Coastal aquatic ecosystems: integrators of environmental change in Canada's high Arctic

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My NSERC research program will focus on freshwater ecosystems and the processes by which they respond to environmental change. My research team will place emphasis on extreme northern lakes (along the coast of northern Ellesmere Island), which are valuable sentinels of Arctic climate warming because they are located in a highly dynamic region where Arctic Ocean sea ice meets the terrestrial environments of the Arctic Archipelago. This is one of the most rapidly warming regions in Canada; although lakes there are being altered by ongoing climate change, little is known about many aspects of their functioning. In their sediments, these lakes also hold records of past climate change that will help us to understand whether the recent observed deterioration of Arctic Ocean ice is within ranges of natural variability. We will perform research to better understand processes in these coastal lakes, and also reconstruct regional Holocene climate history from sediment cores. These objectives will be accomplished through studies of limnological processes and analysis of the sedimentary records of lakes, using modern paleoecological techniques to infer past environmental conditions. Proxy indicators applied in the research will include inferences from hyperspectral core scans and analysis of diatoms, photosynthetic pigments, organic matter and geochemical markers. My research will help to understand the ecological effects of recent warming in Canada's Arctic, and provide insights into how the high Arctic's climate has changed over the past several millennia.