production of Scarcity
5:30 pm, Tilley Hall Room 5

Afternoon Lectures
3 - 5 pm, Tilley Hall Room 223:
Rusty Bittermann, St.Thomas University
Teaching (and researching) water and world history

Louise Comeau, University of New Brunswick
Power politics and the environment: the case for citizenship, critical
thinking and environmental ethics

Tom Beckley, University of New Brunswick
Science, pseudo science and social science in forest policydevelopment in New Brunswick

Janice Harvey, University of New Brunswick
The Green Party of Canada on the left-right political spectrum

Reception to follow at 5 - 5:30 in Tilley Hall Room 2

Poster

CRI in the News - Millions in research money to flow to Rivers Institute

2010-02-24T12:47:00.003-04:00

Harbour: Study could one day help developers provide better environmental impact assessments

(original published Feb 22, 2010 - April Johnson, Telegraph Journal)

SAINT JOHN - Researchers at the Canadian Rivers Institute will start testing Saint John Harbour next fall as part of new pilot project whose findings could one day be used to help protect the environment.

Kelly Munkittrick, associate director of the Canadian Rivers Institute, will be doing research in the fall on the health of many forms of life in the local harbour.

The institute, based out of the University of New Brunswick Saint John, will receive millions in federal funding to launch a partnership with different industries and groups who have an interest in what is discharged into the harbour.

"What we're trying to do broadly within the Canadian Water Network is come up with a unified framework and philosophy for water monitoring," said Kelly Munkittrick, associate director of the Canadian Rivers Institute.

Researchers will collect baseline data from the harbour - on anything from water contaminants to sea life - that will be accessible to anyone who needs data for environmental impact assessments.

The assessments are required for any new developments - such as the shelved second oil refinery at Eider Rock, which is going through the final stages of an environmental assessment now.

Federal rules require developers to not only assess what impact the new construction will have on the immediate environment, but also how it will interact with other existing or proposed developments.

But there has not been any consistency in the timing of sampling or how things are monitored, Munkittrick said.

"We're hoping to provide that baseline, so there is more consistency as development happens," he said.

The Canadian Rivers Institute, in partnership with the Canadian Water Network, has done more than 90 studies on the St. John River since 2002, but the work isn't entirely useful to companies that perform impact assessments, he said. The questions asked in research and in potential developments aren't necessarily the same.

"We want to come up with a common framework for the different types of monitoring that goes on, so they all feed in to one another," he said.

Saint John will be the first of about six other locations in the country to have the baseline monitoring. The other places have not yet been determined.

Munkittrick said the institute chose Saint John because it has a long history of working on the St. John River system.

The amount of proposed development and the city's potential to become an energy hub was another big factor, he said.

"It's exciting because of the opportunity to see the results of research actually make a difference to how the environment is managed on a large scale," he said.

It's also a way to keep a focus on sustainable development, he said.

"It will give people confidence that we'll be able to detect the problem if one is out there and be able to help clean it up."

Munkittrick doesn't yet know how much funding he will get for the project, but it's expected to be in the millions, he said. The research will likely attract more academics and students to the area.

Munkittrick will meet with potential partners on Tuesday to explain the concept and get feedback on what kind of research should be done. Partners will likely include the Saint John Port Authority, the provincial and federal governments, Saint John Water and the local fishermen's association.

Munkittrick made a presentation to common council last week. Council members were happy to hear about the influx of research and development dollars to the region.

CRI sCRIbbles WINTER EDITION 2010

2010-02-01T16:10:00.002-04:00

I am lucky enough to get to publish this edition from a warm location down in Florida. Here is a nice picture of a manatee that we met shortly after getting here.

I hope everyone gets the chance to read through this edition of sCRIbbles, thanks to all that made contributions - if you see something missing, contact your sCRIbe or make sure you give them the information before each deadline (3rd week of Jan, May, and Sep). If you are a sCRIbe and I missed adding something you sent me, contact me directly.

If you have any comments, please email me: m.gray@unb.ca.

Thanks everyone and stay warm,
Michelle Gray 'editor' sCRIbbles

Recent Happenings - Courtenay Lab

2010-02-01T15:30:00.000-04:00

Jordan Musetta-Lambert

Jordan is researching how the coastal development of rocky structures (ie. breakwaters & coastal armouring) in the Southern Gulf of St. Lawrence influence changes in productive capacity of the disturbed area. This fall, Jordan sampled and tested methodologies at breakwaters in New Brunswick, along the Bay Chaleur, the Northumberland Strait, and in Miramichi Bay. Jordan is currently working in the lab identifying algal and invertebrate species collected, and calculating biomass estimates. He is also preparing for the next more intensive field season, which includes learning to SCUBA dive to allow him to sample the base of the rocky structures. Next season will include sampling sites that encompass the shores of Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and New Brunswick, along the Southern Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Allan Debertin

Allan has completed stomach sample analysis on pelagic fishes (smelt, mackerel, sandlance, herring, and alewife) caught during the July-August 2009 DFO survey of the Northumberland Strait. This analysis is part of his master’s project on the predator-prey interactions of zooplankton and their predators, pelagic fishes, within the Northumberland Strait. Allan is currently writing a paper which will describe the physical characteristics and zooplankton biomass of the Northumberland Strait through mapping and spatial analysis.

Allison Schein

Allison has graduated from the University of Prince Edward Island with a Master’s degree in Science. Allison completed a thesis on entitled: “The estuarine fish community and food web structure in areas of sea lettuce (Ulva lactuca) and eelgrass (Zoatera marina) within the Stanley river estuary, Prince Edward Island”. Allison has moved back to her home in Vancouver, BC from Fredericton, NB conveniently in time for the 2010 Olympic Games. The Courtenay lab wishes her the best of luck in her future endeavors.

Jared Tomie

Jared has been continuing his work on burrowing behaviour and substrate selection of the American eel at the Mactaquac Biodiversity Facility. He has set up experiments that simulate overwintering habitat and allow eels to select from a rocky or muddy bottom. These experiments will continue until early spring when natural water temperatures begin to rise. Jared has also performed experiments to map the three dimensional structure of eel burrows. These experiments rely on carefully excavating eels that are burrowed in the mud. This winter, Jared will also be traveling around the Maritimes to interview fisheries officers about eel habitat based on summer and winter fishing sites.

Recent Happenings - Culp Lab

2010-02-01T15:20:00.000-04:00

Students from CRI Fredericton: Allison Ritcey, Laura Noel, Erin Foster, Alexa Alexander, Heidi Leblanc

Post-doc: Jen Lento (joining us in March 2010)

UNB Staff: Jessica McPhee, Adam Bliss

EC Staff: Eric Luiker, Dave Hryn and Kristie Heard

Fall synopsis, but a number of other projects are ongoing – watch for updates in future bulletins!
• Allison Ritcey (CRI Fredericton) has been processing cotton strips all fall and is now spending time working on identifying benthic macroinvertebrates collected in her MSc field sampling in northern Labrador.

This past summer was her second field sampling to assess the ecosystem structure and function of streams in the Torngat Mountains National Park. Together with Dea Chute from the Curry lab – these two can usually be found in the NWRI lab (room 208).

• Laura Noel (CRI Fredericton) is back from a leave of absence, part-time, to finish writing her dissertation. Felix [new son!] is doing quite well, and although he hasn’t been in a river yet, he loves it in the bathtub!

• Erin Foster (CRI Fredericton / NB Dept. Environ) is planning to defend her MSc thesis this winter. Congrats Erin!

• Alexa Alexander has been keeping busy attending multiple workshops (TERA) and conferences (ATW). She particularly enjoyed the drive to the Aquatic Toxicity Workshop in Charlevoix this fall along the St. Lawrence River.

St. Lawrence River on the ferry to Charlevoix... (Photo ACA)

• Also, the new postdoc (Jen Lento below) will be joining us in March 2010 – we can’t wait!

• Joseph Culp attended the Freshwater Biodiversity Monitoring in Canadian Arctic Workshop in Victoria, Dec 7-8, 2009. In preparation for the first international meeting of the Freshwater Expert Monitoring Group (FEMG) of the Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Program (CBMP), Canadian experts convened prior to the ArcticNet Conference to discuss how Canadian research and monitoring can be integrated and summarized to better meet future monitoring needs of the North.

• Joseph also helped to organize the TERA (Trait-based Ecological Risk Assessment) workshop in Burlington, Sept 7 to 11th, 2009. Thirty, international researchers attended the workshop to develop and discuss the application of trait based approaches. A fun time was had by all! We had beautiful weather, good food and terrific discussions!

Recent Happenings - Kidd Lab

2010-02-01T15:10:00.000-04:00

The past few months have been a busy one in the Kidd Lab, even as the field season wraps up. Heidi Swanson defended her PhD on the 1st of December " Interactions of fish
ecology, life history, food web structure, and mercury bioaccumulation in coastal Arctic lakes”.

Leanne Baker won first place in the poster competition at the 37th ATW conference in October, and is now a NABS certified taxonomist.

Karen Kidd accepted two prestigious appointments:
1) Member of the Lakes Working Group for the Global Environment Facility
Project 'Enhancing the use of Science in International Waters projects to
improve project results', United Nations, Dec 09 - Dec 11.

2) Member of the Local Organizing Committee for the 10th International
Conference on Mercury as a Global Pollutant conference, Halifax, NS (24-29
Jul 2011), Dec 09 - Jun 11.

An example of a divided pond involved in Leanne’s work.

Geoff winning the ‘esteemed’ ugliest Christmas sweater prize at the annual GSA Christmas Party.

Chris, Leanne and Joe on their last field day in early December.

Presentations:

Kidd, K. Is the birth control pill an effective form of contraception for wild fishes? Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, ON, 6 November 2009.

Karen and Heidi gave two talks at SETAC in New Orleans:

Kidd, K. and T.D. Jardine. Mercury biomagnification in streams, lakes and oceans - does field data support lab studies? Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) Meeting, New Orleans, LA, 20-23 Nov 2009.

Swanson, H.K. and K.A. Kidd. When stable isotopes are not enough: importance of basic ecology in models of fish mercury concentration. SETAC Meeting, New Orleans, LA, 20-23 Nov 2009.

Recent Happenings - MacLatchy Lab (Wilfred Laurier)

2010-02-01T15:00:00.000-04:00

The MacLatchy Lab would like to thank everyone at Irving Pulp and Paper, Irving Paper and Lake Utopia Paper for hosting an interesting and informative two day gathering in December. The opportunity to present recent data and to tour the mills was invaluable (especially to the students who had never been on a mill tour before!).

Recent Happenings - Munkittrick Lab

2010-02-01T14:50:00.000-04:00

Gila Somers finished her late fall/ early winter season electrofishing for slimy sculpin within the Kennebecasis watershed in November and December.

She was joined by members Kennebecasis Watershed Restoration Committee, Jake Oulette from University of Saskatchewan, Murray Somers (Curry Lab) and JA Sumith (Munkittrick Lab, from Sri Lanka); who had his first experience doing field work in negative degree Celsius temperatures.

Tim Barrett will be presenting a seminar on January 21 on “Level of biological organization for monitoring and assessing impacts of industrial effluents on fish: Population or community?”

Tim Barrett and Gila Somers will be presenting their MSc thesis proposals at UNBSJ on February 11th.

New Dr. Thijs Bosker has started his post-doctoral fellowship with the CRI. He is working with Drs. Kelly Munkittrick and Deb MacLatchy on standardizing a mummichog reproductive tests for endocrine disrupting substances.

Thijs Bosker has attended the Aquatic Toxicity Workshop in Charlevoix, Quebec, and presented some of his PhD work.

David Deslauriers (Supervisor: Dr. Jim Kieffer, CRI Associate UNBSJ) submerged himself in Asian culture on his visit to an International workshop on sturgeon.

Recent Happenings - Newbury

2010-02-01T14:40:00.000-04:00

Dr. Bob Newbury did it again - he wrapped up another hugely successful and well received Stream Restoration: Design and Monitoring course (Oct 26-30, 2009).

The 2009 course offering was held in Penticton, British Columbia. Participants came mainly from Canada (YT, BC, AB, SK, ON, and NB) with a few from the USA (WA, OR) and one well traveled participant from the Australian Rivers Institute in Queensland, Australia (Griffith University).

The field day mid-way through the course was absolutely fantastic - everyone traveled by bus to the town of Oliver, BC to see 3 projects that Bob has been instrumental is seeing through from idea to implementation. As an absolute bonus it was right at the time that the sockeye salmon were in the Okanagan River to have their one and only chance at reproduction. The projects that Bob has been involved with have created habitat and opened up habitat that have been unavailable to sockeye salmon for decades.

1. Okanagan Riffle project

2. Okanagan River Remeander project. You can see new salmon redds that the sockeye created and are using after finding the perfect Froude number... (wanna know what that means, take the course in 2010! :))

Project news article.

3. McIntyre dam project.

Recent Happenings - Peake Lab (UNB)

2010-02-01T14:30:00.000-04:00

Claire Hrenchuk and Kelly Sparks have completed the first year of their MSc degrees. Let’s hope the next one is as successful as the first!

Bill Tibble attended the 63rd Annual Canadian Conference for Fisheries Research (CCFFR) in Winnipeg, Manitoba in January. He presented some work from his MSc research: Winter Movement and Habitat Use of a Lacustrine Population of Brook Char (Salvelinus fontinalis), in Little Bear Cave Pond, Newfoundland.

Tommi Linnansaari, post-doc with Steve Peake and Rick Cunjak

After 1.5 years of working with the Centre for Environmental Design of Renewable Energy (CEDREN) at the SINTEF Energy Research in Trondheim, Norway I decided to return to New Brunswick to work in the Miramichi River once more. This time, the main research activity in the Miramichi River revolves around the effects of high water temperature events on the survival and movements of Atlantic salmon parr. Specifically, is movement to cold-water refugia (evolutionarily) adaptive in terms of survival and to what extent is the spatial distribution of salmon parr affected after the high temperature events?

I am also involved in publishing the ‘left-overs’ from my Ph.D. thesis considering river ice and effects on juvenile Atlantic salmon, continuing collaboration with Norwegian colleagues who work on hydropeaking effects on stream biota and also further developing new Passive Integrated Transponder techniques for fish research.

Finally, I will try to give support to any of Steve Peake’s graduate students during his sabbatical, if the students see this as useful.

Recent Happenings - St. Hilaire Lab

2010-02-01T14:20:00.000-04:00

André St. Hilaire and Anik Daigle are participating in a project on thermal refugia for salmonids along with 3 CRI Fellows (Rick Cunjak, Allen Curry and Kerry MacQuarrie). They are developping water temperature models with the objective of simulating the possible loss of thermal regugia in the future associated with climate change. Their work is focusing in three rivers: the Little Southwest Miramichi, the Ouelle and the Ste-Marguerite.

A new student, Julien Mocq, will begin his Ph.D. this winter. He will continue the development of a fuzzy-based habitat model for juvenile rearing and spawning habitat for Atlantic salmon.

Dae Jeong is working on development of a statistical downscaling method in order to generate multisite climate information. General Circulation Models (GCMs) commonly operate at large spatial scales and provide a reasonable representation of global and continental scale processes. Statistical downscaling is a way to infer local information from coarse scale information by applying statistical links between large scale fields and local conditions.

Anik Daigle is working on different projects which are:

1) the comparison of Parametric and Non Parametric estimations of Annual Water Temperature Cycle Starting Date (with André St-Hilaire, Taha B.M.J. Ouarda, INRS-ETE; and Laurent Bilodeau, Hydro-Québec)

2) Multivariate modeling of water temperature in the Okanagan system (with André St-Hilaire, INRS-ETE; Daniel Peters and Donald Baird, Environment Canada)

3) Analyses of streamflow characteristics of Quebec and Atlantic Provinces rivers (with Daniel Caissie and Loubna Benyahya, Fisheries and Oceans; André St-Hilaire, INRS-ETE; and Dan Beveridge, UNB.)

Sandra Proulx-Mc Innis. Hydrological budget and mapping of a highly aqualysed fen, Baie-James, Quebec. MSc candidate. 2010.
• Sandra went several times in northern Québec, to collect her data and appreciating sun, peat and... all kinds and sizes of mosquitos… Now, she is analysing flows, evapotranspiration, water levels and topographic data of this highly aqualysed fen. She is working on daily and seasonal hydrological budget to write her first paper.

Hélène Higgins. Estimation and modeling of annual suspended sediment yield using turbidity measurements and hydroclimatic data in the Saint John river, New-Brunswick. MSc student. 2010.
• In New-Brunswick, she learned how to deal with rain when working with computers... (see below). Field season came to an end for her project on November 25th, when she took down her turbidity-measuring instruments at her two sites along the Saint John River. Now the fun starts; analysing all these high frequency data and trying to get a clear story out of it! But beforehand, she is off for a “break” semester; she will be working as a hydrologist (yeah!) for Environment Canada in Ottawa all winter. Back to INRS in May!

Mohammed Aziz Es-Salhi. Comparative analysis of suspended sediment concentrations downstream of harvested peat bogs. Does the addition of hydraulic structures improve sedimentation pond efficiency? (co-supervised by M. Clément and S. Courtenay). MSc student. 2009.
• Aziz monitored suspended sediment concentrations downstream of two harvested peat bogs in New Brunswick for two years. He has now finished his field work and writing his thesis!

Valérie Ouellet. Impacts of water temperature extremes on fish habitats in St. Lawrence River. PhD student. 2010.
• Valérie is finishing the water temperature model which is finally working after months of trying simulating daily water temperature for each hour. Hard programming time! But now, fun is coming, she will begin the fuzzy logic habitat model and adapts the model for the St. Lawrence River.

Recent Happenings - U of Manitoba Campus

2010-02-01T14:10:00.000-04:00

Craig McDougall recently presented a poster titled “Course scale movement patterns of juveniles/subadult lake sturgeon in a small Winnipeg River reservoir” at the Canadian Conference for Fisheries Research held in Winnipeg, MB (7-9 Jan). Craig is now preparing for the 2010 field season.

Cam Barth and Cheryl Klassen had the opportunity of a lifetime to travel to Wuhan, China and participate in the 6th International Symposium on Sturgeon.

Both presented work from their PhD projects which were well received by an audience that consisted of the world’s top sturgeon scientists. Following four days of talks, participates had the chance to travel outside the city to visit the Three Gorges Dam and release Chinese sturgeon into the Yangtze River. It was also an opportunity for these prairie CRI students to meet fellow CRI’er, David Leslauriers, from UNBSJ (Kieffer Lab). Overall, it was an eye-opening experience not soon to be forgotten!
(L-R: Cam Barth, Cheryl Klassen, David Deslauriers)

Recent Happenings - UPEI campus

2010-02-01T14:00:00.000-04:00

Megan Finley, former PhD student in the van den Heuvel lab, was accepted into first year of the DVM program at the Atlantic Veterinary College and began her studies in Sept 2009. Congratulations and good luck Megan!

The members of the van den Heuvel Lab as well as members of the Hogan and Teather Labs recently attended the 2nd Atlantic Regional Fish Physiology Conference in beautiful St. Andrews, NB.

Christina Pater (MSc student) gave a presentation entitled “Reproductive and population characteristics of northern pipefish (Syngnathus fuscus) in sea lettuce vs. eelgrass dominated habitats”.

Sean MacNeill presented part of his undergraduate research project, “In vitro evaluation of seasonal sex steroid hormone levels produced by the gonads of threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus).”

CRI in the NEWS

2010-02-01T13:20:00.000-04:00

This article was written and appeared online at CBC PEI on Jan 9th and featured the research project of Garry Gregory, an MSc candidate supervised by Dr. Mike van den Heuvel (CRI Fellow).

Disease could be killing Island muskrats: researcher

A contagious bacterial disease could be contributing to the decline in Prince Edward Island's muskrat population, says a graduate student from the Atlantic Veterinary College. Gary Gregory, who is studying the problem, presented his preliminary findings to the P.E.I. Trappers Association on Saturday.

"At least in one area where we examined, we found a disease — Tyzzer's Disease — that had not previously been found on Prince Edward Island, which is known to cause muskrat death," he said.

"It can cause the animals to become lethargic, not eat properly, and it can also just cause death in animals without any clinical signs at all.

"It's difficult to determine whether this is playing an important role in this decline or not."

The research was prompted by reports from trappers of declining muskrat catches in marshes across the Island, said Gregory. Areas that used to produce about 200 muskrats several years ago now only have about a dozen, he said. The provincial government commissioned the study to find out what was going wrong. Muskrats have historically made up about half of the province's fur harvest. They are an important source of food for foxes, coyotes and birds of prey.

Gregory, who is about halfway through his two-year project, said his research hasn't revealed any problems with muskrat reproduction. He plans to look into the effect of contaminants next. If environmental factors are hurting the muskrat population, they could affect other species as well, he said.

CRI 2009 HBN Hynes Lecture

2010-02-01T13:00:00.000-04:00

Photo from the Hynes Public Lecture Public Lecture: The Weird and Wonderful World of River Ice held on 21st October, 2009; 7 pm in Loring Bailey Hall, room 146, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton.

CRI Fellows with the 2009 Annual HBN Hynes Lecturer: Dr. Faye Hicks. (L-R: Donald Baird, Rick Cunjak, Faye Hicks, Karen Kidd, Allen Curry, Katy Haralampides, Simon Courtenay)

This year's Hynes Lecturer was Dr. Faye Hicks, one of the leading experts on river ice. Dr. Hicks is a professor at the University of Alberta, where she teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in hydraulics, and has research interests in the areas of river ice processes and hydraulics, ice jam flood forecasting, and environmental impacts of river ice.

This lecture explored both freeze-up and breakup processes on rivers, a topic critical to New Brunswick. This lecture was attended by ~120 and included researchers, professors, scientists and personnel from provincial, federal and local governments.

This lecture may be viewed and downloaded by clicking here.

CRI Retreat - Oct 2009

2010-02-01T12:50:00.000-04:00

CRI RETREAT FALL 2009:

The CRI retreat on Saturday, October 24th, was well attended and enjoyed by graduate students and fellows alike despite a bit of rain.

After an update from Allen Curry and Susan Farquarson, attendees leapt into the wonderful world of knot tying with Ed Trippel only to discover a bowline was more difficult than many of the fellows thought!

In the afternoon, “10 Most Common Statistical Mistakes” was presented by CRI post-docs and researchers: Tommi Linnansaari, David Armanini, Brittany Graham and Wendy Monk.

No more common errors here! Thanks to everyone for helping the Student Liaison Committee make the retreat happen!

CRI Spotlight - Chris Martyniuk

2010-02-01T12:45:00.000-04:00

Dr. Chris Martyniuk is CRI's newest Faculty member and also holds the newest Canada Research Chair (CRC)... that makes 6 CRC's in the CRI for anyone who is counting :).

We have a previous posting on sCRIbbles about Chris coming to the CRI, but I asked Chris for some info about himself so he could introduce himself some more to the CRI Community at large.

I recently commenced my appointment as an Assistant Professor at UNBSJ in the CRI (Fall 2009). My post-doctoral fellowship was held at the University of Florida where I was also an Assistant Research Professor prior to the move up North. My Ph.D. was completed at the University of Ottawa (Biology), M.Sc. at the University of Guelph (Zoology) and B.Sc. at Simon Fraser University (Biology).

My wife April and I have one little boy, Ethan, who was born Oct. 30th 2009 in Gainesville, Florida. I am originally from southern Ontario, a small town called Sarnia located along the St. Clair River. Coincidently, Karen Kidd is also originally from this small town, our parents living less than 5 km from each other. Small world!

My research uses molecular biology to address ecological questions, primarily how environmental contaminants affect fish. This research aims to increase the sensitivity of tools used to address global concerns over wildlife and human health, water resources, and risks to pollutants.

More specifically, my research investigates how pollutants (pesticides, herbicides, pharmaceuticals, industrial waste, and sewage effluent) affect cell processes and disrupts signalling pathways (via genomics and proteomics) along the reproductive axis in fish. I correlate reproductive physiology, molecular biology, bioinformatics, and tissue morphology into a “systems’ biology approach to study aquatic ecotoxicology.

New CRI People

2010-02-01T12:35:00.000-04:00

Courtenay Lab

Elise Keppel will also be applying NaGISA protocols for her MSc with Drs. Ricardo Scrosati and Simon Courtenay at Saint Francis Xavier University, Antigonish Nova Scotia, in January 2010. Elise will be studying seaweed and invertebrate biodiversity of vegetated rocky coastal environments in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Curry Lab

Kathryn Kuchapski will be working in the Benthic Macroinvertebrate (BMI) lab thanks to Environment Canada’s Science Horizon Program.

Cecelia Brooks has started a Masters in Philosophy in traditional knowledge of water resources. Cecelia is the Science Director of the Maliseet (Wolastoqiyik) Nation Conservation Council.

Melissa Lee has started a Masters in Environmental Management working on water use and management in NB blueberry operations.

UPEI CAMPUS

Heather Wotton – originally from Charlottetown, PE (Diploma in Bioscience Technology, Holland College; BSc in Environmental Science, Royal Roads)
Aquatic animal care, endocrine toxicology, molecular biology. Full-time Lab Technician, started Oct 2009.

Brad Scott – originally from Cornwall, PE (BSc, MSc UPEI)
Mechanisms of androgen sensitivity in fishes. PhD Candidate, started Jan 2010.

Completed Students

2010-02-01T12:25:00.000-04:00

St. Hilaire Lab

Simon Tardif. Comparative hydrology of ombrotrophic bog, minerotrophic fen and lakes in James Bay in an aqualyse context. PhD student.

• Simon has successfully defended his thesis in December. Good work Simon!

Dan Beveridge. Hydrological indices for the prairie provinces. MSc student.

• After a long battle, Dan Beveridge finally won against his thesis and will graduate in May. He is now cross-country skiing and looking at Lake Winnipeg water quality data.

Journal Articles/Books/Conference Proceedings/Reports

2010-02-01T12:20:00.000-04:00

Peer-reviewed Journal Articles

Bosker, T., K. Munkittrick, and D. MacLatchy. 2009. Challenges in current adult fish laboratory reproductive tests: suggestions for refinement using a mummichog (Fundulus heteroclitus) case study. Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 28: 2386-2396.

Clément, M., A. St-Hilaire, D. Caissie, A. Chiasson, S. Courtenay, and P. Hardie. 2009. An evaluation of mitigation measures to reduce impacts of peat harvesting on the aquatic habitat of the East Branch Portage River, New Brunswick, Canada. Can. Water. Resour. J. 34(4): 441-452.

Martyniuk C.J., B. Sanchez, M.J. Szabo, N.D. Denslow, and M.S. Sepúlveda. 2009. Contaminant effects on male largemouth bass brain transcripts involved in reproduction. Aquatic Tox. 95:1-9.

Martyniuk C.J., K.J. Kroll, W.F. Porak, C. Steward, H.J. Grier, and N.D. Denslow. 2009. Seasonal relationship between, gonadotropin, growth hormone, and estrogen receptor mRNA expression in the pituitary of female and male largemouth bass. Gen. Comp. Endocrinol. 163:306-17.

Martyniuk C.J., S. Alvarez, S. McClung, D. Villeneuve, G.T. Ankley, and N.D. Denslow. 2009. Quantitative proteomic profiles for androgen signaling in the liver of fathead minnows. J. Proteome Res. 8:2186-2200.

Melvin, S., K. Munkittrick, T. Bosker, and D.L. MacLatchy. 2009. Sensitivity of mummichog (Fundulus heteroclitus) and fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas) exposed to pulp mill effluent in adult reproductive tests: detectable effect size and bioassay power. Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 28:2416-25.

Tardif, S., A. St-Hilaire, R. Roy, M. Bernier, and S. Payette. 2009. Statistical properties of hydrographs in minerotrophic fens and small lakes in mid-latitude Québec, Canada. Can. Water Resour. J. 34(4):365-380.

Whitfield, P.H., A. St-Hilaire, and G. van der Kamp. 2009. Improving hydrological predictions in peatlands. Can. Water. Resour. J. 34(4): 467-478

Whitfield, P., A. St-Hilaire, D. Caissie, A. Chiasson, S. Courtenay, and P. Hardie. 2009. Introduction to peatlands special issue: Improving hydrological prediction in Canadian peatlands. Can. Water. Resour. J. 34(4): 303-310.

Wyn, B., K.A. Kidd, N.M. Burgess, and R.A. Curry. 2009. Mercury biomagnification in the food webs of acidic lakes in Kejimkujik National Park and National Historic Site, Nova Scotia. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 66: 1532-1545.

2010 CRI Training Courses

2010-02-01T12:10:00.001-04:00

Here is an overview of what the CRI currently has on offer for training in 2010.

April 6 - December 3, 2010
Canadian Aquatic Biomonitoring Network (CABIN) online training program - Environment Canada has developed a standardized protocol/program for study design, collection, analysis, and interpretation for aquatic macroinvertebrates in wadeable streams. CRI will be offering the 2010 online training starting April 6th. There are 4 different training levels from $50-$400, with full-time students/NGOs/First Nations paying $50-$200.

June 4 - September 30, 2010
Backpack Electrofishing certificate course - online and field components
The course material is provided online and upon completion of the final test, participants attend and participate in a half-day field practicum. Folks will get an overview of the safety issues, machine components and proper operation, and then get to wear and use the pack as well as net some fish. $400 per person regular, $200 for full-time CRI students/NGOs/First Nations.

TBA VERY soon sometime in August 2010
River Habitats and Hydraulics Field Course - BIOL 6183 / CE 6414 - this 3 credit hour graduate-level field course is open to students and professionals. The 2010 offering will be held at the Queen's Universty Biological Station (about 5km north of Kingston, ON).

Topics to be covered include fluvial geomorphology, open-channel hydraulics, environmental perturbations, habitat survey and sampling design, benthic invertebrate identification and ecology; fish identification, habitat requirements and ecology; nutrient/trophic dynamics; impact assessment and river habitat restoration.

Late Sep-early Oct, 2010 - dates to be determined shortly
Stream Restoration: Design and Monitoring - this is currently a non-credit field course. The course is designed for those with an interest in stream restoration, design, and monitoring. Participants will receive instruction in fluvial hydrology, ecological considerations, restoration design and technical details, and aquatic monitoring and assessment. The course will be a combination of lecture and field components. A current large-scale stream restoration project will be visited to demonstrate the applications and stream and biological monitoring in the field.

This course is now a 3-day course and will be offered in late Sep/early Oct (dates to be determined shortly).

More info on each course will be added to, and can be found by visiting:
http://www.unb.ca/research/institutes/cri/opportunities/courses/index.html

Personals - Curry Lab

2010-02-01T12:01:00.000-04:00

After completing her M.Sc. with Dr. Allen Curry in the spring, Rosalyn Smedley is now working at the Atlantic Salmon Conservation Foundation (ASCF).

Personals - U of Manitoba

2010-02-01T12:00:00.000-04:00

Cam Barth and Cheryl Klassen spent a week in Beijing following the sturgeon conference. A few highlights included walking (or sliding) along the Great Wall, visiting Tiananmen Square, entering the Forbidden City, seeing the 2008 Olympic Park and feasting on some great food with new friends.

Dr. Karen Kidd's Paper Featured as the "Hot Paper on Ecology" for December!

2009-12-10T17:00:00.005-04:00

Dr. Karen Kidd's paper is featured in the December issue of TheScientist.com.

KA Kidd et al., “Collapse of a fish population after exposure to a synthetic estrogen,” Proc Natl Acad Sci, 104(21):8897–901, 2007. (Cited in 86 papers)

Dr. Kidd is a CRI Fellow and Professor at the Canadian Rivers Institute and Biology Department at the Saint John Campus of UNB. She holds the Canada Research Chair in Chemical Contamination of Food Webs.

Congratulations Karen!

CRI Welcomes Dr. Chris Martyniuk!

2009-12-10T14:07:00.006-04:00

Dr. Chris Martyniuk, Canada Research Chair in molecular biology, is the newest researcher to join the CRI and the Biology Department on the UNBSJ campus. He joined our UNB family on November 1, 2009.

Chris has a science degree from Simon Fraser University, has a graduate degree from the University of Guelph, and has a PhD in molecular biology from the University of Ottawa.

Chris's research focuses on the effects of pesticides, herbicides and industrial waste on fish genetics. This leading edge research is critical to understanding the effects of these toxins on human health and fish health which will potentially impact future environmental policy.

Welcome aboard Chris!

Click here for an article on Chris's arrival in the NB Business Journal (Dec 7, 2009)

MOvember a HUGE success

2009-12-03T15:16:00.003-04:00

Jason Hallett, a CRI grad student, helped to organize a Movember competition (moustache growing competition in November) to help raise awareness and funds for Prostate Cancer Canada. Team BioMOgnification (lots of Biology Dept and CRI members were involved) raised a total of $3,237.25 (!!!) for Prostate Cancer Canada.

- $267.25 from the votes for the Best Mo and Faux Mo competition

- $220 for the original entrance fees and donations specifically from the competition

- The remaining money raised was collected through online donations made to individual competitors

Prize Winners

Best Mo (moustache) - Matt Marleau

Best Faux Mo - Katrina Chu

Most online donations as of the 12:01 AM Dec. 1 cut off time - Aaron Fraser

Jason would like to extend special thanks to David Armanini, Katrina Chu, and Heather McCracken for their help in organising the event, as well as the biology department, participants, and donors that made the competition such a fund raising success.

The boys...

The girls...

Fall 2009 sCRIbbles edition

2009-10-13T09:35:00.000-04:00

Welcome to the Fall 2009 edition of sCRIbbles. Everyone is back from their busy summer and field seasons and back in the regular grind of the new academic school year.

I wish everyone a productive year and welcome all of the new students to the CRI! I hope everyone plans on attending this year's retreat and gets to mingle and meet as many CRI folks as you can.

Winter came early to us out in Manitoba - the white stuff is coming whether you like it or not, stay warm!

- Michelle Gray 'editor'

Please mark your calendar (if you have not already) to attend both the public and research lectures by this year's HBN Hynes Lecturer - Dr. Faye Hicks.

Public Lecture: Wednesday, October 21st, 7 pm (Rm 146, Bailey Hall, UNB-Fredericton)

Scientific Lecture: Thursday, October 22nd, 11:30 (Rm 115 Ganong Hall, UNB-Saint John.

CRI Funny

2009-10-13T09:33:00.001-04:00

This comes to us from a previous lab member for Deb MacLatchy at Laurier, Jen Ings.

She was in the lab one day during working on her project, and a professor was giving a tour to his young son. He pointed out the tanks and said, “In these tanks are fish called mummichog.”

The boy replied: “If these are all the mummichog, where are the daddy-chogs?”

TRUE STORY!

Recent Happenings - Baird Lab

2009-10-13T09:30:00.000-04:00

An exciting international SETAC workshop on Trait-based Ecological Risk Assessment (TERA) was hosted by Environment Canada at the CCIW in Burlington from 7th -11th September 2009. Donald Baird, Joseph Culp, Tim Pascoe, Paul van den Brink, Steve Maund and PhD. Student Mascha Rubach organized the workshop because of our realization that taxonomy‐based descriptions of natural systems place limitations on our ability to describe ecological responses to stress. The workshop particularly identified problems associated with potential trait ontologies in order to take the first steps towards developing a collaborative platform for sharing trait information. As a first and immediate result in order to start a web-based ontology for traits in this field, we created an online community at http://new.freshwaterlife.org/web/tera.

Recent Happenings - Courtenay Lab

2009-10-13T09:25:00.001-04:00

Allan Debertin is back from working aboard the Canadian Coast Guard Ship (CCGS) Opilio for his field research. The research survey of the Northumberland Strait this year was very successful due to good weather and very few equipment problems. 234 sites were sampled in the Strait this year as far West as Escuminac point, NB to areas East of Souris, PEI. Many thanks extended to the captains, crew and field assistant Jesse Kelly for their help with this project.

Mike Sweezey has been continuing work this summer studying American eel on the Upper Salmon River in Alma, New Brunswick. He has used various telemetry techniques including passive integrated transponder tags and radio tags to track the movements of individual eel in the system throughout the summer. Mike has found that eel captured in freshwater in the spring have migrated to the saltwater estuary which they have utilized as a summer feeding ground. Mike will continue to tag and track individual eel this fall to determine what habitat they will utilize as overwintering grounds (i.e., will the eel stay in the saltwater estuary or move back into fresh water for overwintering). Mike then hopes to again characterize the overwintering microhabitats of individuals in the Upper Salmon River.

Jason Hallett gave a talk at was the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) Study Group on Anguillid Eels in Saline Waters from September 3-5, 2009 in Gothenburg, Sweden. He also participated in the joint ICES/European Inland Fisheries Advisory Commission (EIFAC) Working Group on Eels from September 6-12. This working group focused on fisheries reporting, stock assessment and management of European eel stocks. This year there was a small delegation from Canada (3 individuals out of 34 participants), so there was a small component on the current status of the American eel.

Erinn Ipsen headed north for the summer as a research assistant in Churchill, Manitoba. In Churchill, she had the chance to further familiarize herself with marine science (and the ever present polar bear!) on the coast of Hudson Bay. Now she is starting research on the Musquash estuary, NB for her MSc project.

Recent Happenings - Culp Lab

2009-10-13T09:20:00.000-04:00

• Joseph, Donald, David A., Jessica O. and Alexa from CRI Fredericton attended the TERA (Trait-based Ecological Risk Assessment) workshop in Burlington, Sept 7 to 11th, 2009. Thirty, international researchers attended the workshop to develop and discuss the application of trait based approaches. A fun time was had by all! We had beautiful weather, good food and terrific discussions!

• Alexa is participating in Envirothon, Canada's largest highschool science competition, again this year with our first workshop at Mactaquac Provincial Park September 22nd, 2009. Persons interested in participating in Envirothon are invited to get in touch with Alexa at their convenience!

• Alexa is attending the ATW workshop in La Malbaie, Charlevoix, QC, September 27 to 30th, 2009. If anyone needs a ride, let me know!

• Joseph Culp and Eric Luiker from Environment Canada and CRI Fredericton and Daryl Halliwell from Environment Canada’s Saskatoon office spent a week in mid-July collecting algae, invertebrates and water samples from 27 Arctic streams in Sirmilik National Park on Baffin Island. The research is part of the International Polar Year project Arctic BioNet which is a research network focused on increasing our understanding of Arctic freshwater biodiversity along a latitudinal gradient ranging from the eastern Canadian High Arctic to the subarctic.
Dea Chute and Allison Ritcey near a large glacier in the McCornick River valley, northern Labrador.

• Allison Ritcey from CRI Fredericton returned to northern Labrador this summer to complete field sampling for her MSc thesis on the ecosystem structure and function of streams in the Torngat Mountains National Park. The aims of her research are to establish patterns in algal biomass production and organic matter decomposition, and to investigate how these processes relate to food chain length, complexity and diversity. Establishing ecological patterns will provide the basic understanding of these systems that is needed to predict climate change impacts that may affect Arctic charr and will also aid development of the Park’s freshwater biomonitoring program. This summer Allison had lots of fun working with Inuit students and Elders and enjoyed running a student workshop on stream ecology alongside Dea Chute from the Curry lab!

• Research is currently being conducted by Dr. Culp and Dr. AdamYates (Environment Canada, Burlington) to evaluate how community structure and function and ecosystem processes in tributaries of the Red river affects the transmission, retention and removal of nutrients. Tributary watersheds of the Red river are heavily used for agriculture and have been hypothesized to be important sources of nutrient input to Lake Winnipeg. Ecological monitoring tools will be developed to allow evaluation of the effectiveness of current and future management activities. Water chemistry, instream metabolism, benthic macroinvertebrates as well as stream and riparian plants are all being sampled in 2009 and 2010 along the longitudinal profiles of two southern Manitoba tributaries to the Red River and a study of approximately 20 Manitoba subwatersheds is being initiated in 2010 to determine how differences in the extent and type of nutrient releasing human activity relate to ecological condition (i.e., instream metabolism, benthic macroinvertebrate community structure, N15/N14 ratios of invertebrates and plants). Together these two research components will enhance understanding of instream nutrient dynamics in the tributary streams of the Red River Basin in support of the Lake Winnipeg Basin Initiative (LWBI) objective of addressing and managing non-point source contributions of nutrients in the watershed and ultimately to the lake.

Recent Happenings - Curry Lab

2009-10-13T09:18:00.008-04:00

Dr. Allen Curry taught BIOL 4373 Coral Reef Fishes of Cuba with Drs. Coqui Aguilar Betancourt and Gaspar Gonzalez from the University of Havana (and are also CRI Associates).

The course brings UNB students together with students from the University of Havana for a week long course with snorkeling in reefs around Cuba. This year was a super success, with the main drama being an encounter of a Portuguese Man O' War by two of the UNB participants - both escaped with some nice welts and a great story to tell.

The instructors left the students to snorkeling once in a while to dive down a bit deeper and explore Cuba underwater.
(left to right: Ivan-Dive Master, Mark Gautreau (CRI UNB-F), Michelle Gray (CRI UNB-F), Robyn O'Keefe (Dept of Biology UNB-F), Allen Curry (CRI UNB-F)).

Dea Chute and Allison Ritchey just finished their final field season for their MSc. projects in Northern Labrador

Bear monitor John Anderson keeping watch as Dea and Allison measure and sample juvenile Arctic charr at a stream site in northern Labrador.

Bear monitor Bennett Barbour and Allison Ritcey at one of Andrea Chute's stream sites in the Torr Bay Brook watershed in northern Labrador

Andrea Chute received a poster award at the Association of Canadian Universities for Northern Studies (ACUNS) 9th International Student Conference: Communities of Change--Building an IPY Legacy, which took place in Whitehorse, Yukon from October 2-5th.

Bill Tibble assisted Allen Curry this summer with Allen and Joseph Culp’s ongoing biomonitoring of Arctic rivers project funded by the International Polar Year. This 3-year project is establishing baselines for biological monitoring of Canada’s Arctic river ecosystems.

Allen Curry (CRI Director) sampling Arctic charr on the Koroc River.

Bill Tibble the Bear Monitor

WARNING - not for the squeamish folks...

Bill Tibble sampling his own finger.

NOTE: please see the posting from June 2009 "Recent Happenings Peake Lab" to see more of Bill Tibble's personal field surgery pictures - that time on his thumb (you would think he would learn... one more event and we will have a 'trend'!!)

Recent Happenings - Kidd Lab

2009-10-13T09:17:00.002-04:00

The Kidd Lab recently attended the 37th annual Aquatic Toxicity Workshop in La Malbaie, Charlevoix, Quebec. Karen Kidd gave her presentation, entitled “Is the birth control pill an effective form of contraception for wild fishes?” to a conference room so full there was standing room only.

Leanne Baker presented a poster on her Ph.D work for several hours to dozens, if not more, interested and question filled individuals. The remainder of the lab kept themselves busy by attending presentations, and volunteering within the ATW by co-chairing platform sessions, judging posters, etc.

At the Aquatic Toxicity Workshop, Karen Kidd won the highly-coveted Baby Beluga Award for having the funniest title. The award is on display in her office in Saint John.

Heidi Swanson went to the 6th International Charr Symposium in Stirling, Scotland, in June.

Karen Kidd gave two plenary presentations at workshops in Toronto and Colorado and two invited presentations in Copenhagen and Quebec City.

Meredith Clayden and Katharina Fischer made four trips to Kejimkujik National Park in Nova Scotia this summer and fall. They battled the black flies in May and collected aquatic invertebrates, sediments and water chemistry samples through the warm and sunny months of summer. There was lots of sunshine and the water was a beautiful temperature. In September they bundled up and collected fish (yellow perch, brown bullhead, white perch, golden shiner, banded killifish, and white sucker). The fish were co-operative, the fall colours were gorgeous, and there were some fun wildlife sightings; overall it was a great field season.

Recent Happenings - MacLatchy Lab (Wilfred Laurier University)

2009-10-13T09:16:00.001-04:00

• Kelly Roberts has left the MacLatchy Lab at Laurier to take up a full-time job teaching science and math at a high school in Waterloo. We wish her well in the future!
• The Laurier MacLatchy Lab made three successful trips to New Brunswick this summer to stock the lab with fish, and want to thank all involved in making this a success.

Dr. Andrea Lister has switched from a postdoctoral fellow in the MacLatchy Lab at Laurier to the position of Laboratory Research Coordinator.

Recent Happenings - Peake Lab

2009-10-13T09:15:00.000-04:00

Peake Lab

Everyone had a successful and safe field season in Pinawa, Manitoba! The Winnipeg River was quite high for most of the summer, but we managed to get most of the work done anyway. Sweet success!!

Cam Barth is on the road to completing his PhD degree and spent this past summer writing up his dissertation.

Cheryl Klassen has recently wrapped up a third summer of data collection for her PhD degree which included both laboratory studies focusing on the causes of growth rate variability among larval lake sturgeon, as well as, field studies to determine the success of past lake sturgeon stocking events.

Craig McDougall finished his first field season of an MSc degree monitoring the movements of 99 lake sturgeon he implanted with acoustic transmitters. He also collected tissue samples from approximately 180 adult lake sturgeon for a genetics study. It was a busy, but successful, season for Craig!

Recent Happenings - St. Hilaire Lab

2009-10-13T09:10:00.002-04:00

Many members of André St. Hilaire's lab participated in the 62nd National conference of the Canadian Waters Resources Association, held in Québec City last June. Valérie Ouellet and André St. Hilaire were members of the organizing committee. The conference was a huge success, with nearly 400 participants.

André St-Hilaire and Anik Daigle are participating in a project dealing with thermal refugia in salmonid rivers, along with other CRI Fellows (R. Cunjak and A. Curry). Thermographs were deployed in three rivers (Ouellet, Ste-Marguerite and Miramichi) during summer 2009. André is still looking for a student for this project.

Dae Jeong is a post-doctoral fellow working on the development of a statistical downscaling method in order to generate multisite climate information. He has two papers accepted about work he did in South Korea and another paper has been submitted with André and other collaborators.

Anik Daigle is still collaborating with André but for the fall semester she is teaching physics at the François-Xavier Garneau College in Québec City. We hope to see her back for the next semester. She recently published a paper dealing with modelling of the onset of the water temperature annual cycle in rivers and has submitted a paper co-authored by D. Baird and D. Peters on water temperature modelling in the OKanagan Valley.

Update on current students:

• Sandra Proulx-McInnis (MSc candidate) is presently in the field, collecting her data and enjoying surprises that come with working on fen environment! Sandra has designed a lysimeter that is able to take evapotranspiration measurements peatlands.
• Hélène Higgins (MSc candidate) is measuring turbidity at two sites on the Saint John River and waiting for the fall flood. She hopes that her instruments will not travel down to the Bay of Fundy and that they will still be waiting for her when she come back to look after them. She is wrapping up her first paper dealing with the characterization of suspended sediment regime on the Kenebecasis River.
• Mohammed Aziz Es-Salhi (MSc candidate)monitored suspended sediment concentrations downstream of two harvested peat bogs in New Brunswick for two years. He is now analyzing results and will be able to verify the efficiency of settling ponds for holding peat sediments. He is finishing his master and writing his first paper for publication.
• Dan Beveridge (MSc candidate) competed his thesis dealing with the selection of hydrologic indices that best characterise the flow regime of prairie rivers. He has completed his thesis and he will be defending soon.
• Valérie Ouellet (PhD Candidate) is back in the office after a summer in the field studying a lovely fish: carps! Now that she does not smell like dead fish any more, she will begin water temperature simulations for St. Lawrence River. Her first paper, dealing with statistical analysis of extreme water temperature and water levels associated with the 2001 fish mortality has been accepted for publication.
• Simon Tardif (PhD Candidate) compared the degree of wetness of various peatlands on the La Grand River drainage basin. He is finishing his thesis. Two papers are in preparation and one has been already accepted.

New People - CRI

2009-10-13T09:05:00.007-04:00

Baird Lab:

Mascha Rubach – Mascha is a Ph.D. student co-supervised by Donald Baird and Paul van den Brink at the Wageningen University in the Netherlands. Mascha was a visiting student in Fredericton for August and helped to organise the TERA workshop in Burlington ON.

Her thesis title is ‘Predicting the response of freshwater invertebrates to stress using species traits and stressor mode of action.’

Curry Lab:

Nathan Wilbur - originally from Hampton, NB (BScFE, University of New Brunswick). Co-supervisors: Kerry MacQuarrie and Allen Curry.

Thermal mapping - Cains River. MSc project

Infra-red imagery will be used to map river habitat and locate thermal refugia for Brook Trout and Atlantic Salmon. Facing changes to the climate, a continuing forest industry and clearcutting near rivers, means we must gain an understanding of the cold-water habitat in order to preserve trout and salmon in these remote rivers of New Brunswick.

Jeremy McLaughlin (BSc. University of New Brunswick). Aquatic Technician, August 2009.

Courtenay/Methven Lab:

Erinn Ipsen – originally from Wiarton, ON (BSc University of Guelph)

Investigating the near-shore fish, invertebrate and plant communities in the Musquash estuary. MSc project.

Courtenay Lab:

Mark McGraw – Originally from Saint John, NB (BSc UNBSJ)

Life history variation of marine teleosts in the North Western Atlantic. MSc Project.

My MSc project focuses on determining optimal suites of life history traits for a given set of environmental variables and is an attempt to clarify existing work by studying a more continuous and homogeneous environment.

Kidd Lab:

Geoff McBriarty
A Saint John local, Geoff completed his B.Sc. at UNBSJ in May of 2009. Starting in September with the Kidd lab he will be looking at the effect of the aquaculture anti-lousing chemical emamectin benzoate on benthic polychaete worms.

Shelley Wellman
Shelley completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Regina, before coming to Saint John to begin her Masters in Biology. She spent the summer between the Fresh Water Institute and ELA studying food web recovery in Lake 375, a former aquaculture site, using C, N and S isotopes.

Heather Loomer
A local to Saint John, N.B, Heather completed her B.Sc. at University of New Brunswick and her M.Sc. at the University of Waterloo. She will be beginning her Ph.D with Kidd lab in January 2010 looking at changes in structure and biomass storage within food webs in watersheds across a landscape based stressor gradient.

MacLatchy Lab (Laurier):

Jeremy Fulton - joined the MacLatchy Lab at Laurier in the summer and is completing his Honours BSc, investigating the ovarian follicular development of mummichog.

Tanya Nadon - worked in the MacLatchy Lab at Laurier in the summer and is completing her Honours BSc, developing a flow-through xenobiotic exposure system for mummichog.

Ibrahim Chehade - completed his undergrad degree at Wilfrid Laurier University (BSc).
MSc Project is the effects of contaminant exposure on embryonic gonadal development in mummichog.

Esteban Gillio Meina - originally from University of Buenas Aires (BSc)
Master’s thesis: the effects of contaminant exposure on steroidogenesis in mummichog.

MacQuarrie Lab:

Graham Bartlett - BScE from UNB (Civil Engineering), started MScE in Civil Engineering in September 2009.

Nathan Green - BSc from University of Calgary (Geology), started MScE in Civil Engineering in September 2009.

Barret Kurylyk - BScE from UNB (Civil Engineering), started MScE in Civil Engineering in September 2009.

Completed students

2009-10-13T09:00:00.003-04:00

Baird Lab:

Antonis Gazeas. Incorporation of ecosystem functional assessments into biomonitoring assessments. MSc. 29 Jul 2009.

Courtenay/van den Heuvel Lab:

Allison Schein. Spatial variability and environmental factors affecting the estuarine fish community and food web structure in the Stanley River estuary, Prince Edward Island. MSc. 11 Sep 2009.

Culp Lab:

Laura Grace. Measuring Stream Metabolism: Comparison of Methods and Assessment of Land-Use. MSc. 21 Sep 2009.

Curry Lab:

Rosalyn Smedley. Fish condition and community structure in an agricultural landscape. MSc project. 11 May 2009.

MacLatchy/Munkittrick Lab:

Thijs Bosker. Short term adult fish reproductive tests: evaluation, refinement and application. PhD. 3 Aug 2009.

• Continues at CRI as a post-doctoral fellow

MacLatchy Lab (Laurier):

Allison Van Slack - The mechanism of action of 17alpha-ethynylestradiol on gonadal steroidogenesis in mummichog (Fundulus heteroclitus). BSc Honours thesis. April 2009.

MacQuarrie Lab:

Dunbar, R.C.G. An assessment of the economic implications of wellfield protection zones for a rural New Brunswick community. MScE, Department of Civil Engineering (co-supervised with Dr. B. Wilson).

• Ryan defended in late June 2009 and is currently with Dillon Consulting in Fredericton, NB.

Serban Danielescu Nitrogen loadings from two rural catchments to nutrient-sensitive estuaries in Prince Edward Island. PhD, Department of Civil Engineering.

• Serban defended his PhD in July 2009 and has taken a position as Research Scientist with Environment Canada & Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Fredericton, NB.

St. Hilaire Lab:

Nicolas Guillemette. Geostatistical water temperature modelling in multivariate space. MSc student. Summer 2009. INRS.

• Nicolas finished his master during the last summer in and he is now working for Genivar in Québec City. Congratulations Nicolas!

Journal Articles/Books/Conference Proceedings/Reports

2009-10-13T08:55:00.003-04:00

Journal Articles

Allen, P.J., C.C. Barth, S.J. Peake, M.V. Abrahams, and W.G. Anderson. 2009. Cohesive social behavior shortens the stress response: the effects of conspecifics on the stress response in lake sturgeon, Acipenser fulvescens Rafinesque. J. Fish Biol. 74:90-104.

Barth, C.C., S.J. Peake, P.J. Allen, and W.G. Anderson. 2009. Habitat utilization of juvenile lake sturgeon, Acipenser fulvescens, in a large Canadian river. J. Appl. Ichthyol. 25:18-26.

Blanar, C.A., K.R. Munkittrick, J. Houlahan, D.L. MacLatchy, and D.J. Marcogliese. 2009. Pollution and parasitism in aquatic animals: A meta-analysis of effect size. Aquat. Toxicol. 93:18-28.

Blessent, D., R. Therrien, and K.T.B. MacQuarrie. 2009. Coupling geological and numerical models to simulate groundwater flow and contaminant transport in fractured media. Comput. Geosci. 35(9): 1897-1906.

Bosker, T. and K.R. Munkittrick. 2009. Often Overlooked: Biological QA/QC. Learned Discourse. Integr. Environ. Assess. Manage. 5:489-491.

Bosker T., K.R. Munkittrick, and D.L. MacLatchy. 2009. Challenges in current adult fish laboratory reproductive tests: suggestions for refinement using a mummichog (Fundulus heteroclitus) case study. Environ. Toxicol. Chem. In press - online pre-print.

Buffagni A., S. Erba, and D.G. Armanini. 2009. The lentic-lotic character of Mediterranean rivers and its importance to aquatic invertebrate communities. Aquatic Sciences. In press - online pre-print.

Daigle, A., A. St-Hilaire, V. Ouellet, J. Corriveau, T.B.M.J. Ouarda, L. Bilodeau. 2009. Diagnostic study and modeling of the annual positive water temperature onset. J. Hydrol. 370:29-38.

Danielescu, S., K.T.B. MacQuarrie, and R.N. Faux. 2009. The integration of thermal infrared imaging, discharge measurements and numerical simulation to quantify the relative contributions of freshwater inflows to small estuaries in Atlantic Canada. Hydrol. Processes. 23(20): 2847-2859.

Guillemette, N. A. St-Hilaire, T.B.M.J. Ouarda, N. Bergeron, E. Robichaud, L. Bilodeau. 2009. Feasibility study of a geostatistical modelling of monthly maximum s stream temperatures in multivariate space. J. Hydrol. 364:1-12.

González-Sansón, G., C. Aguilar, I. Hernández, Y. Cabrera1, and R.A. Curry. 2009. Factors influencing fish assemblages of coral reefs along the Northwestern Cuban shelf. Gulf Coast Res. 21: 13-21.

Irving E., D.J. Baird and J.M. Culp. 2009. Cadmium toxicity and uptake by mats of the freshwater diatom: Navicula pelliculosa (Bréb) Hilse. Arch. Environ. Contam. Toxicol. 57: 523-530.

Jardine, T.D., K.A. Kidd, R.A. Cunjak, P.A. Arp. 2009. Factors affecting water strider (Hemiptera: Gerridae) mercury concentrations in lotic systems. Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 28(7):1480–1492.

Lopes I., N. Martins, D.J. Baird, and R. Ribeiro. 2009. Genetic erosion and population resilience in Daphnia longispina O.F. Müller under simulated predation and metal pressures. Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 28: 1912-1919.

Marziali L., D.G. Armanini, M. Cazzola, S. Erba, E. Toppi, A. Buffagni, and B. Rossaro. 2009. Responses of chironomid larvae (insecta, diptera) to ecological quality in mediterranean river mesohabitats (South Italy). Riv. Res. Appl. In press - online pre-print.

Pestana J.L.T., S. Loureiro, D.J. Baird, and A.M.V.M. Soares. 2009. Fear and loathing in the benthos: responses of aquatic insect larvae to the pesticide imidacloprid in the presence of chemical signals of predation risk. Aquat. Toxicol. 93: 138-149.

Pestana J.L.T., A.C. Alexander, J.M. Culp, D.J. Baird, A.J. Cessna, and A.M.V.M. Soares. 2009. Structural and functional responses of benthic invertebrates to imidacloprid in outdoor stream mesocosms. Environ. Pollut. 157: 2328-2334.

Pooley, K.E., M. Blessing, T.C. Schmidt, S.B. Haderlein, K.T.B. MacQuarrie, and H. Prommer. 2009. Aerobic biodegradation of chlorinated ethenes in a fractured bedrock aquifer: quantitative assessment by compound-specific isotope analysis (CSIA) and reactive transport modeling. Environ. Sci. Technol. 43(19): 7458-7464.

Satapornvanit K., D.J. Baird, and D.C. Little. 2009. Laboratory toxicity test and post-exposure feeding inhibition using the giant freshwater prawn Macrobrachium rosenbergii. Chemosphere 74: 1209-1215.

Wyn, B., K.A. Kidd, N. Burgess, R.A. Curry. 2009. Mercury bioaccumulation through the acidic food webs of Kejimkujik National Park and National Historic Site, Nova Scotia. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 66:1532-1545.

Book Chapters

Curry, R.A., R.M. Hughes, M. McMaster, and D. Zafft. 2009. Coldwater Fish in Rivers. Chapter 9. In Standard Sampling Methods for North American Freshwater Fishes. Editors: S. Bonar, W. Hubert, and D. Willis. AFS Publications, Bethesda, MD. pp. 139-158.

Monk, W.A. and R.A. Curry. 2009. Ecological significance of spatial and temporal variability in stream temperatures across north-eastern North America. In Challenges for Diadromous Fishes in a Dynamic Global Environment. Editors: Haro, A. J., K. L. Smith, R. A. Rulifson, C. M. Moffitt, R. J. Klauda, M. J. Dadswell, R. A. Cunjak, J. E. Cooper, K. L. Beal, and T. S. Avery. American Fisheries Society, Symposium 69, Bethesda, Maryland. pp. 139-158.

Peer-reviewed Conference Proceedings

Daigle, A., A. St. Hilaire, J. Diatezua, N. Thiémonge and T. Ouarda. 2009. Multivariate and trend analysis of low flow hydrological indices in Québec (with André St-Hilaire, Jacquie Diatezua, INRS-ETE; Nathalie Thiémonge, Hydro-Québec; Taha Ouarda, INRS-ETE; and Luc Roy, Hydro-Québec). 62nd Annual Conference of Canadian Water Resources Association. June 9-12 in Québec City QC, Canada.

Danielescu, S., K.T.B. MacQuarrie, and R.N. Faux. 2009. Quantification of groundwater discharge to two small estuaries in Prince Edward Island. Proceedings of GeoHalifax - 10th Joint Canadian Geotechnical Society/International Association of Hydrogeologists (Canadian National Chapter) Groundwater Conference, Halifax, NS, September 2009, p. 1281-1288.

Es-Salhi, M.A. 2009. Analyse comparative des concentrations de solides en suspension en aval de tourbières exploitées: Est-ce que l'ajout de structures hydrauliques simples augmente l'efficacité des bassins de sédimentation?62nd Annual Conference of Canadian Water Resources Association. June 9-12 in Québec City QC, Canada.

Morton, S., K.T.B. MacQuarrie, and D. Connor. 2009. Measuring the hydraulic response due to aquifer clogging in the vicinity of municipal pumping wells. Proceedings of GeoHalifax - 10th Joint Canadian Geotechnical Society/International Association of Hydrogeologists (Canadian National Chapter) Groundwater Conference, Halifax, NS, September 2009, p 1323-1330.

Ouellet, V., Y. Secrétan, J. Morin, A. St-Hilaire and M. Mingelbier. 2009. Validation d’un algorithme de modélisation de la température de l’eau pour le fleuve Saint-Laurent. 62nd Annual Conference of Canadian Water Resources Association. June 9-12 in Québec City QC, Canada.

Rohde, H., B. Stewart, J. R. Lawrence, G. Swerhone, L. Wassenaar, D. Korber, P. Medihala, K. MacQuarrie, D. Connor, and S. Morton. 2009. City of North Battleford water well capture zone study. Proceedings of GeoHalifax - 10th Joint Canadian Geotechnical Society/International Association of Hydrogeologists (Canadian National Chapter) Groundwater Conference, Halifax, NS, September 2009, p. 1469-1476.

Tardif S., St-Hilaire A., Ovidio M. 2009. Modélisation statistique des régimes thermiques des affluents de la Meuse. 2nd Annual Conference of Canadian Water Resources Association. June 9-12 in Québec City QC, Canada.

Tardif S., St-Hilaire A., Roy R., Bernier M., Payette S. 2009. Hydrological comparison of aqualysed fens and lakes in the La Grande Rivière drainage basin. Part.II. 62nd Annual Conference of Canadian Water Resources Association. June 9-12 in Québec City QC, Canada.

Reports

Benyahya, L., A. Daigle, D. Caissie, D. Beveridge, and A. St-Hilaire. 2009. Caractérisation du régime naturel du débit des bassins versants de l’Est du Canada. Québec: INRS - Centre Eau Terre Environnement; Rapport de recherche R-1057. 88 pages.

Bruce, J.P., W. Cunningham, A. Freeze, R. Gillham, S. Gordon, S. Holysh, S. Hrudey, W. Logan, K. MacQuarrie, P. Muldoon, L. Nowlan, J. Pomeroy, S. Renzetti, B. Sherwood Lollar, and R. Therrien. 2009. The Sustainable Management of Groundwater in Canada, Council of Canadian Academies, Ottawa, ISBN 978-1-926558-11-0.

Gautreau, M.D. and R.A. Curry. 2009. Assessment of COSEWIC species of concern, the redbreast sunfish, and proposed threatened species, striped bass, in Grand Lake Meadow waters. New Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, Fisheries Report #03-09.

Luiker, E., J.M. Culp, L. Noel, and R.A. Curry. 2009. Are nutrient criteria protective of ecosystem health of the St. John River? New Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, Fisheries Report #01-09.

Monk, W.A. and R.A. Curry. 2009. Planning and Managing for Surface Water Abstraction on Prince Edward Island. New Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, Fisheries Report #02-09.

St-Hilaire, A., A. Daigle, D. Beveridge, D. Caissie, and L. Benyahya. 2009. Analyse multivariée des indices d’altération hydrologique de l’Est du Canada. Québec: INRS - Centre Eau Terre Environnement;Rapport de recherche R-1058. 44 pages.

St-Hilaire, A. 2009. Test préliminaire d’une sonde de mesure de la densité de la neige : Hiver 2008. Rapport de recherche R1039, iii+8pages.

Valois, A., R. A. Curry, and S. M. Coghlan. 2009. Smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu) invasion of Gulf Region rivers: evaluating the impact on Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) populations. DFO Can. Sci. Advis. Sec. Res. Doc. 2009/nnn. vi + xx p.

CRI Training - Current Offerings

2009-10-13T08:45:00.000-04:00

We have wrapped up most of our training for the 2009 year.

26-30 Oct, 2009: Stream Restoration: Design and Monitoring, Penticton BC - COURSE IS FULL

Canadian Aquatic Biomonitoring Network (CABIN) - the final sessions are happening now and will be wrapped up by December 2009. For training in 2010, contact cabin@unb.ca.

Backpack Electrofishing - the final field practicum will occur in the last week of October - if you are interested in taking the course, you must register by Friday, Oct 16th or wait until Spring 2010 for more training dates.

For more information, click here:

Graduate Student Opportunities

2009-10-13T08:30:00.000-04:00

André St. Hilaire is looking for students for two different projects about:

1) Modelling of thermal refugia in salmonid rivers.
2) Modelling of Atlantic salmon habitat suitability using expert knowledge and fuzzy logic.

Click here to learn more about the research done in André's Lab.

Personals

2009-10-13T08:25:00.001-04:00

On September 5th, 2009, Heidi Swanson married Erik Allen at a lakeshore ceremony in Alberta. Congratulations Heidi and Erik!!!

Steve Peake and Michelle Gray now have a 4-year old (wait a minute, how did that happen!). Nathan Peake celebrated his 4th birthday on Sep 28th with a few friends in Pinawa MB.

2009-08-13T12:07:00.003-04:00

Well the CRI cap is making its way around the globe! This is Dr. Jonathan Grey of the University of London in London England - wearing the cap in Africa while hanging out with a few close friends behind him (well too close for my comfort!) - he adds that one should "not try this at home"... he is safe and sound though as he sent us the pic :). Thanks Jon!

May/June 2009 edition

2009-06-27T17:53:00.003-04:00

The May 2009 edition has come a bit late - time is flying by already - I made the move to Manitoba for the summer and somehow lost track of time in there!

Thanks for all of the many sCRIbes out there that took the time to put their lab's info together. Most people are busy out there in the field these days - so I am hoping that the September '09 issue is full of updates on research projects and lots and lots of great pictures to share.

- Michelle Gray

Recent Happenings - Baird Lab

2009-06-27T17:14:00.000-04:00

North American Benthological Society Annual Meeting: May 17-21, 2009.
The Baird lab sent 4 people to the annual NABS meeting in Grand Rapids Michigan. Donald co-chaired a special session with Bernard Sweeney entitled “Environmental barcoding: Genomic Solutions for Biomonitoring” looking at the progress and challenges regarding the use of DNA barcoding in biomonitoring applications. Wendy, David, and Colin also presented their research – everyone’s talks were well received and some valuable research contacts were established.

Recent Happenings - Courtenay Lab

2009-06-27T17:12:00.000-04:00

Marc Skinner is back working on his PhD, “Examining the influence of suspended oyster (Crassostrea virginica) aquaculture on estuarine and coastal benthic communities.”

Mike Sweezey did his MSc. proposal presentation on March 31. His project is on “The Importance of Freshwater Overwintering Habitat to the Life Cycle of the American Eel.” Mike has been doing field work with his summer student, Robert Ginson, for two weeks now, fishing eel using the smolt wheel and fyke nets on the Upper Salmon River, Alma, NB. They have PIT tagged almost 200 eel and radio tagged 3 eel.

Robert Ginson releasing an eel upstream

Simon Courtenay spoke on CAMP (Community Aquatic Monitoring Program) at Andre St-Hilaire's NSERC workshop April 23-24.

Jared Tomie did his MSc. proposal presentation on April 27. His project is on “Substrate preference and burrowing behaviour of the American eel (Anguilla rostrata).” He is now setting up tanks to get started with eel experiments at the Mactaquac Biodiversity Centre.

Allan Debertin did his MSc. proposal presentation on May 11. His project is on “Predator-prey interactions between planktivorous fish and their prey in the Northumberland Strait.” He is now in the lab sorting through the stomach contents of Northumberland Strait fish.

Sarah Dickison completed her first bioassay looking at the toxicity of dispersed oil for Atlantic herring embryos.

Simon Courtenay, Marie-Helene Theriault, Allison Schein, Jared Tomie, and Allan Debertin attended the Atlantic Canada Coastal and Estuarine Science Society (ACCESS) conference at UPEI in Charlottetown from May 13 – 15. They heard some interesting talks and enjoyed a delicious banquet dinner on the 13th. Allison, Jared, Allan, and Marie-Helene all gave a talk about their projects, and Allison and Jared won first and second place, respectively, for Best Student Oral Presentation. Congratulations Allison and Jared!

Allan won the 2009 Southern Gulf of St. Lawrence Coalition on Sustainability Scholarship, valued at $5000. The Coalition offers this scholarship to encourage students to pursue research on environmental and sustainability topics in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence region. Allan will give a talk about his work to the coalition on June 11th, at their annual general meeting in Emerald, PEI. Congratulations, Allan!

Recent Happenings - Culp Lab

2009-06-27T17:10:00.000-04:00

On May 17th to 22nd the 57th Annual North American Benthological Society (NABS) meeting in Grand Rapids, Michigan was attended by CRI members Joseph Culp, Donald Baird, Kelly Munkittrick, Amanda Valois, Colin Curry, Wendy Monk, David Arminini and Alexa Alexander. The meeting was well attended with more than 800 benthic ecologists present at the very swank Amway Hotel.

Highlights included plenary presentations by Paul Ehrlich and David Allan.

From the Culp lab, a platform presentation was made by Alexa:

Alexander, A.C. and J.M. Culp. Nature versus mixture: evaluating changes in benthic assemblages due to insecticides and nutrients.

Drs Joseph Culp (past President of NABS) and Patricia Chambers organized a well-received special session on the impacts of agriculture on stream ecosystems.

A number of AEIRD scientists and their students gave presentations, including:

Developing sediment targets to prevent excessive sedimentation in
agriculturally-dominated watersheds. Joseph M. Culp, Glenn A. Benoy, Robert Brua, Andrew Sutherland, Patricia Chambers.

• Heidi has accepted a teaching position at ABU in Moncton
• Laura G. has completed a draft of her thesis
• Alexa and Allison are gearing up for another field season
• Allison Ritcey is the recent recipient of a 2009-2010 Garfield Weston Award for Northern Research from the Canadian Northern Studies Trust. The scholarship was awarded for her research involving stream processes and food web structures in northern Labrador and the relevance of the research to northerners and northern scholarship.

Recent Happenings - Kidd Lab

2009-06-27T17:05:00.000-04:00

Heidi Swanson (PhD student) won the Best Student Platform award at the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry’s Annual Meeting held in Tampa, FL. Her presentation was entitled “Transients in the north: interactions of migratory fish, climate change, and contaminant accumulation in coastal Arctic lakes.” Congratulations Heidi!!!

The first week of May we started our whole pond experiments at CFB Gagetown. Twenty-four ponds have been split into two and we are treating one side with glyphosate either on its own or in combination with N and P to examine the effects of these stressors on wetland communities. Leanne Baker (PhD student) has been in the field most days sampling the aquatic invertebrates and feeding the terrestrial invertebrates!

Recent Happenings - MacLatchy Lab

2009-06-27T17:03:00.000-04:00

Kelly Lippert Roberts (research coordinator in the MacLatchy Lab at Laurier) was married in March to Stewart Roberts. She also completed her BEd at University of Western Ontario in April.

Recent Happenings - Peake Lab

2009-06-27T17:02:00.004-04:00

Most of the Peake research crew headed out to Pinawa, Manitoba to wrestle sturgeon for the summer field season. However, they seem to catch more weeds than fish.

Bill Tibble recently headed out to Newfoundland to acoustically tag brook trout. Mr. Nice guy wanted to feel what the fishes were feeling and tried to do surgery on himself. It required 4 stitches.

Cheryl Klassen successfully completed her PhD candidacy exam this spring and received a 2-year NSERC Post Graduate Scholarship.

Claire Hrenchuk was successful in receiving an NSERC Industrial Scholarship for her MSc project.

Recent Happenings - UPEI group

2009-06-27T17:01:00.000-04:00

The Atlantic Coastal and Estuarine Science Society (ACCESS) Workshop: “Estuaries: A Threatened Resource” was held at UPEI in Charlottetown, PEI on May 13th-15th. The workshop was well attended by CRI folks and several CRI graduate students gave wonderful presentations and posters on their research. Thank-you to the Co-ordinator Mike van den Heuvel and the Organising Committee: Gary Bugden, Simon Courtenay, Martha Jones, Pedro Quijon, Jeff Davidson, Andy Trivett, Kevin Teather, Megan Finley, Christina Pater, Cindy Crane, Mark Hanson, Lori Edwards, and Jon Stackpool as well as the numerous volunteers that helped make this workshop a success.

Allison Schein (MSc candidate co-supervised by Mike van den Heuvel and Simon Courtenay) won 1st place in the Student Platform competition at the ACCESS Workshop for her presentation titled: Effects of agriculturally-derived nitrate and increased sea lettuce growth on the estuarine food web structure of Prince Edward Island. Congratulations Allison!

Monitoring PEI Amphibians for Disease

A collaborative research project led by Natacha Hogan and Kevin Teather (CRI Associate Fellows) and Maria Forzan (wildlife pathologist, Atlantic Veterinary College) will assess the presence and distribution of a chytrid fungus as a potential threat to the health of amphibians on PEI. This fungus and resulting disease outbreaks have been linked to the decline or extinction of up to 200 amphibian species worldwide. Results of this project will be used to foster awareness among the public and special interest groups regarding disease status of amphibians and make recommendations to appropriate authorities, offices and local groups for implementing measures to effectively impede the introduction and/or spread of the fungus. Summer fieldwork is underway and involves swabbing frogs at sites from across PEI for diagnostic testing for the fungus. This project is funded by the PEI Wildlife Conservation Fund and a UPEI Major Research Grant.

New People - Baird Lab

2009-06-27T17:00:00.000-04:00

Jessica Orlofske – originally from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA (M.S. Iowa State University, B.S. University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point)

Jessica is a new PhD student in the Baird Lab. She has has a combined interest in ecology and entomology and plans to investigate aquatic insect communities and their application for biomonitoring.

New People - Culp Lab

2009-06-27T16:59:00.000-04:00

Adam Yates – originally from Southwestern Ontario (BSc Env University of Guelph, MSc and PhD University of Western Ontario).
Effects of nutrient enrichment on ecological condition in Southern Manitoba streams.
PostDoctoral Project.

New People - Kidd Lab

2009-06-27T16:55:00.000-04:00

Katharina Fischer (BSc University of Guelph). MSc student. Effects of methylmercury on the health of yellow perch in Kejimkujik National Park, Nova Scotia. (Karen Kidd)

Meredith Clayden (BSc Mount Allison). MSc student. Mercury bioaccumulation and energetics of food webs in Kejimkujik National Park, Nova Scotia. (Karen Kidd)

New People - MacLatchy Lab

2009-06-27T16:53:00.003-04:00

Tanya Nadon and Jeremy Fulton have started Honours project with Dr. MacLatchy.

New People - Peake Lab

2009-06-27T16:52:00.003-04:00

Craig McDougall. originally from Pinawa, MB (BSc U of Manitoba). Upstream and downstream passage over hydroelectric dams of lake sturgeon. MSc project. Co-supervisors: Steve Peake/Gary Anderson.

Katy Jay – originally from Ontario (BSc U of Guelph).
Summer technician.

Dan Stepanik – originally from Pinawa, MB (BSc U of Manitoba).
Summer technician associated with the Manitoba Science Academy.

Meagan Alexander – originally from Winnipeg, MB (undergrad U of Winnipeg).
Summer technician associated with the Manitoba Science Academy.

Christine Lacho – originally from Winnipeg, MB (BSc U of Winnipeg).
Summer technician associated with the Manitoba Science Academy.

New People - UPEI group

2009-06-27T16:51:00.001-04:00

Sean McNeill - originally from Summerside, PE
Undergraduate Honours Thesis.
Measurement of Gonadal Steroidogenic Enzyme Expression in Three-Spined Stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus)
Co-supervised: Mike van den Heuvel and Natacha Hogan

Scott Roloson - originally from Montague, PE
Undergraduate Honours Thesis.
Dynamics and size structure of yellow perch (Perca flavescens) populations from north-eastern Alberta lakes.
Supervisor: Mike van den Heuvel

Laura Phalen - originally from Charlottetown, PE
Undergraduate Summer Student.
Development of molecular techniques for detection of iridovirus in yellow perch (Perca flavescens) exposed to oil sands process-affected water
Co-supervised: Mike van den Heuvel and Natacha Hogan

Ashleigh Allen - originally from Charlottetown, PE
Undergraduate Honours Thesis.
Influence of thyroid hormone on gonadal steroidogenesis and steroidogenic enzyme expression in the amphibian Xenopus tropicalis.
Supervisor: Natacha Hogan

Jenelle McKenzie - originally from Hartsville, PE
Jenelle is a student assistant field technician working in estuaries along Prince Edward Island's North shore. She is working on assessing fish community composition in eelgrass beds in estuaries with differing eelgrass structure. All of her work is part of an on-going project to identify land-use impacts on PEI's estuarine environment.
Supervisor: Kevin Teather

Completed Students

2009-06-27T16:50:00.000-04:00

Allison Van Slack
• BSc Honours student in the MacLatchy Lab at Laurier, Completed in April 2009
• Starting in a MSc program in Agriculture at University of Guelph

Publications/Conference proceedings/Reports

2009-06-27T16:49:00.007-04:00

Journal article publications

Buffagni A., Armanini D.G. & Erba S. 2009. Does the lentic-lotic character of rivers affect invertebrate metrics used in the assessment of ecological quality?. Journal of Limnology 68 (1) 92-105.

Monk, W.A., P.J. Wood, D.M. Hannah and D.A. Wilson. 2008. Instream ecological response to inter-annual variability in the hydrological regime for rivers in England and Wales. River Research and Applications. 24: 988-1001.

Wartman, C.A., N.S. Hogan, L.M. Hewitt, M.E. McMaster, M.J. Landman, S. Taylor, T.G. Kovacs, and M.R. van den Heuvel. 2009. Androgenic effects of a Canadian bleached kraft pulp and paper effluent as assessed using threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus). Aquat. Toxicol. 92 :131-139

Book chapters

Buffagni, A., Cazzola, M., Alba-Tercedor, J., López Rodríguez, M.J. & Armanini, D.G. 2009. Distribution and Ecological Preferences of European Freshwater Organisms. Volume 4. Ephemeroptera, Schmidt-Kloiber, A. & Hering D. (eds.), Pensoft publishers, pp. 388.

Metcalfe, C., K.A. Kidd and J. Sumpter. 2009. Chemically-induced alterations to gonadal development in fish. In: Leatherland and Woo (Eds.) Fish Diseases and Disorders: Non-infectious Disorders, 2nd Edition, CABI Publ., U.K.

Reports/Non-peer reviewed articles

Baird, D.J., Peters, D.L., Monk, W.A., Horrigan, N., Curry, R.A. and Tenenbaum, D.E. (2008). Assessing the ecological effects of instream flow modifications. 2007/08 Final Report. National Agri-Environmental Standards Initiative, NAESI Technical Series.

Baird, D.J., Peters, D.L., Curry, R.A., Horrigan, N., Monk, W.A. and Tenenbaum, D.E. (2008). Establishing Standards and Assessment Criteria for Instream Flow Needs in Agricultural Watersheds of Canada. A Synthesis Report prepared as part of Environment Canada’s National Agri-Environmental Standards Initiative: Water Theme. 70pp.

Peters, D.L., Baird, D.J., Monk, W.A. and Tenenbaum, D.E. (2008). Towards the Development of Instream Flow Needs Standards for Agricultural Watersheds in Canada – 2007/08 Final Report. National Agri-Environmental Standards Initiative, NAESI Technical Series.

van den Heuvel, M.R. Site-Specific Guidelines for Phosphorus in Relation to the Water Quality Index Calculations for Prince Edward Island. Report for the Government of PEI.

CRI Training - current offerings

2009-06-26T12:25:00.000-04:00

Currently we have 3 non-credit professional courses that we are offering:

Backpack Electrofishing Certificate - online course + field practicum

Canadian Aquatic Biomonitoring (CABIN) Certificate program - series of online course modules + field practicum

Stream Restoration: Design and Monitoring - face-to-face week long course led by Dr. Bob Newbury to be held in Penticton BC 26-30 Oct, 2009. (Note: depending on requirement at your home institution, you may be able to request credit for this course).

Depending on the course, we have student and/or CRI rates, check out the course websites and contact Michelle Gray (m.gray@unb.ca) for more information.

CRI in the news - Muscrat Motives

2009-06-01T17:30:00.000-04:00

This article was written and published by The Guardian on April 18th and featured the research project of Garry Gregory, an MSc candidate supervised by Mike van den Heuvel (CRI Fellow, UPEI).

Muskrat Motives - Two-year research project to take a good long look at some of the potential factors in P.E.I.’s declining muskrat population.

Depending on your freak-out factor, muskrats are either cute little animals deserving of that 1970s Muskrat Love hit by Captain and Tennille or one step away from a raunchy household rodent. But one thing is for sure, there are far less of them now in P.E.I. marshes than in recent decades past.

In response to this, a two-year research project will be taking a good long look at this semi-aquatic animal both in the lab and in its outdoor habitat to try to determine the cause of this population decline.

“It’s going to be interesting, especially the fieldwork, because it’s going to involve basically going to a marsh around dusk with night vision goggles and staying there for a period of time in the evening, just watching to see what happens,” says Garry Gregory, who is the graduate student in the masters program at Atlantic Veterinary College conducting the study.

It was the PEI Trappers Association that noticed a significant drop in the muskrat population, especially in the Eastern Kings region. “There are not really other monitoring programs in PEI for muskrat populations so they were just recording declining catches so they were a bit concerned and brought it to the attention of wildlife biologists,” says Gregory.

The study, which started in September 2008, is a project of the P.E.I. Department of Environment, Energy and Forestry, the P.E.I. Trappers Association, the Canadian Co-operative Wildlife Health Centre and the UPEI departments of biology, pathology and microbiology. It is also funded in part by the Wildlife Conservation Fund. It will combine fieldwork and laboratory work to identify the cause or factors responsible for the decline and hopefully restore the muskrat populations to healthy, sustainable levels. Potential factors may include predation, disease, habitat degradation and water contamination. Trapping isn’t expected to be a factor.

“Muskrats have been very resilient to harvest. Studies (elsewhere) have shown that you have can up to harvest up to 80 per cent (and be sustainable),” Gregory says. “We have (also) data to show that there are less trapped now than there has been in the past for a variety of reasons, such as low pelt prices. And the species has been declining, despite reduced trapper effort.”

Trappers are supplying the carcasses for the first phase of the study that is concentrating on 28 marsh areas on P.E.I. There was some general research done in the late 1960s and early 1970s when the population was still relatively healthy, so there is some data for comparison’s sake. “The carcass analysis in the lab (will determine) the age and the sex of the muskrat so we’re able to determine if there’s any change in the population structure,” Gregory says.

Liver tissue will also be tested to determine if any contaminants, such as pesticides or heavy metals, are present to see if that might be playing a role in the population decline. The fieldwork will be conducted this summer.

“I think the study will give some good background data and maybe hopefully what we’ll find can be incorporated into some management decisions that will help the muskrat populations get back where they should be.”

CRI in the news - Canadian Rivers Institute – “a great investment"

2009-05-21T12:06:00.004-04:00

NOTE: This article written and published online in Water Science News, March/April 2009 edition

Canadian Rivers Institute – “a great investment”

Since its creation in 1997, the Canadian Foundation for Innovation has committed approximately $4.5 billion in support to 129 research institutions across Canada, including investments in the Canadian Rivers Institute (CRI) at the University of New Brunswick (UNB). Drs. Alex Bielak and Donald Baird participated in a recent Outcome Measurement Study (OMS) of CRI activities to assess the success of the Foundation’s investment. Dr. Baird spoke about his role as one of several federal scientists embedded within CRI, while Dr. Bielak presented data showing increased research linkages between CRI and Environment Canada since the inception of the Institute. He also spoke as part of a panel on impacts on local, regional and national innovation. As the OMS coordinator wrote: “…we already ‘suspected’ that our investment at UNB for research in river ecosystems and aquatic ecology was a good one. Now we know that it was a great investment…”

About the Water News Newsletter from Environment Canada:
To forge better links between water science and water policy, this free newsletter produced by S&T Liaison provides timely information on the research activities of Environment Canada's Water Science and Technology Directorate to water professionals, policy and decision makers, governments, and other groups involved with managing water resources effectively.

Contact – S&T Liaison | Tel 905 336-4780 | Fax 905 336-4420

Environment Canada | 867 Lakeshore Rd., Burlington, ON Canada L7R 4A6

New Baby for Thijs Bosker

2009-05-15T09:35:00.002-04:00

Congratulations to Thijs Bosker and his wife, Anina Kamphuis! On May 13, 2009, they welcomed a beautiful baby girl into their family, Thura Ilva Sharon. Thijs is from Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and is a PhD candidate at the CRI supervised by Dr. Kelly Munkittrick, UNBSJ and Dr. Deborah MacLatchy, Wilfred Laurier University.

Spring Break CRI Meeting

2009-04-22T13:01:00.003-04:00

On April 21, 2009, 56 CRI members-Fellows, Board Members, Associates, Staff and Students from UNB, UPEI, and Universite du Quebec (INRS) gathered at the UNB Fredericton campus for a day of learning and networking. This was organized in conjunction with the CRI Student Liaison Committee which is comprised largely of student representatives from each campus and is chaired by Dr. Andre. St-Hilaire of INRS.

This was an opportunity for members from all campuses to meet with each other and receive information on the latest news and plans at the CRI from Director, Dr. Allen Curry. In addition, everyone had an opportunity to learn of the growing research being carried out within each lab and to network with colleagues. There were lab tours of the Stable Isotopes in Nature Lab, Benthic Macroinvertebrate Lab, and Environment Canada's National Water Research Institute Lab.

In the afternoon, the members were split into 5 working groups to talk about and gather information on several issues and opportunities related to CRI students. Representatives from each group then presented their findings to the gathering, and the valuable information gleaned will be used to inform future plans concerning CRI students.

NSERC Discovery Grant Awarded to Dr. Natacha Hogan

2009-04-17T08:57:00.000-04:00

Dr. Natacha Hogan, an Assistant Professor and an Associate Fellow of the CRI at the UPEI campus was awarded an NSERC Discovery Grant for her program: "Thyroid hormone influence on gonadal function and development: an amphibian model".

Her research program will examine how thryroid hormone mimics in the environment may impact on reproduction function through endocrinological cross-talk. Natacha will receive $24,000 per year for 5 years.

Congratulations Natacha!

Report lists America's 10 most endangered rivers

2009-04-16T11:01:00.002-04:00

By Azadeh Ansari
CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/04/07/rivers.endangered.list/

(CNN) -- Rivers are the arteries of our infrastructure. Flowing from highlands to the sea, they breathe life into ecosystems and communities.

But many rivers in the United States are in trouble.

Rivers in Alaska, California and the South are among the 10 most endangered, according to a report released Tuesday by American Rivers, a leading river conservation group.

The annual report uses data from thousands of rivers groups, local governments, environmental organizations and citizen watchdogs to identify waterways under imminent threat by dams, industry or development.

"Our nation is at a transformational moment when it comes to rivers and clean water," said Rebecca Wodder, president of American Rivers. "Water is life, yet our nation's water infrastructure is so outdated that our clean drinking water, flood protection and river health face unprecedented threats."

American Rivers has released its annual endangered rivers report since 1986. The report is not a list of the nation's most polluted waterways, but highlights 10 rivers facing decisions in the coming year that could determine their future.

Here is American Rivers' Most Endangered Rivers list for 2009:

1) Sacramento-San Joaquin River System
Location: California

Outdated water and flood management puts California's largest watershed at the top of America's most endangered rivers list for 2009. A recent breach in the delta's 1,100-mile levee system could have dire effects on surrounding ecosystems, farming and agriculture, commercial fishing and California's civil infrastructure. State and federal authorities are looking at alternative water-management strategies for the river system, which serves 25 million Californians and more than 5 million acres of farmland.

2) Flint River
Location: Georgia

The Flint is one of 40 rivers nationwide that still flow undammed for more than 200 miles. Conservationists say that dams proposed by Georgia lawmakers would bury more than 50 river miles, destroy fishing and boating opportunities and cost taxpayers millions of dollars. The American Rivers group believes that fixing the state's leaky pipes, using water meters and minimizing water waste would be a cheaper and more cost-effective alternative.

3) Lower Snake River
Location: Idaho, Washington, Oregon

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has built four dams to irrigate and generate energy for the Northwest, but these dams also prevent salmon and steelhead trout from reaching their spawning areas. Every year, those dams kill as many as 90 percent of juvenile salmon and steelhead trout that migrate downstream to the ocean. Conservationists say that removing the dams would eliminate a growing flood threat in Lewiston, Idaho, and create an opportunity to modernize the region's transportation and energy systems.

4) Mattawoman Creek
Location: Maryland

A highway development project here jeopardizes one of the Chesapeake Bay's few remaining healthy streams. The project threatens clean water sources, thousands of acres of forests and wetlands, and an internationally-renowned, multimillion-dollar largemouth bass fishery.

5) North Fork of the Flathead River
Location: Montana

A proposed coal-mining project across the Canadian border puts Montana's North Fork of the Flathead River in jeopardy. An estimated 50,000 acres of the Flathead headwaters could be transformed into an industrial gas field. The projects threaten the river's clean water, local agriculture, fish and wildlife and recreational industries such as rafting, camping, fishing and boating. American Rivers and its partners have called on local Canadian governments and the U.S. State Department to work together to halt these projects.

6) Saluda River
Location: South Carolina

Excess levels of sewage waste threaten the drinking water of more than 500,000 South Carolina residents, conservationists say. Sewage in the river increases phosphorous and algae levels, depletes oxygen, and kills fish and other aquatic life. American Rivers is asking the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control to improve sewage-treatment standards and ensure the river reduces its phosphorous levels by 25 to 50 percent.

7) Laurel Hill Creek
Location: Pennsylvania

Known for its fishing, swimming and kayaking, this popular vacation spot faces threats from a bottling plant and tourism-related development. Without adequate planning and safeguards, withdrawals will continue to exceed the creek's reasonable capacity, putting recreation, the local water supply, and fish and wildlife in jeopardy.

8) Beaver Creek
Location: Alaska

One of the nation's last wild rivers faces extinction if an oil- and gas-development project constructs 600 miles of roads and pipelines, airstrips, drilling pads, and gravel mines along the creek. Alaska native communities depend on the area for subsistence hunting and fishing. It's also a popular destination for anglers, boaters, skiers and hunters.

9) Pascagoula River
Location: Mississippi

The U.S. Department of Energy wants to hollow out natural salt domes 30 miles northwest of the Pascagoula to create a storage area for up to 160 million barrels of oil. A pipeline 330 miles in length would be constructed to withdraw water from the Pascagoula to dissolve the salt domes and distribute oil to and from the site. The DOE predicts 18 oil spills and 75 spills of salty, polluted water during the construction and initial fill of the hollowed domes, damaging rivers, streams, and wetlands in the basin, conservationists say.

10) Lower St. Croix National Scenic Riverway
Location: Minnesota, Wisconsin

Rezoning of a 26-mile stretch of the river's state-protected section would allow for the construction of a major development on the riverfront. American Rivers believes the development could lead to land erosion along the river and more storm run-off while harming the region's biodiversity.

"Being named as one of America's most endangered rivers is not an end for the river, but rather a beginning," said Wodder.

Through the collaborative efforts of citizens and local, state and national governments, a number of waterways from past American Rivers' endangered lists have been preserved.

"With the listing comes a national spotlight and action from thousands of citizens across the country," Wodder said. "These 10 rivers have a chance to be reborn and to serve as models for other rivers all across America."

NSERC award for Megan Finley

2009-04-07T10:10:00.002-04:00

Megan Finley was just awarded an NSERC Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarship at the doctoral level.

We would like to congratulate Megan on receiving this prestigious scholarship!!

Megan is supervised by CRI Fellow Dr. Mike van den Heuvel and will be examining immune dysfunction related to oil sands process-affected waters in rainbow trout.

NSERC Award for Hélène Higgins

2009-04-03T09:03:00.003-04:00

Hélène Higgins was just awarded an Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarship from NSERC - these awards are given to the top-ranked applicants at each level (master’s and doctoral).

This is a major achievement and accomplishment and we would like to congratulate Hélène!!

Hélène an MSc student co-supervised by CRI Fellows Drs. Simon Courtenary and André St-Hilaire.

Awards to CRI students @ APICS 2009

2009-03-31T12:37:00.006-04:00

Congratulations to Heather McCracken, MSc candidate (Supervisor: Dr. Rick Cunjak CRI Fellow), received the award for best graduate student paper for a presentation entitled "MEASURING LACUSTRINE INFLUENCE ON COMPOSITION AND FUNCTION IN A STREAM COMMUNITY" given at the Atlantic Provinces Council for the Sciences (APICS) ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES CONFERENCE, held March 27-28, 2009, UNB, Fredericton.

Congratulations to Amanda Savoie, an Honours student under the co-supervision of Myriam Barbeau and Katy Haralampides (CRI Fellow), who won the best undergraduate poster award at the Atlantic Provinces Council for the Sciences (APICS) ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES CONFERENCE, held March 27-28, 2009, UNB, Fredericton. Her poster title was "Effects of density of the amphipod Corophium volutator on sediment properties on a mudflat".

Well done to both of you!

CRI Retreat - April 21 - UNB-F

2009-03-30T08:29:00.000-04:00

CRI Student Retreat - UNBF

All day April 21, 2009.

This is an opportunity for all in CRI to get together with the main focus being on the students of the CRI.

Details on the events of the day will follow shortly.

Welcome to sCRIbbles 2009 + Director's Note

2009-01-31T17:30:00.002-04:00

2008 has been another great year for the CRI. We’ve added many new projects, students, staff, and we’ve lost a few people who’ve graduated and moved on in their careers. Our professional development programmes are flourishing and our new undergraduate programme, Water Resources Major, in the new BSc in Environment and Natural Resources at UNB which began in September 2008. We’ll be launching a new website soon with a new look and more information. I’m looking forward to even more excitement in 2009.

- Allen Curry, Director CRI

Well we have started the year off with a new edition of sCRIbbles and will now publish/post the main editions every 4 months (Jan, May, Sep). We will still post news items and other timely newsworthy items as they happen.

We hope you read it, enjoy it, and pass it along to others - come back often to see current updates through the semester.

Thanks to everyone who made their submissions for this edition of sCRIbbles! Each Fellow's Lab has its own sCRIbe - if you want your info included, make sure you contact your friendly sCRIbe.

- Michelle Gray - "Editor" for sCRIbbles

Recent Happenings - CCFFR

2009-01-31T17:25:00.000-04:00

The Canadian Conference for Fisheries Research (CCFFR) conference was well attended by CRI folks and was a huge success - the city of Ottawa was bustling and beautiful.

Recent Happenings - Baird Lab

2009-01-31T17:24:00.000-04:00

Baird Lab goes Brazilian: July 20-25 2008, Jeff, Wendy, Colin, Salomé Menezes (Portugal) and the head honcho himself attended the 8th INTECOL International Wetlands Conference in Cuiabá, Brazil. Held every 4 years, this is the foremost gathering of wetland scientists and conservationists in the world. It was an excellent opportunity to discuss current research and global challenges facing wetlands with other students and researchers. Donald co-chaired a workshop with Max Finlayson looking at the responses of freshwater systems to agricultural intensification in the Northern and Southern hemispheres that focused on problems as well as solutions. The UNB contingent was very fortunate to have local student Carla Velasquez provide a personal tour of the University of Mato Grosso, its incredible insect collection, and the university Zoo!

Recent Happenings - Culp Lab

2009-01-31T17:23:00.000-04:00

Students of the Culp lab continue to reside in the Enterprise building, ‘building #2’, although it’s marked number eight on the outside (different from where we were last year, in the main enterprise building)… Also housed in our vicinity are students from a number of different labs including the Baird lab, Courtenay lab and Curry lab.

A gang of CULPrits went to ATW in Saskatoon in October. Heidi LeBlanc. gave a talk entitled Effects of a ternary agricultural insecticide mixture on two aquatic invertebrates. Laura G. gave a talk entitled An Assessment of Land-use Effects on Stream Metabolism. Touring the extensive lab facilities at the NWRI head office was enjoyed by all!

Alexa Alexander won the Board of Governors Award this fall. Congratulations, Alexa!

Heidi LeBlanc is in Saint John and is in the process of completing her MSc thesis.
Laura Grace is in Burlington and is in the process of completing her MSc thesis.

Allison Ritcey spent the summer doing field work in northern Labrador to study subarctic stream food webs and functional processes such as decomposition and primary production. The scenery was magnificent, the food was great and Inuit friends were made. And of course, lots of work was done!

Recent Happenings - Cunjak Lab

2009-01-31T17:21:00.000-04:00

Also, this past December the Cunjak lab organised the CRI Christmas Party. With nearly 60 people attending, the celebration went off without a hitch. To catch up those who couldn’t attend, the night included dinner, planet earth trivia, smashing our sturgeon piñata smashing (video of piñata smashing) and followed up with plenty of karaoke and dancing. Thanks to everyone for joining in on the fun this year.

Also, thank you for purchasing tickets for our raffle basket. All the proceeds were donated to Grace House and we managed to raise almost $300!

Katrina Chu has taken on a new part-time position as lab technician in the Stable Isotope Lab (SINLAB) to learn the special techniques associated with stable isotope analysis. In the SINLAB Katrina is responsible for running the NC2500 as well as the Delta XP Mass Spectrometer.

Members of the Cunjak lab (Kurt, Katrina and Britt) attended this year’s CCFFR conference held in Ottawa, ON in early January. Katrina gave a great presentation on her research surrounding the effects of artificial fertilization on productivity within inner Bay of Fundy streams. Both Kurt and Britt didn’t present at this conference but were fantastic moral support for Katrina, great job guys!

Recent Happenings - Kidd Lab

2009-01-31T17:19:00.000-04:00

In January, Leanne Baker successfully completed her proposal defence/candidacy exam for her thesis on “Whole-pond experiments to investigate the ecosystem-level effects and interactions of applications of the herbicide, glyphosate and fertilizers to invertebrate communities”.

Heidi Swanson travelled to Quebec City in December to present her work at the annual ArcticNet conference. She has just returned from Kugluktuk, Nunauvt, where she organized and led a 1-week career and technology studies course for Inuit youth. The youth learned about water quality, fish population, fish health assessment, and climate change and loved learning about otoliths!

In December, Tim Jardine returned to Saint John from his “postdoctoral appointment” with the Australian Rivers Institute and very successfully defended his PhD thesis. He and his wife Laura also had a beautiful baby girl, Edie Lillian Jardine, in September. Congratulations Tim on a very eventful fall!

In the fall, Karen Kidd started at 3-year appointment to NSERC’s Evolution and Ecology Grant Selection Committee, and participated on the U.S. EPA Science Advisory Board Ecological Processes and Effects Committee to review methods for deriving water quality criteria for emerging contaminants.

She traveled to beautiful Devon, U.K. in October to give an invited talk at a workshop on Environmental Endocrine Disruptors, and to Tampa, Florida in November to give a plenary lecture at the North American meeting of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry.

Most recently, she accepted a one year appointment to be a Science Communication Fellow with the non-profit Environmental Health Sciences group in the U.S. (www.environmentalhealthsciences.org). In this position, she will work with 9 other Fellows and several journalists to communicate environmental sciences to the public and to bridge the science – policy gap.

Karen Kidd, Heidi Swanson, Leanne Baker and Monica Finley soaking up some science (honest!) in Tampa, Florida at the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry meeting, November 2008

Recent Happenings - MacLatchy Lab

2009-01-31T17:18:00.001-04:00

Much has changed over the past year or so for Dr. Deb MacLatchy. Having recently moved provinces to take up the position of Dean of Science at Wilfrid Laurier University in Ontario, there was much to be done to get a new lab up and running!

Since June of 2008 Dr. MacLatchy and her lab have been setting up a wet lab, dry lab, and office, not to mention getting to know each other as everyone was new to the lab.

Since receiving the first batch of “Ontario” mummichog (with thanks to Deb’s UNBSJ students for sending them our way) we have run various exposures and are well on our way to establishing another successful productive lab!

Deborah MacLatchy has very recently been appointed as Vice-President Academic and Provost at Wilfrid Laurier University (starting date 01 March 2009).

Deborah MacLatchy has been appointed to the Committee for Research Partnerships at NSERC. This is a three-year appointment (2008-2011). This committee oversees the Partnership programs at NSERC (including the Collaborative Research and Development, Strategic, etc. programs).

A three-year Strategic grant has been awarded to CRI Fellows D. MacLatchy and K. Munkittrick (with collaborators S. Currie, M. Servos, M. Hewitt and C. Wood), entitled "Improving regulatory assessments of endocrine disrupting contaminants in Canadian marine environments".

Thijs Bosker won 1st place in the Student Platform competition at the Aquatic Toxicology Workshop (ATW) in Saskatoon, SK in October 2008 for his presentation titled: Reducing variance and increasing power of reproductive bioassays by understanding spawning behaviour.

Recent Happenings - Peake Lab

2009-01-31T17:18:00.000-04:00

Peter Allen, post-doc at the University of Manitoba for the past couple of years of Steve Peake and Gary Anderson (CRI Associate Fellow) - has recently been offered a faculty position as a Fish Physiologist at Mississippi State University starting in July 2009.

Congratulations Peter!!!

Recent Happenings - St. Hilaire Lab

2009-01-31T17:17:00.000-04:00

André St-Hilaire is chairing the organizing committee of the 2009 conference of the Canadian Water Resources Association (CWRA). The conference theme is: Water quantity and quality: trends and new challenges in water resources management. Information can be found at www.cwra2009.org. Valerie Ouellet and Anik Daigle are also involved in the organization of this conference.

André is also the co-organizer of a workshop to be held in Moncton in April 2009 entitled “Of scales and indices: bridging the land/water divide”. This workshop will bring together researchers and practitioners who are working on assessing the ecological health of rivers and coastal zones with the objective of discussing future research needs, with an emphasis on attempting to find common ground between terrestrial and aquatic ecologists.

Dae Jeong is a post-doctoral fellow working on the development of a statistical downscaling method in order to generate multisite climate information. General Circulation Models (GCMs) commonly operate at large spatial scales and provide a reasonable representation of global and continental scale processes. Statistical downscaling is a way to infer local information from coarse scale information by applying statistical links between large scale fields and local conditions.

Anik Daigle is working on various different projects: 1) the comparison of parametric and non-parametric estimations of annual water temperature cycle starting date (with André St-Hilaire, Taha B.M.J. Ouarda, INRS-ETE; and Laurent Bilodeau, Hydro-Québec); 2) Multivariate modeling of water temperature in the Okanagan system (with André St-Hilaire, INRS-ETE; Daniel Peters and Donald Baird, Environment Canada); and 3) Analyses of streamflow characteristics of Quebec and Atlantic Provinces rivers (with Daniel Caissie and Loubna Benyahya, Fisheries and Oceans; André St-Hilaire, INRS-ETE; and Dan Beveridge, UNB).

Recent Happenings - van den Heuvel Lab

2009-01-31T17:16:00.000-04:00

Jennifer van der Lee, former lab technician in the van den Heuvel lab, was accepted into first year of the DVM program at the Atlantic Veterinary College and began her studies in Sept 2008.

Dr. Natacha Hogan, former post-doctoral fellow with M. van den Heuvel and D. MacLatchy, has started a 3-year term position as an Assistant Professor in the Biology Department at UPEI. She has also been recently appointed as an Associate Fellow of the CRI. Her research interests centre around the physiology and aquatic toxicology of amphibians and fishes. Her work aims to better understand the mechanisms by which molecular and cellular responses contribute to contaminant effects at the organ, organism and population levels. She is currently teaching two upper-level courses, Wildlife Biology and Endocrinology. www.upei.ca/biology/hogan

New People - Baird Lab

2009-01-31T17:15:00.000-04:00

David Armanini – originally from Milan, Italy (PhD University of Milan)

Post-doctoral researcher - David is an aquatic ecologist with a background in river quality assessment and climate change effects on freshwater ecosystems. He has just received his PhD at the University of Milan (Italy) and will join the CRI in early February 2009 as a postdoctoral researcher in river biomonitoring and diagnostics development in Donald Baird's lab.

New People - Courtenay Lab

2009-01-31T17:14:00.000-04:00

Allan Debertin – originally from St. Stephen, NB (BSc Mount Allison University)
Abundance, distribution and predator-prey interactions of selected pelagic fish species and their prey on the Northumberland Strait. MSc project.

Sarah Dickison – originally from Fredericton, NB (BSc UNB)
Toxicity of dispersed oil for Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus) embryos. MSc Project.

Michael Sweezey – originally from Miramichi, NB (BSc Queen’s University)
The importance of seasonal migrations to freshwater overwintering habitats for the life cycle of the American eel (Anguilla rostrata). MSc project.

Jared Tomie – originally from Sydney, NS (BSc CBU)
The burrowing behaviour of the American eel (Anguilla rostrata). MSc. project.

New People - Culp Lab

2009-01-31T17:13:00.001-04:00

Allison Ritcey – originally from Moncton NB (BSc UNB Fredericton)
Stream Ecosystem Function in the Torngat Mountains National Park, Labrador MSc project.

New People - Cunjak Lab

2009-01-31T17:13:00.000-04:00

Kurt Samways - originally from Regina, SK (BSc U of Regina, MSc U of Regina)

The importance of marine derived nutrients delivered to Atlantic rivers
by anadromous fishes. PhD project.

Brittany Graham - (BSc University of Minnesota, MSc Michigan State University, PhD University of Hawaii).

Post-doctoral researcher and Science Manager in the Stable Isotopes in Nature Lab (SINLAB).

John Landau - Lab Technician (SINLAB)

John will be working in the SINLAB and operate the NC2500 and the Delta XP Mass Spectrometer. Both Katrina and John are taking over for Mireille Savoy when she goes on maternity leave in the coming weeks.

Andrew Honey - Lab Technician (SINLAB)

3rd year mechanical engineering student working with the SINLAB as a work study student. His duties include weighing samples and standards for the lab.

New People - Curry Lab

2009-01-31T17:11:00.000-04:00

Kyoungmi Kang – originally from South Korea (PhD Pukyong National University)
Effect of environment change on migration behavior and space-use within home range of anadromous fish.

Behavioral characteristics of black rockfish Sebastes schlegeli and black seabream Acanthopagrus schlegeli in the marine ranching area.

Effect of bridge construction on environment and fish behavior in the river. Post-doctoral researcher.

Andrea Chute – originally from Sudbury ON (BSc Guelph University)
Trophic ecology of juvenile Arctic charr, Salvelinus alpinus, in a tundra watershed of northern Labrador, Canada. MSc project.

Murray Somers – originally from Cardigan, PEI. (BSc Lakehead University)
The development of a predictive model for brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) status in New Brunswick streams MSc project.

Amanda Valois – originally from Thunder Bay, ON (MSc Laurentian University)
Lab Manager, Benthic Macroinvertebrate (BMI) Lab

Although Mark is hardly 'new' to the CRI (he has been working for Allen Curry since 1998!) - he is a new part-time grad student (woohoo for Mark!):

Mark Gautreau - originally from Miramichi, NB (BSc UNB)
Fish passage at culverts in New Brunswick. MSc project. (co-supervisors: S. Peake and A. Curry)

New People - Haralampides Lab

2009-01-31T17:10:00.000-04:00

Mark Wojda – originally from Thunder Bay, ON (BScE Queen’s University)
Fate of Petitcodiac River sediments in Shepody Bay. MSc project.

Danika Matheron – originally from France (l’École des Mines)
Current field modelling and measurement in the Port of Saint John. MSc project.

Christopher Balram – originally from Fredericton, NB (BScE UNB)
Hydrodynamic and sediment analysis of Eel River. MSc project.

Brent Newton – originally from Black River Bridge, NB (BScE UNB)
Flood management topic to be determined soon! MEng project.

Rachel Jones – originally from Welsford, NB (BScE UNB)
Water resources topic to be determined soon! MEng. project.

New People - MacLatchy Lab

2009-01-31T17:09:00.000-04:00

Robert Rutherford – originally from Hamilton, ON (BSc U of Guelph)
Identifying pulp and paper mill condensates causing reproductive endocrine disruption. MSc project.

Phillip Scott - Originally from St. Catharines, ON (BSc Wilfrid Laurier)
The effects of pulp and paper mill effluent on fish reproductive systems.
MSc project.

Allison Van Slack - Originally from Port Colburne, ON
The effects of ethynylestradiol on the mummichog (Fundulus heteroclitus) reproductive system. Undergraduate Honours Thesis.

New People - Munkittrick Lab

2009-01-31T17:08:00.001-04:00

Tim Barrett - originally from Quispamsis NB (BSc (Math) UNB)
Studying life history traits of fish species for selection of appropriate sentinels for environmental effects monitoring programs in Canada and South America. MSc project (Biology).

Sumith Jayakody - originally from Sri Lanka (BSc (Agriculture) U of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka; MSc (Environmental Engineering) Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand)

Effects-based health assessment of impacts of agriculture and pesticide use on indigenous/native fish species in the Uma Oya (Sri Lanka) catchment. PhD project.

Gila Somers – originally from Yellowknife NWT (HBES Lakehead University)
Riparian health assessment of the Upper Kennebecasis River. MSc project.

New People - Peake Lab

2009-01-31T17:07:00.000-04:00

Kelly Sparks – originally from Missouri USA (BSC Southeast Missouri State University). Impacts of juvenile lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens) density on adult recruitment. MSc project.

Claire Hrenchuk – originally from Winnipeg MB (BSc U of Winnipeg)
The effect of hydropower activity on growth and movements of juvenile lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens). MSc project.

Although Mark is hardly 'new' to the CRI (he has been working for Allen Curry since 1998!) - he is a new part-time grad student (woohoo for Mark!):

Mark Gautreau - originally from Miramichi, NB (BSc UNB)
Fish passage at culverts in New Brunswick. MSc project. (co-supervisors: S. Peake and A. Curry)

New People - St. Hilaire Lab

2009-01-31T17:06:00.000-04:00

Sandra Proulx-Mc Innis. Hydrological budget and mapping of a highly aqualysed fen, Baie-James, Quebec. MSc project.

Hélène Higgins. Estimation and modeling of annual suspended sediment yield using turbidity measurements and hydroclimatic data in the Saint John river, New-Brunswick. MSc project. (co-supervised by S. Courtenay and K. Haralimpedes).

New People - Associate's Labs

2009-01-31T17:05:00.000-04:00

Christina Pater - (BSc UPEI)
The status of fish communities in Prince Edward Island estuary eelgrass beds
MSc project. Supervisor: Dr. Kevin Teather

Completed students

2009-01-31T17:04:00.000-04:00

Vince McMullin. M.Sc. 2006-2008. An investigation of temporal and spatial reproductive variability associated with northern mummichog (Fundulus heteroclitus macrolepidotus) spawning activity in the lower Saint John River.

Co-supervised - K. Munkittrick and D. Methven
Defense - May 26, 2008
Currently – Research Assistant, CRI

Lisa Bowron. MSc. 2006-2008. Responses of white sucker (Catostomus commersoni) populations to changes in pulp mill effluent discharges.

Supervisor - K. Munkittrick
Defense - June 20, 2008
Currently – Research Assistant, CRI

Steve Melvin. MSc. 2006-2008. Reproductive endocrine response of two small-bodied fish, the mummichog (Fundulus heteroclitus) and the fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas) exposed to pulp mill effluent

Co-supervised - K. Munkittrick and D. MacLatchy
Defense - September 11, 2008
Currently- Continuing graduate student with Dr. Houlahan

Chris Blanar. Ph.D., 2001-2008. Parasites as biological indicators of pollution: metal contamination and Discocotyle sagittata infection on juvenile Atlantic salmon.

Co-supervised - K. Munkittrick and D. MacLatchy
Defense - October 16, 2008

Jennifer Adams. MSc. 2006-2008. The use of laboratory and field data to evaluate the response of Little River fish populations to improved oil refinery wastewater.

Co-supervised - K. Munkittrick and D. MacLatchy
Defense - November 17, 2008
Current position – Research Assistant, CRI

Megan A. Finley. MSc. Determining the suitability of mummichog (Fundulus heteroclitus macrolepidotus) for the assessment of cumulative and non-point source pollution in Prince Edward Island.

Supervisor - M. van den Heuvel
Defense - November 21, 2008
Current position – PhD Candidate, CRI

Tim Jardine. PhD. Using multiple sentinel species and stable isotopes to understand mercury sources and fate in temperate streams.

Supervisor - K. Kidd
Defense - December 18, 2008
Current position - Post-doctoral Researcher, Australian Rivers Institute (ARI)

Publications/Conference proceedings/Reports

2009-01-31T17:03:00.000-04:00

Journal articles

Alexander, A.C., K.S. Heard, and J.M. Culp. 2008. Emergent body size of mayfly survivors. Freshwater Biol. 53: 171-180

Allen, P.J., C.C. Barth, S.J. Peake, M.V. Abrahams, and W.G. Anderson. 2009. Cohesive social behavior shortens the stress response: the effects of conspecifics on the stress response in lake sturgeon Acipenser fulvescens. J. Fish Biol. 74: 90-104.

Couillard, C.M., R.W. Macdonald, S.C. Courtenay, and V.P. Palace. 2008. Interactions between toxic chemicals and other environmental factors affecting the risk of impacts on aquatic organisms: A review with a Canadian perspective – Interactions affecting exposure. Environ. Rev. 16: 1-17.

Couillard, C.M., S.C. Courtenay, and R.W Macdonald. 2008. Interactions between toxic chemicals and other environmental factors affecting the risk of impacts on aquatic organisms: A review with a Canadian perspective – Interactions affecting vulnerability. Environ. Rev. 16: 19-44.

Fraser, D.S., K. O’Halloran, and M.R. van den Heuvel. 2008. Toxicity of pulp and paper solid organic waste constituents to terrestrial organisms. Chemosphere. 74: 660-668.

Gielen, G.J.H.P., M.R. van den Heuvel, P.W. Clinton, and L.G. Greenfield. 2009. Factors impacting on pharmaceutical leaching following sewage application to land. Chemosphere 74: 537-542.

Guildford, S.J., D.C.G. Muir, M. Houde, M.S. Evans, K.A. Kidd, D.M. Whittle, K. Drouillard, X. Wang, R. Anderson, C.R. Bronte, D.S. DeVault, D. Haffner, J. Payne, and H.J. Kling. 2008. PCB concentrations in lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) are correlated to habitat use and lake characteristics. Environ. Sci. Technol. 42(22): 8239-8244.

Hogan N.S., C.A. Wartman, M.A. Finley, J.G. van der Lee, and M.R. van den Heuvel. 2008. Simultaneous determination of androgenic and estrogenic endpoints in the threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) using quantitative RT-PCR. Aquat. Toxicol. 90: 269-276.

Houde, M., D.C.G. Muir, K.A. Kidd, S. Guildford, K. Drouillard, X. Wang, M.S. Evans, D.M. Whittle, D. Haffner, and H. Kling. 2008. Influence of lake characteristics on the biomagnification of persistent organic pollutants in lake trout food webs. Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 27:2169-2178.

Jardine, T.D., E. Chernoff, and R.A. Curry. 2008. Maternal transfer of carbon and nitrogen to progeny of sea-run and resident brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis). Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 65(10): 2201-2210.

Jardine, T.D., K.A. Kidd, J.T. Polhemus, and R.A. Cunjak. 2008. An elemental and stable isotope assessment of water strider feeding ecology and lipid dynamics: synthesis of lab and field studies. Freshwater Biol. 53: 2192-2205.

Jeffries, K.M., L.J. Jackson, L.E. Peters, and K.R. Munkittrick. 2008. Changes in population, growth and physiological indices of longnose dace (Rhinichthys cataractae) in the Red Deer River, Alberta, Canada. Archiv. Environ. Contam. Toxicol. 55: 639-651.

Klassen, C.N., and S.J. Peake. 2008. Effect of diet switch timing and food source on survival and growth of lake sturgeon. J. Appl. Ichthyol. 24: 527-533.

Linnansaari, T., K. Alfredsen, M. Stickler, J.V. Arnekleiv, A. Harby, and R.A. Cunjak. 2008. Does ice matter? Site fidelity and movements by Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) parr during winter in a substrate-enhanced river reach. River Res. Applic. Online publication Aug 2008. 10.1002/rra1109.

Logan, J.M., T.D. Jardine, T.J. Miller, S.E. Bunn, R.A. Cunjak, and M.E. Lutcavage. 2008. Lipid corrections in carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analyses: comparison of chemical extraction and modeling methods. J. Anim. Ecol. 77: 838-846.

O Kang, K.M. and H.O. Shin. 2008. Home ranges and homing routes of the black rockfish Sebastes schlegeli measured by acoustic telemetry. J. Kor. Fish. Soc. 41(3):221-227.

Kang, K.M. and H.O. Shin. 2008. Behavioral characteristics of black seabream Acanthopagrus schlegeli in Yeosu waters during winter. J. Kor. Fish. Soc. 41(1): 48-53.

Kang, K.M., H.O. Shin, D.H. Kang and M.S. Kim. 2008. Comparison of behavior characteristics between wild and cultured black seabream Acanthopagrus schlegeli using acoustic telemetry. J. Kor. Soc. Fish. Tech. 44(2):141-147.

Peterson, D.P., K.D. Fausch, J. Watmough, and R.A. Cunjak. 2008. When eradication is not an option: strategies for electrofishing suppression of nonnative brook trout to foster persistence of sympatric native cutthroat trout in small streams. N. Am. J. Fish. Manage. 28: 1847-1867.

Riley, S.C., K.R. Munkittrick, A.N. Evans, and C.C. Krueger. 2008. Understanding the ecology of disease in Great Lakes fish populations. Aquat. Ecosyst. Health Manage. 11: 321-334.

Sigourney, D.B., B.H. Letcher, M. Obedsinski, and R.A. Cunjak. 2008. Size-dependent growth in fish: patterns, models and metrics. J. Fish Biol. 72: 2435-2455.

Spiessl, S.M., K.T.B. MacQuarrie, and K.U. Mayer. 2008. Identification of key parameters controlling dissolved oxygen migration and attenuation in fractured crystalline rocks. J Contam. Hydrol. 95(3-4): 141-153.

Reports/Non-peer reviewed articles

Adams, J., K. Munkittrick, and D. MacLatchy. 2008. 2007 Monitoring results for the Little River. Report submitted to NB Environment for Irving Oil Ltd.

Alexander, A., and J. Culp. 2008. Insulate or Exacerbate? Exploring nutrient masking of contaminant effects. Learned Discourse. Integr. Environ. Assess. Manag. 4:263-264.

Arens, C., and K.R. Munkittrick. 2008. A review of potential methods for determining critical effect size in Canada’s Environmental Effects Monitoring program. Report Submitted to National EEM Office, Environment Canada, Gatineau, QC, Canada.

Barrett, T. 2008. Analysis of Cycle 1 Environmental Effects Monitoring fish survey data. Final report for Statistics 4903, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, NB, Canada.

Clément, M., P. Hardie, D. Caissie, and R.A. Cunjak. 2008. Characterization of the large woody debris in Catamaran Brook, New Brunswick, 1990 to 1997. Can. Tech. Rep. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 2794: 43 p.

Plante, F., and S.C. Courtenay. 2008. Increased oxygenation of sediment in Lamèque Bay (New Brunswick) following removal of algae and reduction of nutrient inputs from a seafood processing plant. Can. Tech. Rep. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 2805: v + 36p.

Reebs, S., S. LeBlanc, A. Fraser, P. Hardie, R.A. and Cunjak. 2008. Upstream and downstream movements of lake chub, Couesius plumbeus, and white sucker, Catostomus commersoni, at Catamaran Brook, 1990-2004. Can. Tech. Rep. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 2791: 19p.

Tardif, S., A. St-Hilaire and M. Ovidio. 2009. Modélisation par régressions des régimes thermiques des affluents de la Meuse, Belgique. INRS-ETE Research Report I-251, 17 pages.

Tramblay, Y., H. Capra, A. St-Hilaire. 2008. Modélisation géostatistique de l’eau du Rhône. INRS-ETE, Research report R-1015, 34 pages et 3 annexes. ISBN 978-2-89146-583-0.

Valois, A., C. Sarrazin-Delay, and B. Keller. 2009. Spatiotemporal patterns in northern Ontario benthic invertebrate communities: implications for biomonitoring. Cooperative Freshwater Ecology Unit, Sudbury, ON.

Personals - Culp Lab

2009-01-31T16:05:00.000-04:00

Laura Noel is having a baby in March! Congratulations Laura and James!

Personals - Cunjak Lab

2009-01-31T16:04:00.000-04:00

Welcome Willow Elizabeth Fraser! Only 2 weeks after their move from the Fundy Coast, Aaron and Nicole Fraser gave birth to a beautiful baby girl on October 3rd, 2008 in Fredericton. Aaron says that they are very happy to be living in Fredericton close to friends and family but still miss the Fundy Coast. Congrats you two!

Personals - Kidd Lab

2009-01-31T16:02:00.000-04:00

At the end of August and in between field trips for her MSc research, Monica (nee Shaver) was married to Mark Finley at a lovely seaside ceremony in St. Martins, NB. Congratulations Monica and Mark!