Tidal marshes are essential ecosystems both economically and ecologically. They provide many natural resources, such as filtering pollutants from water and providing flood protection. However, since the 1980s, we have lost about 80% of the world’s wetlands including many tidal marshes. This internship aims to identify the role of goose herbivory on marsh vegetation as […]

Wetland-dependent birds, notably waterfowl, are prominent features of the conservation landscape in Eastern Canada, Ducks and geese in particular denote seasonality through their spectacular migrations, are key harvested species in many regions, and are often visible to connect the public with the sense of “wild”. However, populations of most of these species in Eastern Canada […]

Salt marshes are recognized as significant feeding grounds and refuges for wildlife and for their importance in flood mitigation, carbon sequestration and as filters for removing pollutants and suspended sediments. With growing interest in, and efforts towards, dyke removal and salt marsh restoration, there is a need for science-based management decisions to ensure appropriate site-specific […]

Alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus) is a key species in the ecology of the upper Bay of Fundy, Canada, that provides food to numerous predators and scavengers. Each year, Alewife migrate into freshwater systems to spawn in lakes. Dams and fishways often impede the migration of Alewife, which can have detrimental effects on Alewife populations, as well […]

Dams can be problematic for fishes, particularly those that migrate. In order to help fish move around dams, fisheries managers may construct fishways (aka “fish ladders”). However, these structures do not always function properly, often because they were built only to pass trout and salmon and are thus inappropriate for other species. This project aims […]

Wetland habitats are critically important to many animal and plant species, and they are in trouble. The North American prairies, for example, comprise some of the most productive wetland habitats in the world, but many areas of the prairies have lost up to 90% of their wetlands and more than 90% of their native grasslands […]

This project aims to operationalize innovative methods for developing cost effective wetland inventories across Alberta by use of numerous sources of remote sensing data, namely light detection and ranging (LiDAR), synthetic aperture Radar (SAR), and optical imagery. The project will formalize a mapping specification, develop training and validation datasets (available in-kind from the academic supervisor […]

Agricultural practises in the North American prairies have intensified in the last several decades to increase food production, resulting in the drainage of up to 70% of prairie wetlands in some areas. Not surprisingly agricultural intensification is associated with the loss of biodiversity. Our research aims to assess whether retaining wetlands in agro-ecosystems can mitigate […]

Wetlands provide critical habitat and valuable ecosystem services. Land use conversion in Ontario, however, has led to substantial wetland loss. The restoration of wetlands on agricultural properties has the potential to offset wetland loss, yet these wetlands are also susceptible to contamination by pesticides. Our research will therefore establish: (1) to what degree restored wetlands […]

The American Black Duck is the most abundant breeding waterfowl species in New Brunswick (NB), and, although previously common throughout New Brunswick (NB), notable declines in breeding black duck abundance have been reported in the commercially forested area of NB in the last 20 years. In NB, forestry operations must maintain >=30m buffers around waterbodies. […]

Prairie wetlands are intricately linked with climate and hydrology. Future climate change, such as warmer conditions, changes in precipitation amount and intermittency, may both benefit and threaten the wetlands over the Canadian Prairies. During the same time, large-scale land use changes have been occurring such as the conversion of natural wetlands to agriculture lands. Understanding […]

The intern will be conducting surveys of breeding waterfowl at nine wetlands previously restored by Ducks Unlimited Canada. Wetlands provide abundant ecosystem services and are threatened by modification from environmentally damaging human activities that have reduced their quantity and function. Waterfowl are highly dependent on wetlands for many stages of their lifecycle and Ducks Unlimited […]