Elizabeth Favot

Before coming to Laurentian I worked in 5 diverse roles with a non-profit organization (the Federation of Ontario Cottagers' Associations), and three government agencies (the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF) and the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP), as well as Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC)). My experience working with these organizations involved applied science and natural resource management for issues including community lake water quality monitoring (the Ontario Lake Partner Program), climate change and fisheries policy, and environmental effects monitoring related to mining. My doctoral and post-doctoral research employed multiple indicators (aquatic invertebrates, algae subfossils, photosynthetic pigments, and water chemical and physical measurements) to understand multi-century trends in primary production, nutrient levels, thermal stratification, and oxygen conditions in lakes. This research aimed to decipher the impact of climate change on lake ecosystem function, and understand the role of multiple human stressors in the increasing incidence of cyanobacterial blooms reported in Ontario lakes.

I feel most at home sitting in the lab and looking at remains of critters that are 100s of years old under the microscope. In my spare time you'll either find me cross-country skiing, or hanging out at my family cottage on Lake Nipissing, depending on the season.

TL;DR my lab plays with mud for work to find out how lake ecosystems have responded to environmental change

PhD        Queen’s University (Kingston, ON) – 2021
               Paleoecological Environmental Assessment and Research Laboratory

               Thesis: Investigating long-term environmental trends in central Ontario lakes impacted by cyanobacterial blooms

BEd        Queen’s University (Kingston, ON) – 2015
               Outdoor and Experiential Education, Intermediate/Senior divisions, Math and Science

BScH      Queen’s University (Kingston, ON) – 2014
                Biology

In my lab we examine century-scale environmental change from bioindicators in lake sediments to track holistic ecosystem response to multiple stressors including climate warming,
urban, and industrial development in northern Ontario freshwaters.

Current Students:

Mackenzie Hobbs, MSc candidate
Long-term water quality, drivers of change, and baseline setting in urban Sudbury lakes



Kate Pappin, PhD student
Zooplankton community recovery in response to fish populations shifts and emerging stressors
 

Jenica Pires, MSc candidate
BASE: Baseline Assessment of Sediment Ecology in mining-impacted landscapes of Northern Ontario

Kaiya Mongrain, MSc candidate
Establishing baseline limnological conditions in Ontario Parks lakes in the Arctic drainage watershed

Alumni:

Dr. Rebecca Schalkowski, Post-doctoral researcher
A tale of two acidified lakes: ecological recovery in a remote vs. urban setting

 

Jim LaBounty Best Paper Award to recognize and honor the best paper published in the Lake and Reservoir Management journal (2023) for:

Cyanobacterial blooms in Ontario, Canada: continued increase in reports through the 21st century
Elizabeth J. Favot, Claire Holeton, Anna M. DeSellas and Andrew M. Paterson. 2023. LRM 39(1).
Winner — Open Access

Favot EJ, Rühland KM, Paterson AM, Smol JP (2023) Sediment records from Lake Nipissing (ON, Canada) register a lake-wide multi-trophic response to climate change and reveal its possible role for increased cyanobacterial blooms. Journal of Great Lakes Research 50: 102268. DOI: 10.1016/j.jglr.2023.102268

Favot EJ, Holeton C, DeSellas AM, Paterson AM (2023) Cyanobacterial blooms in Ontario, Canada: Continued increases in reports through the 21st century. Lake and Reservoir Management 39: 1-20. DOI: 10.1080/10402381.2022.2157781

Kontou D, Ascough PL, Favot EJ, Grooms C, Paterson AM, Smol JP, Tanentzap AJ (2026) Rewriting the history of the invasive spiny water flea in North America. PNAS 123: e2622864123. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2622864123

Duda MP, Sivarajah B, Rühland KM, Paterson AM, Barrow JL, Cheng Y, Favot EJ, Hadley KR, Hall RI, Hargan KE, Nelligan C, Reavie ED, Valleau RE, Werner P, Wilkins C, Smol JP (2023) Environmental optima for common diatoms from Ontario lakes along gradients of lakewater pH, total phosphorus concentration, and depth. Journal of Paleolimnology 70: 131-158. DOI: 10.1007/s10933-023-00288-7

Erratt K, Creed IF, Favot EJ, Smol JP, Vinebrooke RD, Lobb DA, Trick CG. Reconstructing historical time-series of cyanobacteria in lake sediments: Integrating technological innovation to enhance cyanobacterial management. Journal of Environmental Management 343: 118162. DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.118162

Meyer M, Ladwig R, Dugan H, Anderson A, Bah A, Boehrer B, Borre L, Chapina R, Doyle C, Favot EJ, Flaim G, Forsberg P, Hanson P, Ibelings B, Isles P, Lin F, Lofton D, Moore T, Peel S, Peters J, Pierson D, de Senerpont Domis L, Schloss J, Shikhani M, Smagula A, Stockwell J, Thomas P, Thomas RQ, Tietjen T, Weathers K (2021) Virtual growing pains: Initial lessons learned from organizing virtual workshops, summits, conferences, and networking events during a global pandemic. Limnology and Oceanography Bulletin 30: 1-11. DOI: 10.1002/lob.10431

Sivarajah BS, Simmatis B, Favot EJ, Palmer MJ, Smol JP (2021) Eutrophication and climate warming lead to unprecedented cyanobacterial blooms in a Canadian sub-Arctic landscape. Hamful Algae 105: 102036. DOI: 10.1016/j.hal.2021.102036

Erratt K, Creed IF, Favot EJ, Todoran I, Tai V, Smol JP, Trick CG (2021) Paleolimnological evidence reveals climate-related preeminence of cyanobacteria in a temperate meromictic lake. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences. DOI: doi.org/10.1139/cjfas-2021-0095

Deweese N, Favot EJ, Branstrator D, Rantala H, Reavie E, Engstrom D, Paterson AM, Smol JP (2021) Early discoveries of spiny water flea on the North American continent: evidence or artifact? Journal of Paleolimnology 66: 389-405. DOI: 10.1007/s10933-021-00213-w

Favot EJ, Hadley KR, Paterson AM, Michelutti N, Watson SB, Zastepa A, Hutchinson NJ, Vinebrooke RD, Smol JP (2020) Using visible near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (VNIRS) of lake sediments to estimate historical changes in cyanobacterial production. Journal of Paleolimnology 64: 335-345. DOI: 10.1007/s10933-020-00140-2

Favot EJ, Rühland KM, DeSellas AM, Ingram R, Paterson AM, Smol JP (2019) Climate variability promotes unprecedented cyanobacterial blooms in a remote, oligotrophic Ontario lake: evidence from paleolimnology. Journal of Paleolimnology 62: 31-52. DOI: 10.1007/s10933-019-00074-4