Highlighting the research of Canada’s aquatic science community

This month the Society of Canadian Aquatic Sciences (SCAS) is heading to one of Canada’s three coasts for its second annual meeting. Following the society’s inaugural event in 2023 in Montreal, Quebec, the 2024 meeting is being held in Fredericton, New Brunswick from February 21-24. 

The meeting’s travel route from the St. Lawrence River to the Atlantic Ocean aptly follows the 2024 meeting’s theme—From the Source to the Sea. 

As a not-for-profit publisher of journals that publish peer-reviewed research by aquatic scientists and stewards in Canada, Canadian Science Publishing (CSP) is a proud partner of SCAS.    

To recognize the published outputs of research by members of Canada’s aquatic science community, we are excited to share this collection of papers from SCAS partner journals, which span inland freshwaters to marine environments. 

Keep reading to get to know CSP and SCAS authors, their work, and thoughts on emerging topics in the aquatic sciences.  

Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (CJFAS) 

Perspectives on integrating eDNA into fisheries management 

Environmental DNA (eDNA) unlocks the potential for genetic material sampled from the environment to inform scientists about species’ presence, abundance, and more. Dr. Thaïs Bernos (University of Toronto), Dr. Matthew Yates (University of Windsor) and colleagues wrote about the challenges (e.g., economics, ethics) and potential for eDNA applications in fisheries science to be more widely used in aquatic management and conservation in Canada. “Fishery managers see the benefits of eDNA science for fishery management, and some have begun to use it; yet, systemic challenges inhibit the realization of its full potential,” said Bernos. “Overcoming these challenges will be necessary to see the benefits of eDNA science, which calls for a shift from sporadic uses to a nationally coordinated, standardized approach to data collection and analysis and innovative policy mechanisms in place to act ethically on eDNA-based evidence.” 

Read the paper 

Water chemistry, wetlands linked to decreasing density of round goby  

The round goby is a notorious invasive species in the St. Lawrence River. What aspects of the river may influence the density at which they are found? Olivier Morissette (Université du Québec à Chicoutimi) and colleagues analyzed 14 years of data to reveal that, along the river water conductivity gradient, the presence of wetlands is related to a decrease of round goby density and their negative impacts on fish diversity. “This study showcases other benefits of healthy wetlands in freshwater watercourses, and we hope this will increase wetland conservation efforts throughout Canada,” said Morissette. 

Read the paper 

FACETS 

Connecting social and ecological dimensions to identify at-risk lakes  

The many lakes in Canada (>900k) have many connections to the lives and livelihoods of people across the land. By integrating three different databases including one that recently sampled more than 600 lakes across Canada, Andréanne Dupont (Université de Montréal), Roxane Maranger—the 2024 Rigler Award recipient—and colleagues created visual representations of how the health of lakes are linked to the use of a lake’s ecosystem services and human-driven threats in the first ever social-ecological geography of Canadian lakes 

“This work is novel in that it quantitatively combines social information – the recreational use of lakes – with their ecological state and future threats, thus providing a global portrait of the health of Canada’s lakes on a national scale. Our study also respects that the healthy state of a lake varies across different regions in Canada. However, we show that the main drivers of human pressures on lakes, increasing nitrogen and chloride concentrations, are the same across all regions.” said Maranger, senior author of the study. 

“Furthermore, we provide an easy-to-understand visual representation of this integrated information relevant for management. Our approach can be adapted for needs at more local scales and to help determine priority sites for conservation and restoration,” said Morgan Botrel, study co-author. 

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Weaving knowledge systems to “see” changes in fisheries  

Indigenous ecological knowledge and Western scientific data are different knowledge types which can contribute unique, congruent, complementary, or opposing information to fisheries monitoring. All of these relationships between knowledge are informative. Ella Bowles (University of Concordia) and colleagues compared and contrasted inferences generated from Indigenous Knowledge and Western scientific data to understand why these different relationships may occur, to help communities decide which tools may be most helpful to address their needs. 

“I feel very lucky to have worked with the Cree Nation of Mistissini on this project. The work fundamentally changed my outlook on how to approach conservation of biodiversity. I don’t know that I held a single path to conservation in my head before, I was just never really exposed to Indigenous knowledge in a substantive way,” said Bowles. “I now believe without a shadow of a doubt that Indigenous knowledge is critical to living in harmony with the world. Western science has a role too, I think, and magic happens when Knowledge holders and Western scientists can work together.”  

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Environmental Reviews 

Considering the fate of antimicrobial chemicals in aquatic environments
The use of sanitizers and disinfectants increased in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. For their review, Sarah Marteinson (Fisheries and Oceans Canada) and colleagues delved into databases to determine what antimicrobials are most prominently used and which may have the potential to affect aquatic biota. Thirty-two antimicrobials were identified for further review. “The most exciting outcome of our work is that it is spurring new research to fill critical data gaps on the environmental implications of antimicrobial use, particularly quaternary ammonium compounds, which was important even before the pandemic,” said Marteinson. 

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A mosaic of change in marine Arctic ecosystems  

From microbes to mammals, climate change impacts the biota of marine Arctic ecosystems. Jiban Chandra Deb and Sarah Bailey (Fisheries and Oceans Canada) categorized biotic responses of these systems in their literature review. Though most published research was on marine mammals, studies on the responses of primary producers provide an inception point for cascading effects across trophic levels. Knowledge gaps were also identified. To support adaptive management, “there is an urgent need to address identified gaps, such as limited inventory of biota and data supporting climate change indices on an Arctic Ocean scale,” say Deb and Bailey. 

Read the paper 

Canadian Journal of Zoology 

Movements of Atlantic cod living in sub-zero waters 

A locally adapted resident population of Atlantic cod living along the southeast coast of Labrador, Canada, spends half its life in zero and sub-zero centigrade temperatures. John Green (Memorial University) and colleagues with Fisheries and Oceans Canada used acoustic telemetry arrays to track movements of tagged cod and unexpectedly found that these Atlantic cod stay in shallow water year-round and are as active in winter as they are during summer, swimming even greater cumulative distances during sub-zero periods compared to warmer (>0°C) periods.  

How might better understanding of local adaptation improve climate change awareness and conservation readiness? “The behavioural and genomic adaptations of Gilbert Bay cod to its extreme environment, long cold winters and short hot summers, highlights the importance of discovering and conserving biodiversity in the climate change crisis we are in,” said co-author Corey Morris. 

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Microplastics and the mussel microbiome 

Plastics are a major pollutant of terrestrial and aquatic environments, clogging waterways and ensnaring wildlife. However, microplastics (tiny pieces of plastic up to 5 mm in diameter, according to Fisheries and Oceans Canada) are pervasive in nearly every environment on earth – including inside living organisms. Laura Ferguson (Acadia University) and colleagues exposed blue mussels to polystyrene particles, triggering structural, immunological, and microbiome changes in mussel tissues. 

What might the effects of tiny microplastics in mussel tissues mean in the big picture? “Larger-scale impacts on populations are still unclear; some of the sublethal impacts that we see could have energetic consequences that scale up to ultimately reduce fitness. Or, alternatively, the impacts we see could remain below a threshold of having any broader consequences,” Ferguson said. “But, given the pervasive nature of the microplastics, it’s pretty critical that we figure that out!” 

Read the paper 

About the authors

Natalie Sopinka, Hilary Belleville, and Andrea Wishart are Journal Development Specialists at Canadian Science Publishing.