UW-NUPH Website Launch!
Exciting news! The University of Windsor National Urban Park Hub (UW-NUPH) website has launched!
Building a Kinder and More Just Research System
Meet Dr. Aisling Rayne! Aisling (she/her) is Pākehā (European-descended Settler in Aotearoa New Zealand) and an early career researcher based at the Cawthron Institute in Aotearoa New Zealand. Her work broadly explores how environmental knowledge can support nurturing relationships between people and place. An important part of her journey has involved the Kindness in Science initiative - a collective focused on leading a culture shift in the science community.
HHL Loves Benthic Invertebrates!
Much of the research in HHL explores the community of bottom-dwelling animals known as benthic macroinvertebrates, which often includes mussels. As a community, benthic invertebrates can holistically capture the health status of a freshwater ecosystem based on who is there, and where we find them. Let’s take a closer look at one of member of the community, the Hepta-genius Heptageniidae!
Presenting HHL’s Undergrad Thesis Students
Take a look at HHL’s 2023/2024 Undergraduate Thesis Student Projects! Our students, Giulia, Eric, and Sarika, have been working hard and are now entering the final stretch!
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.
Ecological Research “In a Good Way”
Ecological research ‘in a good way’ means ethical and equitable relationships with Indigenous Peoples and Lands
by Andrea Reid, Deb McGregor, Ally Menzies, Lauren Eckert, Catherine Febria & Jesse Popp
To aid scientists in conducting research ‘in a good way’, we offer key insights and guidance that are rooted in our own scientific training and communities of practice.
Ecosystem Approach Testimonies: John Hartig
HHL, with our Ecosystem Approach Project (ECAP), has the honour to work with Dr. John Hartig, over the past two years. John brings a lot of leadership and expertise into our project and together we organize a series of “15 Ecosystem Approach Workshops” with user groups and stakeholders all across the Great Lakes.
In this post we talk about an idea that has resonated with him and motivated him along his 40-year career as a scientist, conservationist and a “good steward of the land“. Namely the difference between an “Ecosystem“ Vs an “Environment“ (exactly as in the difference between a “House“ and a “Home“).
Ecosystem Approach workshops “on the road" – November edition
November arrived at HHL with more workshops and discussions around the Ecosystem Approach. We are holding spaces of inclusive dialogues on how to “Re-energize the ecosystem Approach in the 21st Century“. This month we are collaborating with the American Association of Geologists, with the Bay Area Restoration Council and with the Ecological Farmers Association of Ontario.
Ecosystem Approach Virtual Webinar
The past year HHL has been taking its workshops and discussions around the Ecosystem Approach “on the road“, on a quest for solutions on “How to re-energize the Ecosystem Approach in the 21st Century“. The ECAP team has travelled across cities, states and countries and together with many invaluable partners has had the privilege to meet with a variety of professionals and practitioners of the ecosystem approach (or aspiring EA practitioners). For those of you who hadn’t had the chance to take part to any of our Ecosystem Approach workshops, there will be a last chance to do so this December!
Ecosystem Approach workshops “on the road” - October edition
The last week of October, HHL’s Ecosystem Approach Team took Ecosystem Approach Workshops “on the road” across the region. From Ontario, CA to Ohio, USA we met two communities, at the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change (York University - 10/25) and at the Levin College of Public Affairs and Education (Cleveland State University - 10/27). There we held interesting conversations about re-energizing the Ecosystem Approach in the 21st Century across the Great Lakes and beyond.
UWindsor National Urban Park Hub Announcement
19 July 2023: In collaboration with our UWindsor campus partners the new Science Indigenous Knowledge Keepers Table and the Centre for Cities, the Healthy Headwaters Lab is thrilled to announce the launch of the UWindsor National Urban Park Hub (UW-NUPH), supported by a $1.2 million, 2-year contribution agreement from Parks Canada.
ICYMI: Science Meets Parliament 2023
On May 1st and 2nd, Dr. Catherine Febria headed to Ottawa to attend the 2023 Science Meets Parliament event making her the first Canada Research Chair (CRC) from the University of Windsor to do so!
ICYMI: Harnessing Diversity in Freshwater Restoration Ecology
On May 17th, 2023, as part of Asian Heritage Month, HHL’s Dr. Catherine Febria delivered an invited lecture exploring how diversity and inclusion are key pieces in accelerating inclusive and innovative solutions for global freshwater sustainability.
HHL is Going to UWill Discover!
UWill Discover is a conference where the students of UWindsor can share their thesis research and creative projects in an academic setting. This year’s theme is Sustainable Futures which invites students to share their research through the lens of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and Initiatives.
This year HHL is proud to showcase two of our undergraduate thesis students Rose Simard and Salma Al Ghazaly, as well as one of our newest PhD students, Lauren Damphousse.
HHL Celebrates World Wildlife Day!
Today we celebrate World Wildlife Day! World Wildlife Day is a UN holiday that celebrates the world’s plants and animals! This year’s theme is “Partnerships for Wildlife Conservation” and this theme could not be more relevant to the work of our team and lab values. Our work – and the work of conservation and restoration - is simply not possible without help of partners!
Shoutout to the Invertebaes!
Send this lovebug to your invertebae this Valentines day <3 Check out our blog post read about why HHL loves our inverteBAEs!
HHL WRAPPED 2022
Coming out of our annual hibernation, we’ve rested and reflected on all of the amazing achievements of the Healthy Headwaters Lab over the year 2022. Our numbers are only part of the story, and we also look forward to sharing our experiences and lessons learned thus far in future posts.