FERN: Streams of the Anthropocene
Everyone at HHL loves tea, especially watershed tea! The ingredients in this tea are not your typical tea leaves, but instead a series of dissolved components of the many aquatic environments in flows through. HHL researcher Shayenna Nolan is investigating DOM as a medium for measuring stream health, and recently published her undergraduate thesis in the esteemed journal Ecological Indicators.
FERN: The Story of Two Branches: Unionid Freshwater Mussels
An important member of the invertebrate community - Unionid freshwater mussels - are often excluded in regular monitoring. Undergraduate thesis researchers Dante Bresolin (2021) and Nolan Lachance (2023) embarked on a mission to investigate the relationships between mussel communities of the Sydenham River.
FERN: What’s the Story With Phragmites?
Invasive, non-native, exotic – these are all names attributed to plants and animals that have come from other places and have overwhelmed local ecosystems with their overwhelming abundance and impact on local species. Postdoctoral scholar Dr. Courtney Robichaud addressed one aspect of the relationship with Phragmites through an ecosystem-scale experiment on Phragmites removal during their PhD at the University of Waterloo.
FERN: Let’s Talk About Drains
Watersheds are made up of hundreds to thousands of channels that drain water from land into water. Research led by Ryan Graham involved a survey across 10 drains in Windsor Essex to explore the relationships between plant communities in drains and Phragmites management.