It remains unclear if fishes that occupy Canada’s leading tidal energy test site in Minas Passage, Bay of Fundy, Nova Scotia, will be negatively affected by turbine installations. The objective of this project is to determine fishes’ interactions with operating turbines. Of approximately 70 species of fishes that interact with Minas Passage only three have […]

Upcoming legalization of marijuana provides many opportunities for all Canadians. Licensed Producers (LPs) are the main providers of medicinal cannabis to patients and will be the main suppliers for recreational market. The significant disadvantage in the current environment is the limited number of strains available to LPs. Sundial Growers have acquired a collection of Cannabis […]

Yeast are used on a massive scale in many industrial settings, such as production of food and beverages, nutrient supplements, pharmaceuticals, and others, totaling over $5 billion dollars in annual market value. Most yeasts currently used for industrial purposes are taken directly from nature and not optimized for the specific process requirements of industry. Currently, […]

Traditional breeding of agricultural plants is based on repeated self fertilization of large number of parental plants followed by screening larger offspring populations to uncover random natural or induced genetic variants with a desired trait. This approach can take many years and considerable resources to complete. This approach cannot directly be applied to hops breeding […]

Amber, or fossilized tree resin, is a natural trap that provides a valuable source of palaeontological data on insects in ancient ecosystems. The chemistry and composition of the amber itself can also be used to explore which trees produced each amber deposit, and what conditions these trees lived under. Western Canada contains multiple amber deposits […]

Cities are often located near sources of water such as lakes, rivers, and oceans. Due to their location, the effects of climate change and urbanization will introduce unique challenges to aquatic habitats located within cities. These challenges could range from flooding, extreme wind, ice storm damage, extreme heat events, and drought as well as long […]

Globally cities are expanding and this has a negative impact on natural systems. Green infrastructure (GI), such as green roofs, retention ponds, or urban tree canopies, is used to mitigate the impacts of extreme weather and provide resources for people in the city. However, GI can also provide a benefit for native species and wildlife […]

The plan is to research the physiology and behaviour of Ixodes scapularis, and Dermacentor variabilis ticks with and without the presence of Borrelia burgdorferi bacterium, Rickettsia bacterium, Francisella bacterium, and Bartonella bacterium to answer the overarching question: Are tick-borne bacteria that are pathogenic to humans also harmful to the tick vectors in Nova Scotia? Cold […]

Three of Saskatchewan’s bat species roost in trees and migrate long distances annually: hoary bats, eastern red bats and silver-haired bats. Migratory bats are facing a variety of threats, such as habitat loss, climate change, pesticide use, and fatalities at wind energy facilities. Large numbers of bat fatalities have been recorded at wind energy facilities […]

Agricultural pesticides are one of several stressors contributing to the global decline of insect pollinators. More specifically, there is strong evidence of harm from neonicotinoid insecticides. Many jurisdictions are implementing new rules to restrict use of these common pesticides. While regulators have largely focused on reducing pollinator exposure to neonicotinoids, other insecticides also have the […]

The recent legalization of marijuana in Canada opens the opportunity to study in detail the effects of cannabinoids on human physiology. This academic-industry initiative will combine resources to isolate compounds from cannabinoids to study their effects on bone cells. Specifically it will examine the effects of cannabinoid compounds on how the destructive osteoclasts form and […]

Bank Swallows (Riparia riparia), a threatened species in Ontario, breed primarily in either banks at lakeshores or at exposed surfaces in man-made aggregate pits that occur with and without waterbodies. Pits are suspected to be ecological traps for this species but the relative trade-offs in nesting at pits vs. natural sites are poorly known. Availability […]