Functional Flows gets funding boost

trevor.kenney — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 17:58:56 +0000

A critical study by the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge's Water Institute for Sustainable Environments (WISE) that could shape how the province manages its water sources is being given a $1 million boost by the Alberta government.

Alberta Innovates – Energy and Environment Solutions is contributing $1 million toward a proposed $2.5 million project that will take place over the next three years.

Functional Flows, headed by principal researcher Dr. Stewart Rood of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ's Department of Biological Sciences, will attempt to answer the question of how much water needs to be left in our rivers to sustain healthy aquatic and riparian ecosystems, all the while developing strategies to provide sufficient water to support growing human populations and industrial expansion.

"It is critical for the environmental health of our aquatic ecosystems that we understand the ecological impacts from river damming and water diversions," says Rood.

"Further, we need to create and implement strategies for environmental flow regimes that will ensure that our rivers continue to sustain high water quality, as well as the fish and floodplain forests that we value."

Alberta's rivers deliver mountain snow-melt and rainfall to the drier regions of the prairie and parkland zones, where most Albertans live and work.

Water is trapped by dams and reservoirs and diverted off-stream for agricultural irrigation, municipal and domestic use and industrial purposes.

As the human population grows and industrial expansion continues, the demand for Alberta's surface water will progressively increase.

Rood and his team support the notion of working rivers, whereby river regulation and water withdrawal continues, but in a strategic manner that both sustains environmental health and supports socio-economic uses.

Rood contends that deliberately artificial flow patterns can optimize water for environmental survival during low flow years, and capitalize on the opportunities provided in high flow years to rejuvenate the fish and floodplain forest ecosystems.

"One of the significant challenges identified in Alberta's Water for Life strategy is meeting the needs of healthy aquatic ecosystems. The work being undertaken by Dr. Rood and his team provides a scientific and evidence-based approach to improving environmental performance, even in Alberta's highly allocated river systems," says David Hill, director of Centres and Institutes and Research Advocacy at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge.

"This approach allows stakeholders and water managers to directly participate in building and improving environmental resilience through specific water management opportunities. The understanding gained through this research will be a critical component in ongoing integrated watershed management decision-making."

The research activities associated with Functional Flows involve substantial student training, contributing towards the next generation of environmental scientists and natural resource managers for Alberta and Canada. The research projects bring together biologists, geographers and other natural and social scientists affiliated with WISE, working in collaboration with other academic and government researchers.

The collaborations also engage regional agencies such as Alberta Environment, the Alberta Conservation Association and the public Watershed Planning and Advisory Councils.

"The U of L has a long history of research collaboration with the community. This is particularly the case in Dr. Rood's research. This program brings together the research team, with government operators and regulators and stakeholders of the community, ensuring that the science and research findings can be implemented to deliver improved environmental performance measures," says Hill.

"This project will contribute to Alberta being recognized not just for its forward looking water strategy – but for ongoing and improved watershed management operations."

Balancing environmental sensibilities with the future economic prosperity of the province was a driver of the Functional Flows project, which received an initial $250,000 contribution from ConocoPhillips Canada (CPC). Based in Calgary, CPC is part of ConocoPhillips, a leading global exploration and production company. "We see this as an opportunity to engage the research expertise at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge in a manner that will benefit everyone from students and faculty members involved in the research, to industry, agriculture, municipalities, Aboriginal communities and end users of Alberta's water resources," says Lloyd Visser, VP, Environment and Sustainable Development.

Rasmussen's contributions earn Ingrid Speaker Medal

trevor.kenney — Mon, 07 May 2012 20:40:30 +0000

Professor of biological sciences Dr. Joseph Rasmussen has made outstanding contributions in fisheries and aquatic biology for three decades.

For his distinguished record of achievement and enduring contributions to these areas of study, the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge has named Rasmussen as the recipient of the 2012 Ingrid Speaker Medal for Distinguished Research, Scholarship, or Performance.

Dr. Joseph Rasmussen continues to earn accolades for his aquatic research projects.

A Tier 1 Canada Research Chair, Rasmussen is the director of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge's Water Institute for Sustainable Environments (WISE). His research papers have been published in several elite science journals, including Nature, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Ecology Letters, Ecological Monographs and the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, the latter of which is the leading international journal for aquatic sciences.

Some of Rasmussen's work has resulted in crucial research advances. He is a pioneer in using stable isotopes to characterize food web systems, and his work has had major impacts on biomagnification, toxic substances and studies of the invasion by exotic species. His expertise in aquatic ecology led to his appointment to Environment Canada's National Oilsands Review Panel. In 2010, the Society of Canadian Limnologists awarded him the Frank H. Rigler Memorial Award, the society's highest honour.

"It was very gratifying to receive an award that has been given to many excellent scientists over the years, and to have my name associated with that of professor Rigler, who had such a profound impact on limnology and aquatic science in general," says Rasmussen of the honour.

His work has had significant scholarly impact as well. Rasmussen's cumulative citation record is impressive, with over 7,000 citations on the Web of Science, and over 9,000 on Google Scholar, showing that his research papers are very influential in advancing the field of ecology.

This story first appeared in the May issue of the Legend. For a look at the full issue in a flipbook format, follow this link.

UNews - ��Ѹ�����Դ���߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge's Water Institute for Sustainable Environments

Functional Flows gets funding boost

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