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UNB has recently completed a highly consultative renewal process involving the entire university constituency and the broader community with its goal being to establish a shared vision and an action plan to effect that vision. The Strategic Research Plan is an outgrowth of that dynamic process. Its general objective is to implement critical parts of that action plan through the appointment of a number of Canada Research Chairs. The Plan was developed from detailed department and faculty
documents. An amalgamated plan, available on-line for faculty
input, was then produced by the Deans in collaboration with the
Vice-Presidents and the President. Three faculty members within the Biology Department were appointed to Canada Research Chairs: Drs. Rick Cunjak, Kelly Munkittrick, and Gary Saunders.
Research Relevance: River Ecosystems: Establishing Excellence The environmental health of waterways is of international concern. The establishment of a new world-class research institute will place Canada at the forefront of river ecosystem studies. The Maritime region is central to a variety of river environments and "river issues". The sheer number of major river systems (Miramichi, Saint John, Restigouche) and coastal environments (Gulf of St. Lawrence, Bay of Fundy) provides a rich resource for developing new ecosystem research. UNB's central location and already established leadership in aquatic studies makes it an ideal location for the Canadian Rivers Institute. The new institute is the brainchild of Professor Richard Cunjak who is one of Canada's and the world's leading authorities on watershed research and the lifecycle of the Atlantic Salmon. He has spent many frigid months outside in the Canadian winter studying the behaviour of stream fishes. His contribution to understanding the winter biology of fish is considered required reading for others in the field. Now he is taking that experience forward in establishing the Canadian Rivers Institute. This Canada Research Chair has set in motion ambitious and wide ranging research objectives. First, there is the establishment of the Institute itself, with all the attendant administrative and organizational work that entails. Launching in tandem with the institute is its flagship research program. The Atlantic Salmon will be the focus of one branch of the study. Their marked decline over the past decade, in the rivers on the Bay of Fundy is of particular concern. Speculation on possible causes of the decline include increased sediment in the rivers, and the interbreeding of wild fish with escapees from fish farming operations. The Big Salmon River is one such river that will be visited by researchers. There, the concern is over proposed land development along the river's banks and the impact that may have. These studies are expected to serve as a model for large-scale restoration projects. The Rivers Institute will be unique in Canada and one of only a handful of such centres in the world. It is expected to attract a multidisciplinary group of scientists from within Canada and other countries. The Canada Research Chair has given the impetus for a far more global approach to the study of aquatic ecosystems in this country and beyond.
Fish Under Stress Assessing the environmental health of a waterway is a tricky business. The most common approach in North America is based on an analysis of the stressors in a system. Using this system, pollutants are identified and methods developed to try and reduce the level of stress exerted on a system. Attempts must be made to account for the interaction of various effluents and non-chemical stressors, but the information is not always available to be able to accurately do this. Unravelling the environmental changes caused by pollution using the stressor-based approach is complex at best, and inaccurate at worst. Science demanded a better approach. Fourteen years ago, Kelly Munkittrick took the aquatic assessment process in a whole new direction. He decided an effects-based approach was the best way to assess the cumulative effect of various pollutants. Effects-based assessment proceeds from a simple but logical point of view. "If you want to know about the health of a river ask a fish". The approach is especially suited to rivers where fish populations are exposed to multiple forms of stress. Early studies conducted by Munkittrick were so convincing, the assessment method formed the basis of Federal Environmental Effects Monitoring regulations for pulp and paper mills. Discharges from some mills were shown to interfere with the reproductive systems of fish in a manner unpredicted and at concentrations of effluent below those thought to pose a threat to receiving waters. Munkittrick has been a research scientist in the federal government for more than 10 years. In March of 1999, Environment Canada's National Water Research Institute wanted to expand these studies and developed an agreement that permitted him to join the faculty at the University of New Brunswick. At that time, he was to conduct a three-year study of the Saint John River. The goal was to access the environmental health of the river while refining the effects-based assessment method. The Canada Research Chair allows him to expand the scope of the research to other river basins. It also provides a means of extending the project beyond the original three-year frame.
The Importance of Algae to the Health of the Bay of Fundy
Ecosystem Biologist Gary Saunders and his colleagues have established unrivalled expertise in classifying different type of algae. They have introduced new techniques based on molecular biology, technology similar to that used to map the human genome. In a similar way, their work has shed new light on the evolution and diversity of these simple algae. As the holder of the Canada Research Chair in Molecular Systematics
and Biodiversity, Saunders intends to expand this expertise.
He will lead systematic monitoring of algae populations, looking
for changes in their molecular makeup as well as changes in their
distribution and diversity. |
