Queen's Experimental Ecology & Ecotoxicology
We study pollution to find new ways to protect the health of our lakes and wetlands
Events or conference held or attended.
QE3 team members, Diane Orihel, Sam Gene, and Stephanie Graves, made presentations at the 2022 Canadian Ecotoxicity Workshop from October 2nd to 5th in Winnipeg. Their presentations involved research on freshwater oil spills and microplastic contamination through the pELAstic project.
QE3 students enjoyed talking to the public about our research at the Queen’s University Biological Station Open House.
At this event, the Queen’s University Biological Station welcomes local residents, cottagers, and families to learn more about research conducted at the field station. If you missed this year’s Open House, look out for next years’ event, posted in the QUBS events list.
Diane Orihel presented a platform on “Responses of vertebrates and their food web to experimental spills of diluted bitumen” at SETAC Europe 29th Annual Meeting in Helsinki, Finland.
Johanna Mason, QE3 Graduate Student, presented the Environmental Studies Seminar on April 4. Johanna’s talk focussed on research she and collaborators conducted during the summer of 2018 at the IISD-Experimental Lakes Area in northwestern Ontario. Her presentation was titled, “Dilbit for dinner: Using stable isotope analysis to trace carbon from a diluted bitumen spill into the aquatic food web.”
Johanna gave a brief overview of the goals of BOREAL (Boreal lake Oil Release Experiment by Additions to Limnocorrals) study, a multi-institutional project that placed nine 10m diameter mesocosms in a lake at the ELA. She then explained her contribution to the project in greater detail: she used stable isotope analysis to track the movement of diluted bitumen (dilbit) through the food web. Preliminary results indicate that some organisms uptake more carbon from dilbit than others and that generally, time integrated organisms show a stronger trend. This novel application of stable isotope analysis to a freshwater dilbit spill presents an additional fate of dilbit in the environment and shows the potential of stable isotope analysis in a biomonitoring capacity.
On March 15, 2019, QE3 Honour’s student, Julia Weder, co-organized the Kingston Climate Strike, a rally to demand meaningful, large-scale climate action from our institutions. Up to 800 people attended the Kingston event, joined by 1.6 million strikers internationally.
Throughout the planning stages, Julia used skills from Dr. Orihel’s science communication course (ENSC480) for writing press releases, keeping messages brief and powerful, and tailoring promotional materials to specific audiences. The event featured musicians, poets, politicians, chanting, and an interactive climate ribbon activity. Members of the environmental advocacy groups 350 Kingston and Queen’s Backing Action on Climate Change volunteered on rally day and continue to generate climate action momentum within the community.
Read the full article at the Kingston Whig Standard.
Queen's Experimental Ecology & Ecotoxicology 