Climate Change And Multiple Stressor Research
Laurentian is coordinating a sampling program to assess climate change and multiple stressor effects in the Far North focused on the water chemistry and biology of a number of lakes near Hawley Lake, near the Hudson Bay Coast.
The projects began in 2009 and involve collaborators from Laurentian Univ. (B. Keller), Queens Univ. (K. Ruhland, J. Smol), Trent Univ. (A. Persaud, P. Dillon), Wilfrid Laurier Univ. (B. Wolfe), Ottawa (J. Blais), Toronto (S. Finkelstein) and the Ontario Ministries of Environment (A. Patterson, C. Jones) and Natural Resources (T. Johnston, L. Haslam).
Studies include: assessment of biological communities (zooplankton, phytoplankton, fish), water chemistry, isotope studies of hydrology, dissolved organic matter fractionation, paleolimnological reconstruction of past conditions using lake sediment cores, and analysis of mercury in water, sediments and fish. In addition peat cores and surface samples of peat were collected to assess factors affecting carbon storage and changes in peatland diatom communities.