Title: Microecology of streams in the Torngat Mountains, Labrador

Climate change is predicted to alter important energy-acquiring processes in Arctic stream ecosystems as a result of increased nutrient and carbon loading from rapidly thawing permafrost.  The aims of my research are to establish patterns in two key stream processes (algal biomass production and decomposition) and to investigate how these processes relate to food chain length, complexity and diversity.  Establishing ecological patterns will provide the basic understanding of these systems that is needed to predict climate change impacts and will also aid development of the Park’s freshwater biomonitoring program.

Title: Ecohydrology of Polar Bear Pass, Bathurst Island, Nunavut

Polar Bear Pass National Wildlife area is a large regional wetland (100 km2) on Bathurst Island, and is considered one of the most critical ecological sites on the island. No information exists on the seasonal patterns of water flow through this wetland area and knowlege relating to how nutrients, required for plant productivity travel from adjacent hillslopes is absent.  A detailed ecohydrological investigation of the Polar Bear Pass National Wildlife area is important if we are to evaluate the importance of hillslope-wetland hydrological linkages in pond sustainability and to further identify the role of terrestrial pathways in moving nutrients and organic carbon into ponds.  

Title: Bioaccessibility of metals and metalloids in northern soils and foodstuffs

I evaluate the amount of mercury from traditional country foods that is potentially absorbed in the gastrointestinal tract using an in vitro model, the Simulator of the Human Intestinal Microbial Ecosystem.  Through this work, we will improve dietary mercury exposure and risk assessments for northern peoples.

Title: Effects of sea-run Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus) on food web structure and pollutant concentrations in coastal Arctic lakes

How do sea-run Arctic charr affect pollutants in Arctic lakes? Sea-run Arctic charr are a fish species that migrates between the ocean and freshwater lakes in the Arctic. My research investigates whether the presence of sea-run Arctic charr in a lake affects the transfer of pollutants through the lake food chain.

Title: Responses of High Arctic tundra to experimental and observed changes in climate

My project examines some of the potential effects of climate change on Canadian High Arctic tundra. The study will assess whether warmer conditions and extended growing seasons have changed the vegetation (plants, mosses and lichens) in a long-term (1992-present) experiment on Ellesmere Island, Nunavut.

Title: Beluga habitat ecology in Nunavik, Québec

My research focuses on two beluga populations in Nunavik, which are listed as 'endangered'.  The principal objective of this study is to increase understanding of the factors influencing beluga whale habitat use.  The first component is geographic information systems (GIS) analysis of beluga position data collected during five aerial surveys performed over the past 25 years. The second component is the collection and documentation of Inuit traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) of beluga whale behaviour and habitat use. The project will identify critical factors that influence habitat use and preference and what ecological factors are associated with these areas of importance.

Title: Methane and carbon dioxide measurements at Churchill, Manitoba

My research project aims to determine ecosystem-scale fluxes of methane and carbon dioxide from thaw until freeze-up over two growing seasons (2008 and 2009) using the eddy covariance (EC) technique. The EC data will be supplemented with greenhouse gas determinations from the three dominant landscape-types (hummocks, sedge-lawns, and pools) collected in situ over all four seasons using the chamber technique.  There are no continual determinations of methane emissions from thaw to freeze-up in northern Canadian systems, and few in the world.

Title: Reproductive ecology of Arctic-nesting insectivores

Changes in climate may affect arctic insectivores because the abundance of their main food resource (insects) is driven by summer temperatures and the abundance of their main predator (arctic fox) is driven by weather dependent lemming cycles.  This study investigates the interactions between arctic insectivores, their predators and their prey.

Title: Assessing community scale vulnerability in Nunavut

A major component of my Masters of Science thesis is to examine community vulnerability towards landscape hazards in Clyde River, Nunavut.  I am assessing the type, extent, location and magnitude of instabilities in the landscape, such as erosion or permafrost thaw, occurring in the community, and strategies employed at the individual, community and institutional levels to best cope with such hazards.

Title: Runoff in a complex drainage basin near Yellowknife, Northwest Territories

The focus of this investigation is to establish quantitative patterns in the hydrological connectivity of a drainage basin and relate these patterns to key aspects of basin scale hydrology. Hydrological processes relevant to runoff generation will be monitored to calculate storage states for each type of hydrological element.  Investigating the relationships between hydrological processes and patterns in hydrological connectivity will provide insight into the nonlinear nature of streamflow response and serve as a strong first step towards improved streamflow prediction, especially in small ungauged basins.

Title: Carbon dioxide and methane fluxes from tundra environments at Daring Lake, NWT: examination of carbon cycling mechanisms and spatial and temporal flux variation

My research examines greenhouse gas exchange of carbon dioxide and methane from various tundra vegetation communities at Daring Lake North West Territories, a research site in the Low Arctic.  Results from this research will enable scientists to better understand how the carbon balance of sensitive arctic ecosystems will respond in a changing climate.

Title: Glacial history of northern Banks Island, Northwest Territories

Canadian scientists need to place contemporary and future environmental change in a long-term perspective in order to formulate responsible policy positions.  My research aims to determine the past activity of the Laurentide Ice Sheet; document the history of postglacial sea level change resulting from ice sheet loading/unloading; and estimate former interglacial paleoclimates using available sedimentary archives. The study will test hypotheses contending that the modern ecosystem evolved from an Ice Age refugium and will refine estimates of long-term climatic variability in Arctic Canada.