Wood poles, such as those used in electric transmission lines, are treated with preservatives to protect the poles’ structural integrity in the face of insect, fungal and environmental challenges. While extending the lifespan of the pole, these preservatives—the most important being chromated copper arsenate (CCA) and pentachlorophenol (PCP) mixtures—may leach into the surrounding environment/soil. Due […]

Potential Evapotranspiration (PET) is an important input variable for hydrological models, however, accurately estimating it can be costly. Several simplified models exist for estimating PET, however, their accuracy depends on the quality of input data, assumptions, and land type. For the various oil sands reclamation and monitoring projects, a wide range of estimations currently exist. […]

The availability of vegetative forage material is a crucial factor in determining the quality of habitat for waterfowl. During their migratory staging, waterfowl rely on consuming seeds and tubers of specific wetland plants to build their energy reserves. Phragmites australis, an invasive species, provides very little forage value, and is known to degrade wetland habitat […]

Development of new critical metals deposits are essential for the world to transition to a carbon neutral future. One important type of critical metal is lithium, essential for production lithium-ion batteries which are common in many consumer products including electric cars. This project will use a combination of geological mapping and in situ chemical analyses […]

Hardwood tree species provide many ecological and economic benefits to New Brunswick and across Canada. These benefits relate to biodiversity and habitat, high-quality timber products, and of course maple syrup. Understanding where these species thrive provincially will be necessary to help New Brunswick forests to withstand the challenges posed by climate change. Using relevant and […]

The Government of Canada considers lithium as a critical element because it is a major component of rechargable batteries in, for example, electric vehicles, but it is also used in lubricants, ceramics, and glasses. Many pegmatites have been subjected to metasomatism but the origin of this and effect on the critical element contents are subjects […]

This project aims to monitor the movement of the Nevados glacier, a small mountain glacier resting above an old volcano from the central-south of Chile, using satellite radar interferometry (INSAR) to obtain velocity values for the glacier surface over the last decade. This data will be compared to a previous study on crevasse patterns to […]

Of the five mass extinction events preserved in the fossil record, the Ordovician-Silurian mass extinction (the so-called “first mass extinction”) is unique in that it had extremely limited long-term impacts. Despite eliminating over 50% of all species on Earth at the time, shallow marine communities around the globe rapidly recovered, providing scientists a unique opportunity […]

This project aims to assess the degree of sociospatial polarization of green space in the City of Laval, Quebec, compared to the Montreal Greater Metropolitan Area (Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal, CMM) and identify which areas in the city have reached or have the potential to meet proposed metrics for distributional inequalities in green spaces. The […]

American beech is a tree species that is distributed from the southeast of the United States up to the southeast of Canada. It has significant ecological and economic importance in Canada, especially in southern and central Ontario and Quebec. The beech population is suffering from beech bark disease, which kills most of the mature individuals, […]

The Government of Canada considers lithium as a critical element because it is a major component of rechargable batteries in, for example, electric vehicles, but it is also used in lubricants, ceramics, and glasses. The Tanco mine in Manitoba supplies approximately 5% of the world’s lithium, but little is known about the distribution of lithium […]

The proposed research will use camera trap footage collected since 2009 to answer questions relating to grizzly bear conservation and status within British Columbia. Observed numbers of female bears with cubs will be analyzed in relation to Pacific salmon returns to a specific river on the coast of BC, to determine if there is a […]