St. John River RiverFest and CRI day 2008

We had a great week with CRI Day and then the closing out RiverFest (and Canadian Rivers Day on sunday). We had an excellent turnout at CRI Day (about 75 people) and for this we need to thank Alexa Alexander and Lisa Bowron and their team of assistants for their hard work arranging the day. Rick Cunjak went on Rogers TV with the St. John River Society to answer “live” questions about the SJRiver and the CRI - he looks good on TV! Our performing kids (formerly known as the 'CRI' Babies) played 3 events in the music venues. On Saturday, Brian Savage and his team, Jeremy, Agni, Jessica, and Dea, entertained kids all day long with fishes and inverts from the SJRiver. We’ll get some picture up as soon as we can.
So, thanks to everyone for a great job representing the CRI in the community. We are already starting to plan for next year: Rick and Karen are in charge, Alexa/Lisa/Brian have the notes for volunteers. Let us know how you want to be involved.

Many thanks again,
Allen
Director, CRI

2008 CRI Director's Report

Director’s Report (January 2008)

There is no shortage of exciting things happening in the CRI these days. A glance across our web site will reveal our expansion of infrastructure with the opening of our UNB Saint John facility where we focus on aquatic ecosystem health assessment, fish reproductive physiology, and eco-toxicology, the addition of 2 new Fellows at UPEI and INRS (Mike van den Huevel and Andre St. Hilaire), training programmes and web services, and much more. Our statistics for the last few years are impressive: >$3M in research revenues annually, >60 students graduated (PhD, MSc), >40 students in graduate programmes each year, >250 peer-reviewed publications, etc.

Our research continues to expand in scope with projects across Canada dealing with agricultural (chemical use and water abstraction), hydroelectric developments, water supply issues, and biomonitoring in Arctic rivers and lakes, and international projects in Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba, and Uruguay. Recognition of our work is growing as demonstrated by Karen Kidd’s research selected as a top scientific paper of 2007.

CRI education and training is expanding as well. We now offer courses for graduate students and professionals in river habitats, hydraulics, and restoration, electrofishing certification, and in April we’ll introduce the online training component of Environment Canada’s Canadian Aquatic Biomonitoring Network (CABIN). In fall 2008, our first cohort of undergraduates will begin in the new BSc in Environment and Natural Resources, Water Resources Management Major. Look for more courses and programmes coming in 2009.

The SINLAB continues to expand its services in stable isotope analyses. The CRI benthic macroinvertebrate taxonomy service now has 6 staff offering sorting services to researchers and the private sector. The CRI generated >$100,000 in consulting revenues in 2007.

Our next big challenge is a new research and training facility at UNB Fredericton. To address our present need and stalled growth, we are working to build a 45,000 sqft complex for 175 researchers, staff, and students.

I am very proud of our continuing contributions to water sciences and management, and we are looking to do more.

Allen Curry, Director

Dr . Karen Kidd has #51 in Top 100 Science Stories of 2007 - Discover Magazine

Top 100 Science Stories of 2007

The trends and events that most changed our understanding and our world.

Dr. Karen Kidd and colleague's research was highlighted as one of the top science stories of 2007 for her publication in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: Collapse of a fish population following exposure to a synthetic estrogen (104:8897-8901).

Congratulations to Karen!!!

Tier I Canada Research Chair Renewed - Dr. Cunjak

Dr. Rick Cunjak's Canada Research Chair in River Ecosystem Science has been renewed for a second seven-year term, effective Jan. 1, 2008.

Dr. Cunjak will receive a total of $1,400,000 in funding from the Canada Research Chairs program in support of the Tier I chair. He will also receive an additional $75,000 in infrastructure funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation for the purchase of new equipment for the Stable Isotopes in Nature Laboratory in the department of biology.

The Chair in River Ecosystem Science helped develop the Canadian Rivers Institute (CRI) at UNB into a major research and teaching centre. It attracts international students and collaborators because of the in-house expertise in fisheries, ecology, conservation, toxicology and water resource management.

Dr. Cunjak's research has demonstrated how wild fishes react to natural disturbances such as ice, floods and high temperature, as well as to man-made disturbances from forestry and flow regulation. His stable isotope laboratory is improving understanding of how river food webs function, and the movement and foraging of fishes like the Atlantic salmon. His current and future research with the CRI will expand the scale of study from specific locations and species to test for broad applicability and pattern, and to assist environmental management internationally.

Congratulations to Rick!!!

University of Waterloo names 50 top alumni - 3 from CRI

With the University of Waterloo commemorating its 50 year Anniversary in 2007, the Faculty of Science seized the ‘spirit of why not’ by acknowledging the remarkable achievements of its own alumni.

This inaugural Distinguished Alumni Award will be an annual honour bestowed upon a science alumnus who has made significant career contributions to his/her field.

The CRI is proud to announce that 3 of the 50 alumni honoured this year are members of the CRI.

Dr. Alex Bielak - CRI Management Board member
Dr. Rick Cunjak - CRI Fellow, and former CRI Director (2000-2004)
Dr. Kelly Munkittrick - CRI Fellow, and CRI Associate Director (2000-present)

Click here to access the pdf with more info about each recipient (pp. 5, 11, 19, resp).

CRI meets the Trailer Park

Well the day has come... the CRI has reached a new level in creating networks and establishing relationships with outside interests...

Steve Melvin (MSc Candidate, UNBSJ) is shown here proudly educating Bubbles about the CRI and what we are all about... good job Steve!

Congratulations to Kelly Munkittrick - Tier I CRC renewed

Kelly Munkittrick's Tier I Canada Research Chair in Ecosystem Health Assessment at UNB Saint John has been renewed effective Jan. 1, 2008. Dr. Munkittrick will receive more than $1.4 million over the next five years.

We are expectedly delighted that Kelly's CRC has been renewed for another 5 years. Kelly was one of the founding fellows of the CRI and has worked tirelessly during the past 7 years to build the CRI to it present status as a national and international centre of excellence in aquatic sciences. He can be proud of his achievements; as Director and his colleague, I am.

- Allen Curry
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Welcome - August 2007 edition (June 1 - July 31)

Welcome to the August edition of sCRIbbles. This will be a relatively quick issue to read - although there is lots of activity, everyone is too busy in the field hanging out with our little friend to the right no doubt... or elsewhere (hopefully relaxing) to submit much new news to sCRIbbles this time. We do have some submissions and we hope you take the time to read through what we have for you.

Thanks, Michelle & Katy, co-editors sCRIbbles.

Recent Happenings - MacLatchy Lab

Founding CRI Fellow Deb MacLatchy has recently left UNB for Wilfrid
Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario. Deb began as Dean of Science
in July and is gradually acclimating to the hot and muggy southern
Ontario summers. She will continue with her research activities focused
on understanding how contaminants affect fish reproduction and
development with CRI graduate students at both UNB and WLU. Deb is
actively pursuing opportunities for CRI to expand some of its activities
in "central" Canada. She can be reached at Canadian Rivers Institute
and Department of Biology, Wilfrid Laurier University, 75 University
Ave, Waterloo, ON, N2L 3C5. dmaclatchy@wlu.ca. 519 884-0464 x2401.

Recent Happenings - Peake and Munkittrick Labs

Gaspar Gonzalez-Sanson (visiting UNB Harrison McCain Visiting Professor from Havana, Cuba), and Kelly Munkittrick travelled to the Canadian Rivers Institute Manitoba Field Station located in Pinawa, Manitoba. The had a great visit with Steve Peake and his summer field crew and got to check out some of his fancy new boats and see some lake sturgeon while they were at it.

The 2007 CRI Manitoba Field Station summer crew consists of:
Cheryl Klassen (veteran and new PhD student - U of Manitoba)
Holly Labadie (new MSc student - UNB)
Laura Henderson (new MSc student - UNB)
Cam Barth (PhD student - U of Manitoba)
Carl Bradley (NSERC undergrad summer research assistant (USRA) recipient)
Melanie Boudreau (Manitoba Science Academy tutor)
Claire Hrenchuk (Manitoba Science Academy tutor)
Dan Stepanik (Manitoba Science Academy tutor)
Jon Peake (technician)
Ray Lafantaisie (technician)
Jeff Long (part-time technician)
Blake Cutting (part-time technician)

Recent Happenings - Munkittrick Lab

After leaving the CRI Manitoba Field Station, Gaspar Gonzalez-Sanson and Kelly Munkittrick embarked on a cross-Canada trip driving back to New Brunswick from Manitoba in Kelly's new field truck that he picked up in Manitoba.

Recent Happenings - Baird Lab

The Baird Lab was highlighted at the SETAC Europe Conference in Porto, Portugal.

CRI's Environment Canada Fellows played a highly prominent role at the 17th Annual Meeting of SETAC Europe held in Porto, Portugal from May 20-24, attended by over 2000 scientists. Donald Baird gave an invited keynote address that described a roadmap for ecotoxicologists to move beyond mere description of ecotoxicological phenomena towards a more predictive science based on eco-informatics. Donald Baird also co-chaired an invited platform and poster session (with Joseph Culp), “Diagnostic Approaches in Ecological Biomonitoring”, which included scientists from Europe, North America and Africa and provided novel examples that explored how biomonitoring programs can produce diagnostic, cause-effect results. In addition, Donald Baird's overseas graduate students, Joao Pestaña, Salomé Menezes and Mascha Rubach, and postdoc, Isabel Lopes co-supervised by CRI Associates Amadeu Soares and Paul Van den Brink gave presentations.

Dragonfly workshop
Paul Brunelle of the Atlantic Dragonfly Inventory Program in Halifax, NS gave an in-house workshop to the Baird lab odonate field crew on 13-15 June. The workshop included general background and natural history of adult dragonflies and damselflies, and extensive field training in collection and preservation methods. We hope to bring Paul back in the fall to conduct another workshop on larval collection.

New CRI people

Farah Kabir. Reproductive responses of mummichog to effluent. Summer student. (Dr. Deb MacLatchy)

Ashley Nolan. Effects of industrial effluents on fish reproduction. NSERC USRA summer research assistant. (Dr. Deb MacLatchy)

Kady Herrington. Comparison of mummichog and fathead minnow reproductive tests as indicators of exposure to pulp mill effluents. Summer research assistant. (Dr. Deb MacLatchy)

Riiko Bedford. Dragonfly survey and DNA barcpding. NSERC USRA summer research assistant. (Dr. Donald Baird)

Mike LeMoine. Understanding hydrological control of thermal regimes in rivers. PhD candidate. (Dr. Allen Curry)

Completed Students

Sandra Brasfield. Investigating and interpreting reduced reproductive performance in fish inhabiting streams adjacent to agricultural operations. PhD. July 5, 2007 (Dr. Kelly Munkittrick)

Publications

Aguilar, C., G. González-Sansón, I. Hernández, D.L. MacLatchy, and K.R. Munkittrick . 2007. Effects-based assessment in a tropical coastal system: Status of bicolor damselfish (Stegastes partitus) on the north shore of Cuba. Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety. 67(3):459-471.

Klassen, C., and S. Peake. 2007. Black fly larvae as a food source for hatchery-reared lake sturgeon. North American Journal of Aquaculture. 69:223-228.

Baird, D.J., S.S. Brown, L. Lagadic, M. Liess, L. Maltby, M. Moreira-Santos, R. Schulz, and G.I. Scott. 2007. In situ-based effects measures: Determining the ecological relevance of measured responses. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management. 3:259-267.

Baird, D.J., G.A. Burton, J.M. Culp, and L. Maltby. 2007. In situ-based effects measures: Summary, conclusions and recommendations. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management. 3:275-278.

Baird, D.J., and P.J. Van den Brink. 2007. Using biological traits to predict species response to toxic substances. Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety. 67:296-301.

Beckerman, A.P., D.J. Baird, K. Wieski. 2007. Direct, developmental changes in the face of predation risk – the decoupling of feeding and life history. Oecologia. 152:335-343.

Chara, J.D., D.J. Baird, T. Telfer, L. Giraldo. 2007. Leaf litter degradation in three native tree species in a slowly-flowing headwater stream in the Colombian Andes. International Review of Hydrobiology. 92:183-198.

Jones, C., D.J. Baird, M. Bowman, G. Cameron, B. Craig, B. Cutler, J. Diamond, N. Dmytrow, M. Nicol, J. Parker, T. Pascoe, H. Vaughan, G. Whitelaw. 2007. Performance of Ontario's Benthos Biomonitoring Network: Impacts on participants' social capital, environmental action and problem-solving ability. Environments. 34:37-53.

Conference and Invited Presentations

55th Annual North American Benthological Society Meeting. June 3-7, Columbia, South Carolina, USA

Poster
Curry C, DJ Baird, RA Curry. Sampling considerations in the assessment of larval odonate diversity.

The Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographical Society, Canadian Geophysical Union and American Meteorological Society Congress. May 29 - June 1, St Johns, NL.

Platforms
Peters D, DJ Baird. The science of ecological flow needs in Canada

Horrigan N, DJ Baird. Modelling the effects of flow on Canadian river ecosystems: developing an ecological index of flow modification.

Tenenbaum D, D Peters, DJ Baird, N Horrigan. Digital terrain analysis to support the development of an ecological flow needs standard.

Poster
Crocker J, J Shaw, N Horrigan, DJ Baird. Sensitivity of aquatic organisms to direct and indirect effects of decreased flow: towards the development of a sensitivity index.

New Funding

New Funding

Kristie Heard, Michelle Gray, and Allen Curry. Development of a novel online aquatic benthic macroinvertebrate key. UNB Teaching and Learning Fund. July 2007.

CRI Receives $705,000 to study rivers of the Canadian Arctic.

4 Fellows of the CRI have received $705,000 from the Government of Canada Program for International Polar Year to study the impacts of climate change on rivers of the Canadian Arctic for the next 4 years. Donald Baird and Joseph Culp, 2 Environment Canada Scientists co-located at the CRI at UNB and Allen Curry and Karen Kidd at UNB Fredericton and Saint John are on 2 teams receiving a total of $8.2M: ARCTIC BIONET. Arctic Freshwater Systems: Hydrology and Ecology and Climate Variability and Change Effects on Chars in the Arctic."

Drs. Curry, Culp, and Baird will spend the next 4 years examining the status of the biological communities of flowing waters, the bacteria to fishes in streams and rivers. They will complete a survey of the biological communities in flowing waters of Arctic Canada, establish sites for long-term monitoring of these communities in the face of climate change and resource development, and develop for northern communities, appropriate sampling and analysis tools to assess ecological integrity of their flowing waters and develop teaching tools for school programmes.

Dr. Kidd will be examining the effects of transported pollutants from southern sources in the Arctic and specifically as they occur in Arctic char which are a vital fisheries resource for the cultural, social, and economic health of northern communities.

CRI people in the news

Check out the following press release from the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) about Dr. Rodrigo Orrego (former visiting scientist to the CRI UNBSJ) who is now working with CRI Associate Dr. Doug Holdway.

News story

CRI spotlight - Chris Blanar

Chris Blanar, PhD candidate (MacLatchy Lab), took part in teaching a Stream Bioassessment workshop for First Nations in Whitehorse, Yukon. Participants were given practical training in bioassessment techniques using benthic invertebrates (CABIN - Canadian Aquatic Biomonitoring Network) and electrofishing.

The workshop was sponsored by the CWN (Canadian Water Network) and was hosted by Dr. Bob Bailey and John Bailey.

Click here for pictures from the workshop.

Personals

Melinda Hanson-Lee has left the MacLatchy Lab at UNBSJ for a new job at Irving Lake Utopia Paper.

Laura Henderson, a new MSc student in the Peake lab, has received a 2-year NSERC Industrial Scholarhip and will be looking at the ecology of age-0 and 1+ juvenile lake sturgeon.