The Department of Biology welcomes all first-year and returning senior students to the start of the 2002-2003 term. We also welcome the following new M.Sc. Students who started their program in September: Regie Alam, Mehran Bakhtiari, Matthew Binks, Jennifer Braun, Julie Charette, Jess Coulas, Mathieu Dupont, Nashieli Garcia, Wudu Lado, Loren Martin, Monica Sliva, Brian Tucker and Cornia Vernescu. Momoko Kawai will be entering the joint University of Guelph/Laurentian University Ph.D. program.
On June 26, 2002, L. Capodagli successfully defended her M.Sc. thesis entitled "Accumulation and tissue distribution of toxic metals in wild mink (Mustela vison) and muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus) living near mining/smelting operations and in mink following infection by the giant kidney worm (Dioctophyme renale)." Her supervisor was Dr. G.H. Parker and members of the supervisory committee were Drs. P. Couture and F.V. Clulow. The external examiner was Dr. C. Wren of ESG International Inc. of Guelph.
On August 12, 2002, J.J. Babin successfully defended her thesis entitled "Taxonomic revision of North American members of Gyretes Brullé (Coleoptera: Gyrinidae), North of Mexico." Her supervisor was Dr. Y. Alarie and the members of the supervisory committee were Drs. M. Anand and J.D. Shorthouse. The external was Dr. A.N. Nilsson of Umeå University in Sweden.
Sophie Laurence, M.Sc. candidate supervised by Dr. J-F. Robitaille, and Kendra Patrick, M.Sc. candidate supervised by Dr. J. Gunn, have been awarded the Sudbury Fish & Game Protective Association Bursary for their research projects entitled "Multi-scale comparisons of the diets of American Marten (Martes americana) in Northern Ontario" and "Climate change effects of early ice-out on fish habitat," respectively.
Dr. M. Anand presented a lecture entitled "Biocomplexity and ecosystem health: A theoretical framework to the Centre for Rural and Northern Health Research (CRaNHR)" on campus on May 3, 2002. On July 12, 2002, Dr. Anand presented a seminar entitled "Complexity: a dynamic vegetation property" at the University of Sevilla in Spain, and on April 29, 2002, she presented the same seminar to the Biology Department at the University of Ottawa.
Dr. M. Anand, B. Tucker and R. Desrochers presented a paper entitled "Ecological monitoring of terrestrial ecosystem recovery from manmade perturbation" at a conference on Air Pollution, July 2, 2002, in Segovia, Spain. On June 20, 2002, Dr. Anand and B. Tucker presented a paper entitled "Detecting natural and pollution-induced vegetation gradients using matrix methods" at an International Conference on Forest Vegetation Management, in Nancy, France.
On June 10, 2002, Dr. M. Anand, K.-M. Ma, B. Tucker and R. Desrochers presented a paper entitled "The evolution of complexity in natural and reconstructed ecological assemblages" at an International Conference on Complex Systems in Nashua, New Hampshire, USA.
Drs. F.F. Mallory and J.D. Shorthouse attended the 41st Annual Meeting of the Canadian Society of Zoologists in Lethbridge, Alberta, May 8-11, 2002. Dr. Mallory presented a paper entitled "Late winter habitat selection by woodland caribou in northeastern Ontario." The paper was co-authored by J.W. Wilson and J.C. Davies.
Successful Bugfest 2002
The second annual Bugfest was held at Science North from June 12-22. Bugfest is a week long celebration of the world of insects with Science North organizing events and presentations by entomologists from Canada and the U.S.A., for local school children and the public. Dr. J.D. Shorthouse made one of the presentations in the INCO Cavern for the public entitled "Sudbury's Backyard Bugs."
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Laurentian entomologists celebrate insects with T.V. personality and author John Acorn, 'The Nature Nut.' From left to right: Dr. J.D. Shorthouse, J. Leggo, K. Kivinen, J. Acorn, S. Offman, and J. Babin |
Dr. S. Arnott leaves Laurentian University
Dr. S. Arnott has left Laurentian University for a position of Associate Professor of Aquatic Biology at Queen's University. Dr. Arnott joined Laurentian's Cooperative Freshwater Ecology Unit in 1999. In her brief time here, she established an outstanding NSERC funding program in restoration ecology and attracted several excellent graduate students. In addition, she helped establish the Boreal Shield Climate Change Network and serves on the advisory committee of the Ontario Climate Change Committee.
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Dr. S. Arnott (right) receives thanks for her contribution to Laurentian University from President Dr. J. Woodsworth at a reception in Dr. Arnott's honour at the Cooperative Freshwater Ecology Unit, August 29, 2002 |
Farewell to Dr. J. R. Morris
A reception was held at the Robertson Cottage on August 24, 2002 to honour the contributions made by Dr. J.R. Morris to the Department of Biology and Laurentian University. Dr. Morris joined the Department in 1971 and taught courses in aquatic biology, genetics, invertebrate zoology, etc. He served as Departmental Chair for many years and played a key role in building the Department in the expansion years of the 70's and 80's. Dr. Morris and his wife have built a home on the shores of the Bay of Quinte near Napanee and his address is: R R # 2, Staples Lane, Napanee, Ontario, K7R 3K7.
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Dr. F.F. Mallory, Chair, congratulates Dr. J.R. Morris (centre) and thanks him for his many contributions to Laurentian University. Dr. Morris' wife, Mary Kay, is to the right. |
On July 20, 2002, Dr. P. J. Beckett, Chair of the Sudbury Vegetation Enhancement Technical Advisory Committee (VETAC), B. Angster-Beckett (Department of Biology technologist) and K. MacDonald (Biology M.Sc. graduate, Science North and VETAC) gave a bilingual presentation entitled "Healing the Landscape: A History of Land Reclamation in Sudbury" to an international group of pilgrims gathering in Sudbury on their way to World Youth Day in Toronto. Following the presentation, the young people spread lime and planted trees in the Sudbury barrens and were the first official group to use the Jane Goodall Reclamation Trail at the Coniston Welcome Centre.
Professor L. Orlóci (University of Western Ontario, London) and I. Vanha-Majamaa (Finnish Forest Research Institute, Vantaa) visited Dr. M. Anand's Biocomplexity Monitoring Lab in August. Both were given tours of monitoring sites in the Sudbury area, which are now equipped with climate and air pollution monitoring equipment funded by the Canada Foundation for Innovation (New Opportunities). Dr. Orlóci has ongoing collaborations with the Anand lab, and Dr. Vanha-Majamaa is discussing a collaborative research project involving a comparative analysis of nickel smelter-polluted landscapes around Sudbury and Harjavalta (Finland).
Dr. N. Yan of York University offered a course entitled "Restoration Limnology", based at the Cooperative Freshwater Ecology Unit, in August. This is a new course offered as part of the Ontario Interuniversity Field Camp Course Program.
Anand, M., Tucker, B.C. and Desrochers, R. 2002. Ecological monitoring of terrestrial ecosystem recovery from man-made perturbation: assessing community complexity. pp. 341-351 In Air Pollution, Brebbia C.A. and Martin-Duque, J.F. (eds.), WIT Press.
Clewel, A., J. Aronson & K. Winterhalder. 2002. The SER Primeron Ecological Restoration. Science & Policy Working Group, Society for Ecological Restoration. 9 pp. http://www.ser.org/Primer.pdf or http://www.ser.org/work.php?pg=primer1
Eastwood, S. and P. Couture. 2002. Seasonal variation in condition and live metal concentration of yellow perch (Perca flavescens) from a metal-contaminated environment. Aquatic Toxicology 58: 43-56.
Grant, N.D. and S.G. Sealy (Graduate students in the laboratory of F. Mallory). 2002. Selection of red-winged blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) hosts by the brown-headed cowbird (Molothrus ater). Bird Behavior 15: 21-30.
Renecker, T.A., L.A. Renecker and F.F. Mallory. 2002. Relationships between commercial carcass cutability, economics, age and sex of free-ranging Alaskan reindeer. pp. 419-426. In Game Conservation and Sustainability: Biodiversity, Management, Ecotourism, Traditional Medicine and Health, L.A. Renecker and T.A. Renecker (eds.), Renecker & Assoc. Inc., Stratford, Ontario. 453 pp.
