Effects of agricultural practices on aquatic plants seed banks and potencial toxicity of soils in the flooding plain of Lake Saint-Pierre

The proposed research aims to assess the resilience potential of aquatic and land plants in the floodplain as a function of the land-use gradient.
The experimental approach aims to measure the biodiversity and germination rate of communities of different rates of aquatic and land plants that are found in the soil after the waters retreat. A series of experiments in the wet laboratory at UQTR was planned to assess the germination potential of soil samples collected in the field. In addition, we will use these different soil samples to expose zooplanktonic model organisms (Daphnia magna) from laboratory cultures in order to assess their potential toxicity. Newborns of D. magna will thus be incubated for several days with different soil samples collected from the LSP floodplain in order to establish survival curves and effects on fecundity in response to the gradient of land use from conventional agriculture to natural environments.

Faculty Supervisor:

Andrea Bertolo

Student:

Partner:

Wageningen University and Research Centre

Discipline:

Earth science

Sector:

Education

University:

Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières

Program: