Science Behind the Scenes - 2018

Plastics are in widespread use in modern life, from our toothbrushes to our shopping bags. However plastics are also highly persistent and accumulate in the environment, creating potential environmental impacts for wildlife.

Are wild birds in the oil sands region exposed to chemicals associated with mining-related activities? Do they accumulate these chemicals in their bodies? How significant is the impact?

What is the best way to ensure the survival of as many endangered species as possible? How do we best use limited resources to protect species?

How can Environment and Climate Change Canada’s scientific expertise work in conjunction with traditional Indigenous Knowledge to help improve lives in remote communities?

While you may not have heard of hexabromocyclododecane (HBCDD), you’ve more than likely come into contact with it. Since the 1960’s, it’s been found in products we use every day – from electronics to plastics. It is primarily used in polystyrene foam used for building insulation.

What can the black-backed woodpecker (BBWO) tell us about changing biodiversity in Canadian forests?The article “Harvesting interacts with climate change to affect future habitat quality of a focal species in eastern Canada’s boreal forest” by Junior A. Tremblay and his team at Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) and colleagues at Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) was published in February 2018.

How can we use earth system models to provide policy-makers with better tools to address wildfires? New research by Environment and Climate Change Canada scientists Vivek Arora and Joe Melton, based in Victoria, British Columbia, helps to answer that question.

From rising global sea levels to a depletion of fisheries to accelerating the trend of global warming worldwide, the impacts of rising Arctic temperatures extend to those living far south of the Arctic Circle.

More than 15 million Ross’s and Lesser snow geese migrate to the Canadian Arctic every spring, making them one of the most abundant Arctic wildlife species. Despite extensive annual harvests by southern hunters – about 700,000 of these “light geese” are harvested each year in North America – populations of both species have increased by more than 700 per cent since the 1970s, prompting researchers to ask why there was such an increase, and what impacts higher goose populations may be having on their Arctic habitats.

Dr. Ilona Naujokatitis-Lewis, a landscape ecologist at Environment and Climate Change Canada, spent the summer of 2016 in the field, literally. She was looking for native bee species in farmland south of Ottawa to almost the St. Lawrence Seaway, to find out what was causing declines in these essential pollinators.

Small and feisty Rufous Hummingbirds in British Columbia are getting some hands-on and high-tech help in the hope of finding answers to their population decline.

Sulphur dioxide (SO2) is a common air pollutant in Canada. These emissions lead to the formation of sulfuric acid and fine particulate matter, which are associated with negative health outcomes such as cardiovascular disease and environmental impacts such as acid rain. The next steps by the Government of Canada to further reduce these emissions will require a thorough understanding of air pollution sources and science has an important role to play.

Linda Paetow received a photo of an Eastern Milksnake (Lampropeltis triangulum) from a concerned citizen. The snake’s nose and part of its face was disfigured, swollen and covered with scabs. The snake in the photo was found in the province of Quebec.

Wetlands cover approximately 14 per cent of the land area of Canada. In late May, Dr. Jon Pasher, and his team from the Landscape Science and Technology Division’s Geomatics Section, unhooked the six carbon-fibre propellers of their unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) at a test site on the Bay of Quinte, near Belleville, Ontario. Their aim was to capture a bird’s-eye view of this particular wetland.

More than a million Western Sandpipers stop to feed on the Roberts Bank mudflats of the Fraser River estuary during their spring migration.

For the last 20 years in Canada, the Environmental Effects Monitoring (EEM) program has monitored the health of lakes and rivers near pulp and paper mills and metal mines to assess how effective current regulations are in protecting the environment. The EEM program publishes data on monitoring results.

Alicia Mehlenbacher solves problems. She’s the manager of the $4.6 million Aquatic Life Research Facility (ALRF) in Burlington, Ontario, and part of the Aquatic Contaminants Research Division team.

Shirley Anne Smyth and Steve Teslic are passionate about sewage. This duo travels across the country to sample municipal wastewater treatment plants to determine levels of priority substances under the Chemicals Management Plan (CMP).

Are you curious about ambient air quality monitoring at Environment and Climate Change Canada? Patrick Thompson holds an ambient air quality monitoring canister used in the National Air Pollution Surveillance Program.

Late last spring, at the National Wildlife Research Centre on the campus of Carleton University, wood frog tadpoles transformed into adult frogs in 25 repurposed, 300-litre, cattle watering tanks. Shade cloth covered the tanks, both to mimic forest light levels and to keep water in the tanks from heating up.

Technology gave Dr. Keith Hobson, a research scientist in the Wildlife and Landscape Science Directorate of Environment and Climate Change Canada, an unexpected window into bird migration. It also helped his Colombian graduate students, Ana-Maria Gonzalez and Camila Gomez.