Response and recovery in boreal wetlands from contaminants: New and culturally appropriate tools for ecological risk assessment

北方生态系统是所有加拿大人的共同环境遗产和责任。它发现自己面临着越来越大的发展压力，特别是在开采自然资源和安装相关基础设施方面（例如，采矿、林业、水电、管道）。这些都是除了许多其他挑战（例如，气候变化、入侵物种）和总体人口增长，可能威胁到北方寒带提供的重要生态系统服务。最重要的是需要保护第一民族的不可替代的生态衍生的社会文化元素，他们称这个地区为家。我的总体研究计划的目标是了解污染物对淡水生态系统的影响和生态系统变化和恢复的过程，为生态风险评估提供信息。我们在这个发现的主要目标是创建文化上适当的生物测定，以预测北方湿地的反应和恢复，同时扩大我们的基本生态知识。在这个为期5年的周期中，我的团队将在安大略西北部的国际可持续发展研究所实验湖区（IISD-ELA）创建一个独特的北方湿地生态系统阵列。实验系统（3 500升体积，陆基，含沉积物，对自然环境开放，引入大型植物、微生物、浮游植物、浮游动物和大型底栖动物的本地群落，并可供空中昆虫定植）将“模拟”功能生态系统，这些生态系统可进行操纵、复制和全年连续监测，以检验我们的假设。北方野生稻（菰）是理想的候选试验物种开始我的研究计划的这一阶段。这种植物在整个北方地区对原住民具有文化，经济和社会重要性，以及生态意义和已知的对各种压力的敏感性。以前有研究Z的反应的工作。palustris的生长条件，但没有研究已经连接到一个完整的生命周期毒性评估与更广泛的生态系统的反应，因为我们建议的实验室到现场。此外，拟议的工作将围绕这些植物如何从种群下降中恢复以及生态工程师在这一过程中的作用产生新的知识。一种被广泛接受的保护这种有价值的生态系统组成部分的分析方法将在风险评估和当地对毒性数据和发展建议的理解和看法方面具有重要意义。我的计划将培训至少10名HQP（2名博士和8名荣誉本科生），其核心使命是培训第一民族科学家。总的来说，我的NSERC发现将帮助每个人更好地了解和减轻风险时，在北方访问资源，以及恢复，如果需要，湿地在生态和文化上适当的方式。

The boreal ecosystem is a shared environmental heritage and responsibility for all Canadians. It finds itself under increasing development pressure, especially around the extraction of natural resources and installation of related infrastructure (e.g., mining, forestry, hydroelectricity, pipelines). These are in addition to the many other challenges (e.g., climate change, invasive species) and general population growth that can threaten the vital ecosystem services the boreal provides. Layered on top is the need guard the irreplaceable ecologically derived socio-cultural elements for First Nations people who call this region home. My overall research program objective is to understand the impacts and processes of ecosystem change and recovery in freshwater ecosystems from contaminants to inform ecological risk assessment. Our primary goal in this Discovery is to create culturally appropriate bioassays to predict response and recovery in boreal wetlands, while expanding our basic ecological knowledge. In this 5-year cycle, my team will create a unique array of boreal wetland mesocosms in Northwestern Ontario at the International Institute for Sustainable Development-Experimental Lakes Area (IISD-ELA). The experimental systems (3,500L volume, land-based, sediment-containing, open to the elements, with introduced native communities of macrophytes, microbes, phytoplankton, zooplankton, and macrobenthos, and accessible to aerial insect colonization) will `model' functioning ecosystems amenable to manipulation, replication, and continuous year-round monitoring to test our hypotheses. Northern wild rice (Zizania palustris) is the ideal candidate test species to commence this phase of my research program. This plant has cultural, economic, and social importance throughout the boreal region for First Nations people, as well as ecological significance and known sensitivity to a variety of stressors. There has been previous work examining the response of Z. palustris to growth conditions, but no studies have linked the laboratory to the field in a full life-cycle toxicity assessment with linkages to wider ecosystem responses as we propose. In addition, the proposed work will result in new knowledge around how these plants can recover from population declines and the role of ecological engineers in this process. A widely accepted assay that protects such a valued ecosystem component will carry significant weight in risk assessments and local understanding and perception of toxicity data and development proposals. My program will train at least 10 HQP (2 PhD and 8 Honours undergraduates) with a core mission of training First Nations scientists. Overall, my NSERC Discovery will help everyone better understand and mitigate risks when accessing resources in the boreal, as well as to restore, if needed, wetlands in an ecologically and culturally appropriate manner.