Current and recent projects
Assessing the impacts of municipal wastewaters on fish and invertebrates
Check out the Story Map for our work on the Grand River!
Collectively, municipal wastewaters are the largest effluent discharge by volume in Canada and they contain diverse mixtures of nutrients, household chemicals, pharmaceuticals, personal care product additives, microplastics and microorganisms. Although municipal wastewater treatment is improving in Canada with new regulations and plant upgrades, species living downstream may be affected by these effluents. We have several collaborative projects happening in Hamilton and on the Grand River to understand whether fish and invertebrate communities downstream of these discharges have greater levels of mercury, contaminants, different food web structures (using stable isotopes) and varied gut microbiomes.
Funding: These projects are being supported by an NSERC Discovery grant, NSERC Alliance grant, the Jarislowsky Foundation and the RBC Blue Water Foundation.
Check out the Story Map for our work on the Grand River!
Collectively, municipal wastewaters are the largest effluent discharge by volume in Canada and they contain diverse mixtures of nutrients, household chemicals, pharmaceuticals, personal care product additives, microplastics and microorganisms. Although municipal wastewater treatment is improving in Canada with new regulations and plant upgrades, species living downstream may be affected by these effluents. We have several collaborative projects happening in Hamilton and on the Grand River to understand whether fish and invertebrate communities downstream of these discharges have greater levels of mercury, contaminants, different food web structures (using stable isotopes) and varied gut microbiomes.
Funding: These projects are being supported by an NSERC Discovery grant, NSERC Alliance grant, the Jarislowsky Foundation and the RBC Blue Water Foundation.
Impacts of forest management on streams and rivers
Nearly two-thirds of Canada’s land base is forested, and this forms the basis of one of Canada’s most important resource industries. However, forests are also key suppliers of aquatic ecosystem services (AES), such as serving as critical source areas for much of North America’s sustainable, clean water supplies.
Check out the Story Map for our forestry research
Understanding the local and cumulative effects of forest management activities on streams. We are examining the local and downstream changes in a suite of aquatic indicators across a gradient of forest disturbance in northern New Brunswick and in the Batchawana River, northern Ontario. These indicators include water quality, macroinvertebrate diversity, food web structure, sedimentation, dissolved organic matter quality, leaf litter decomposition, and mercury bioaccumulation and biomagnification.
Best management practices to reduce the mobilization and accumulation of mercury in stream food webs. This research is assessing the effects of different forest management practices on mercury concentrations in streams near Dryden, Ontario. It is being done in collaboration with forestry companies to understand the operations that are best for reducing the mobilization of mercury into streams and its uptake into the food web.
Funding: This research is supported by NSERC Strategic Network, Collaborative Research and Development (with JD Irving, Ltd.) and Strategic Project grants, by an Early Intervention Strategy grant, by the Jarislowsky Foundation, and by the Canadian Forest Service.
Nearly two-thirds of Canada’s land base is forested, and this forms the basis of one of Canada’s most important resource industries. However, forests are also key suppliers of aquatic ecosystem services (AES), such as serving as critical source areas for much of North America’s sustainable, clean water supplies.
Check out the Story Map for our forestry research
Understanding the local and cumulative effects of forest management activities on streams. We are examining the local and downstream changes in a suite of aquatic indicators across a gradient of forest disturbance in northern New Brunswick and in the Batchawana River, northern Ontario. These indicators include water quality, macroinvertebrate diversity, food web structure, sedimentation, dissolved organic matter quality, leaf litter decomposition, and mercury bioaccumulation and biomagnification.
Best management practices to reduce the mobilization and accumulation of mercury in stream food webs. This research is assessing the effects of different forest management practices on mercury concentrations in streams near Dryden, Ontario. It is being done in collaboration with forestry companies to understand the operations that are best for reducing the mobilization of mercury into streams and its uptake into the food web.
Funding: This research is supported by NSERC Strategic Network, Collaborative Research and Development (with JD Irving, Ltd.) and Strategic Project grants, by an Early Intervention Strategy grant, by the Jarislowsky Foundation, and by the Canadian Forest Service.
Mactaquac Aquatic Ecosystem Study
The Mactaquac Aquatic Ecosystem Study (MAES) is assessing the Saint John River ecosystem and the potential implications of removal of the Mactaquac Dam upstream of Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. As part of this multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional project we are characterizing the structure of the riverine food web and the contemporary and historical concentrations of metals, hydrocarbons and chlorinated organics (e.g. PCBs) in the sediments of the headpond. We are also measuring the levels of mercury in fish in this ecosystem. These results will be used to support the decisions around dam removal or refurbishment.
Check out the Story Map for the MAES project!
Funding: This project is funded by NB Power and by an NSERC CRD Grant.
The Mactaquac Aquatic Ecosystem Study (MAES) is assessing the Saint John River ecosystem and the potential implications of removal of the Mactaquac Dam upstream of Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. As part of this multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional project we are characterizing the structure of the riverine food web and the contemporary and historical concentrations of metals, hydrocarbons and chlorinated organics (e.g. PCBs) in the sediments of the headpond. We are also measuring the levels of mercury in fish in this ecosystem. These results will be used to support the decisions around dam removal or refurbishment.
Check out the Story Map for the MAES project!
Funding: This project is funded by NB Power and by an NSERC CRD Grant.
Accumulation of pollutants through food webs
Some environmental pollutants can concentrate up through food webs to levels in fish that can affect the health of the fish themselves or the fish-eating wildlife and humans.
Even in remote systems with no human activities, mercury and other contaminants can be high in fish. We have several projects to understand how contaminants are accumulated through lake, river and coastal food webs into top predators.
In Nova Scotia we are working in Kejimkujik National Park, an area known as a biological mercury hotspot. We are studying how mercury moves through the food webs of these acidic lakes and whether it is affecting the health of the fish.
In Norway we are working with researchers at the Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA) to assess how climate change (using a latitudinal gradient) affects mercury in lake food webs.
In Chilean Patagonia we are contrasting food web contaminants in riverine and coastal systems with or without volcanic inputs in collaboration with the Fundacion Meri.
Funding: These projects are being supported by an NSERC Discovery Grant, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Parks Canada, the Norwegian Institute for Water Research and MERI Foundation.
Some environmental pollutants can concentrate up through food webs to levels in fish that can affect the health of the fish themselves or the fish-eating wildlife and humans.
Even in remote systems with no human activities, mercury and other contaminants can be high in fish. We have several projects to understand how contaminants are accumulated through lake, river and coastal food webs into top predators.
In Nova Scotia we are working in Kejimkujik National Park, an area known as a biological mercury hotspot. We are studying how mercury moves through the food webs of these acidic lakes and whether it is affecting the health of the fish.
In Norway we are working with researchers at the Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA) to assess how climate change (using a latitudinal gradient) affects mercury in lake food webs.
In Chilean Patagonia we are contrasting food web contaminants in riverine and coastal systems with or without volcanic inputs in collaboration with the Fundacion Meri.
Funding: These projects are being supported by an NSERC Discovery Grant, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Parks Canada, the Norwegian Institute for Water Research and MERI Foundation.
Salmon Aquaculture in the Bay of Fundy
Aquaculture operations are known to introduce excess nutrients from feed and feces and some contaminants like metals into the sediments near the cages. However, most of our understanding of the impacts of aquaculture are on the soft sediments and organisms that live therein. Here we are using rock baskets (bio-collectors) to collect different species that live on rocky habitats and comparing their dietary habits (using stable isotopes) and metal levels at sites near to and away from active salmon pens in the Bay of Fundy, New Brunswick.
Funding: This research is supported by Environment and Climate Change Canada.
Aquaculture operations are known to introduce excess nutrients from feed and feces and some contaminants like metals into the sediments near the cages. However, most of our understanding of the impacts of aquaculture are on the soft sediments and organisms that live therein. Here we are using rock baskets (bio-collectors) to collect different species that live on rocky habitats and comparing their dietary habits (using stable isotopes) and metal levels at sites near to and away from active salmon pens in the Bay of Fundy, New Brunswick.
Funding: This research is supported by Environment and Climate Change Canada.
