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.