About Karen...
I received my BSc in Environmental Toxicology from the University of Guelph (1991) and my PhD in Biology from the University of Alberta (1996). I am an ecotoxicologist, studying how the health of aquatic organisms and food webs are affected by human activities and the fate of pollutants in freshwater ecosystems.
I moved to McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario in 2017 as the Jarislowsky Chair in Environment and Health and have a joint appointment in the Department of Biology and the School of Earth, Environment and Society.
Before that, I lived in beautiful New Brunswick and worked in the Biology Department and the Canadian Rivers Institute at the University of New Brunswick Saint John. I was a Professor of Biology and held a Canada Research Chair in Chemical Contamination of Food Webs (Tier II 2004-2014; Tier I 2015-17). I also spent 6 fantastic years with Fisheries & Oceans Canada in Winnipeg, Manitoba as a Research Scientist.
Most of my lab's research is multidisciplinary in nature - a combination of ecology, biogeochemistry, chemistry and toxicology - and is on lakes, rivers, wetlands, and coastal zones spanning tropical through Arctic climates.
Our field and lab research is on how industrial, agricultural, aquacultural and municipal effluents affect aquatic organisms and food web structure, the types and levels of legacy and emerging contaminants in freshwaters and coastal ecosystems, and why fish and other aquatic life from some areas are higher in contaminants than others.
We also conduct whole system experiments at the Experimental Lakes Area (ELA), near Kenora, Ontario, to understand how contaminants affect freshwater food webs. In addition, we are part of the Mactaquac Aquatic Ecosystem Study (MAES) to assess the potential effects of dam removal on the Saint John River ecosystem.
I moved to McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario in 2017 as the Jarislowsky Chair in Environment and Health and have a joint appointment in the Department of Biology and the School of Earth, Environment and Society.
Before that, I lived in beautiful New Brunswick and worked in the Biology Department and the Canadian Rivers Institute at the University of New Brunswick Saint John. I was a Professor of Biology and held a Canada Research Chair in Chemical Contamination of Food Webs (Tier II 2004-2014; Tier I 2015-17). I also spent 6 fantastic years with Fisheries & Oceans Canada in Winnipeg, Manitoba as a Research Scientist.
Most of my lab's research is multidisciplinary in nature - a combination of ecology, biogeochemistry, chemistry and toxicology - and is on lakes, rivers, wetlands, and coastal zones spanning tropical through Arctic climates.
Our field and lab research is on how industrial, agricultural, aquacultural and municipal effluents affect aquatic organisms and food web structure, the types and levels of legacy and emerging contaminants in freshwaters and coastal ecosystems, and why fish and other aquatic life from some areas are higher in contaminants than others.
We also conduct whole system experiments at the Experimental Lakes Area (ELA), near Kenora, Ontario, to understand how contaminants affect freshwater food webs. In addition, we are part of the Mactaquac Aquatic Ecosystem Study (MAES) to assess the potential effects of dam removal on the Saint John River ecosystem.
| |||
