Moving the weakest links upstream: assessing passage of rainbow smelt and alewife at two Prince Edward Island fishways

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 […]

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Kitchener Bioretention Planters Evaluation

Low impact development (LID) technologies are increasingly part of the urban landscape for Canadian municipalities. Bioretention planters, also known as rain gardens, are an LID technology that infiltrates and filters runoff at the source. Though design guidance exists, there is little data available on the long term performance of LID technologies, such as bioretention systems. […]

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Sustaining our forests in southwestern Alberta

This MITACS internship will support Julie Fortin, an MSc student whose focus is on developing new techniques for analyzing oblique historical mountain survey images based on the world’s largest systematic collection of historical mountain survey images, the Mountain Legacy Project. Her research is driven by questions about shifts in biodiversity over time, built atop biodiversity […]

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Tracking the effects of neonicotinoid insecticides on migratory birds

Declines in migratory bird populations have been linked to a range of complex environmental factors, including the dramatic increase in application of neurotoxic neonicotinoid insecticides in recent decades. Neonicotinoids are used as seed treatments in a wide variety of Canadian crops, and consumption of treated seeds could result in poor navigation and migration delays in […]

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Développement d’un procédé novateur de traitement des lixiviats hautement chargés issus du procédé de compostage

Ce projet de recherche vise à développer un procédé innovant pour répondre à une problématique de traitement des eaux usées à laquelle font face les centres de traitement en Amérique du nord. Les variations climatiques saisonnières limitent les capacités de traitement du procédé conventionnel de lagunage en termes de volume de traitement et de réduction […]

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Grazing patterns of bison vs. cattle in response to management strategies designed to improve habitat for Species at Risk

It is well established that livestock producers are effective land stewards and contribute to high productivity and wildlife habitat on grazed lands. The effectiveness of many management practices are established, but uncertainty remains, particularly in interactions between practices at large-scales. We propose to track grazing patterns of bison and cattle using GPS collars at the […]

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Quantifying Fishway Passage Success of Alewife, Alosa pseudoharengus, and its relationship to Marine Nutrient Transfer from the Ocean to Freshwater Ecosystems

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 […]

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Calibration and characterization of micro-spectrometer

Project will see the calibration and characterization of a next-generation spectrometer for advancing both atmospheric research and the Canadian space community by providing instruments for atmospheric research for UAVs and nanosatellites. Calibrating these spectrometers will give the science community a new way to monitor atmospheric gases such as greenhouse gas or pipeline leaks with the […]

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Instrumentation de deux chantiers à remblayer à la mine Westwood et suivi des mesures

Les gisements profonds sont exploités selon différentes méthodes de minage dépendamment de la qualité de la roche encaissante. Une des méthodes d’exploitation en souterrain la plus sécuritaire et la plus fiable est la méthode par chambre remblayée. Elle consiste à remblayer la chambre (chantier ouvert) qui contenait le minerai. Le remblai minier le plus efficace […]

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