Author Archives: admin

Policy news and updates from the CSEE President

Posted on by

Policy news and opportunities

by Jeremy Kerr, President

CSEE researchers at all career stages can participate in communicating their research to the public and to policy-makers but there have been challenges in bringing evidence to public and policy discussions. Remarkably, the scientific community is now being asked to add its voice to three federal consultations that are currently underway. To the extent that members have felt excluded from federal discussions in the past, these consultations represent an opportunity to make our voices heard.

It is an opportunity to put forward our best ideas. Please consider submitting something to these reviews.

Canada’s Fundamental Science Review

Minister of Science, Dr. Kirsty Duncan, has launched a panel to review the whole science funding landscape in Canada. Whether you are a student, postdoc, new or established researcher, your voice can matter. How should fundamental research evolve? The portal for submissions can be found at: http://www.examenscience.ca/ (French page) or http://www.sciencereview.ca (English page).

The Innovation Review

The second review at Innovation, Science, and Economic Development includes areas where members may wish to contribute (notably “Global Science Excellence”, and “World-leading Clusters and Partnerships” but other areas may also interest members). Please see: http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/062.nsf/fra/accueil (French) or http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/062.nsf/eng/home (English) for more information.

Climate change mitigation and adaptation

Ideas for how to mitigate climate change and adapt to its impacts can be submitted to: http://parlonsactionpourleclimat.ca/ (French) or http://letstalkclimateaction.ca/ (English).

Gender diversity and equity

The society’s longstanding commitment to our Symposium for Women Entering Ecology and Evolution Today (SWEEET) has provided a forum in which these issues have been discussed since 2008. SWEEET will continue to be an essential part of our Annual General Meetings. Yet, CSEE does not have formal policies around gender diversity and equity. It is time to have a broader conversation around this topic. To this end, I will encourage a representative group to consider best practices in other scientific societies and to suggest the key ingredients for a CSEE position. We hope to be able to discuss this issue at the December meeting of council, but it is up to members to engage. If interested to be part of such a group, which might meet virtually over the coming months, please contact the President: Jeremy Kerr, jkerr@uottawa.ca.

Honorary Lifetime Members

Posted on by

Honorary Lifetime Memberships in CSEE recognize eminent Canadian ecologists or evolutionary biologists who have demonstrated a lifetime of research and contributions to ecology or evolution.

Pielou_lifetimeChris (Evelyn Chrystalla) Pielou is recognized for her excellence and distinguished service in the fields of mathematical ecology and ecological diversity. She wrote six books in the area of Mathematical Ecology and Ecological Diversity between 1969 and 1984. After her retirement, she continued to write popular books on ecosystems and environmental topics. In journal articles she developed a mathematical measure of associations among groups of species, which serves as a measure of the “structure” of multi-species communities. She was also interested in inter-relationships among ecology, biogeography, and the paleo-equivalents of ecological communities.


Holling_lifetimev2C.S. (Buzz) Holling is best known for two scientific advances: the functional responses of predators to prey and the concept of the resilience of social-ecological systems. These ideas have become cornerstones to contemporary ecosystem management and research into sustainability and conservation. Dr. Holling has made, and continues to make, important contributions to ecology and evolution. He has profoundly influenced students, researchers through his research and teaching.

Harvey_lifetimeHarold H. Harvey was instrumental in identifying the acidification of North American aquatic ecosystems, and the impact this change had on the ecosystems. He devoted a great amount of his time to raise the consciousness of the Canadian and American public and policy makers to acidification problems. His numerous critical contributions eventually led to both countries imposing strict controls on emissions. His research and its impact on the public and policy makers ultimately minimized further degradation of hundreds of thousands of lakes and streams in North America thereby allowing their chemical and ecological recovery.

2016 CSEE Election Results

Posted on by

We are very pleased to announce the results for this year’s election to the CSEE council. Five positions were open. First, Professor Isabelle Coté from Simon Fraser University was elected as the society’s next Vice-President, for two years starting at this summer’s AGM in St. John’s in July, followed by two years as President. Professor Yolanda Morbey from Western University was acclaimed as Treasurer. Professors Alison Derry (Université du Québec à Montréal) and Chris Eckert (Queen’s University) were elected as councillors. Dr. Julie Yee-Law, from University of British Columbia, was elected as a postdoctoral/student councillor. We look forward to working with new members of the council as CSEE continues to evolve in Canada’s rapidly changing scientific landscape.

We are equally grateful to colleagues who were not elected. Professors Jana Vamosi (University of Calgary), Graham Thompson (Western University), Marc Johnson (University of Toronto, Mississauga), Megan Frederickson (University of Toronto, St. George), Ms. Nicola Day (Wilfrid Laurier), and Mr. Tom Iwanicki (University of Victoria) also received considerable support in this election, and we appreciate their service and leadership.

Evolutionary Applications Special Issue

Posted on by

In January 2016, Evolutionary Applications published a special issue on the contributions of women to basic and applied evolutionary biology (Volume 9 Issue 1) which includes papers by a number of members of CSEE. The issue was edited by Maren Wellenreuther and Louis Bernatchez. In addition to scientific papers, the authors give personal insights and recommendations to the next generation of evolutionary biologists.EvoApp_Jan2016

2015 Student Awards at Saskatoon

Posted on by

CSEE Talk 1st prize: Patrick Thompson – McGill, “Anatomy of the collapse and onset of recovery in the North Atlantic groundfish community.”

CSEE New Phytologist Prize: James Santangelo – University of Toronto, “Fungal endophytes of red fescue (Festuca rubra) increase host survival but reduce plant tolerance to simulated herbivory.”

CSEE Talk 2nd prize: Matthew Osmond – UBC, “Crossing fitness-valleys without the help of Mendel: extending theory.”

CSEE Talk 3rd prize – tie: Mallory Van Wyngaarden – Memorial University, “Population connectivity and environmental drivers of adaptation in the sea scallop, Placopecten magellanicus.”

CSEE Talk 3rd prize – tie: Carly Graham – University of Regina, “How degraded is too degraded? The effects of DNA quality on RADSeq in molecular ecology.”

 

CSEE Poster 1st prize: Zoryana Shibel – University of New Brunswick, “Synergistic and additive effects of water stress and clipping on S. altissima and S.gigantea.”

CSEE Poster 2nd prize: Marion Sinclair-Waters – Dalhousie University, “Genomic tools for the management of a marine protected area in coastal Labrador: the Gilbert Bay Atlantic Cod MPA.”

 

Honorable mentions – Oral presentations

Clayton Lamb – University of Alberta, “Grizzly bear demography in a region of rich fruit resources and high human-caused mortality.”

Sean Naman – UBC, “Habitat structure and functional traits mediate emigration of stream invertebrates following high and low flow disturbances.”

Clément Rougeux – Université Laval, “Demographic divergence history of American whitefish species pairs inferred from genome-wide SNPs.”

Julia Shonfield – University of Alberta, “Do owls avoid industrial noise sources in northeastern Alberta?”

Cora Skaien – UBC, “Spatial Heterogeneity in Selection Pressure Exerted by Ungulate Herbivores on the Morphology and Life History of Plectritis congesta.”

Jess Vickruck – Brock University, “Population structure of the Eastern Carpenter bee (Xylocopa virginica) across eastern North America.”

2016 Early Career Awards

Posted on by

The CSEE Early Career Awards recognize outstanding accomplishments and promising future research potential in ecology and evolution by scientists early in their careers. There were many excellent nominees for the ECAs this year, and the selection committee had a hard time picking just two. The recipients for this year’s competition were Dr. Isla Myers-Smith, currently at the University of Edinburgh, and Dr. Njal Rollinson from the University of Toronto. The 2016 award consisted of a ten-year membership to CSEE, a $500 cash award, up to $1000 allowance for travel and accommodation to attend the CSEE meeting in St. John’s, Newfoundland, and an invitation to give a keynote lecture there. Dr. Rollinson presented an ECA talk entitled “Maternal effects and the evolution of body size.” Dr. Myers-Smith was unable to physically attend the meeting but she sent a video presentation entitled “The greening of the Arctic: climate as a driver of tundra vegetation change.”

Congratulations again to both recipients, and thanks to the adjudicators for their hard work (Mélanie Jean, Jeremy Kerr, Locke Rowe, Mark Vellend and Jeannette Whitton).

2015 Early Career Award winner

Posted on by

Dr. Sam Yeaman (University of Calgary) received the 2015 Early Career Award. This award recognizes exceptional accomplishments and promising future research potential in ecology/evolution by scientists early in their careers. As this year’s recipient of the CSEE Early Career Award, Sam Yeaman gave a talk in Saskatoon exploring how local adaptation evolves at the genetic and genomic level:

The genetic and genomic architecture of local adaptation

Species that inhabit heterogeneous environments often respond by genetic specialization to local conditions, with populations evolving phenotypes that confer high fitness in their home environment, but have trade-offs in other non-local environments. Some well-known examples of local adaptation have been found in patterns of colouration in mice inhabiting light vs. dark sands and armour plating in stickleback that colonize freshwater lakes. The research presented by Dr. Yeaman illustrates how population genetic theory can be used to build intuition and generate testable hypotheses about how local adaptation shapes patterns in the genome.

For more information, see Yeaman 2013, PNAS, 110:E1743-E1751.

Minutes of 2012-2014 Council meetings now available

Posted on by

You can view the final minutes of past Council meetings here.  Minutes are now posted after approval at the subsequent meeting. Note that minutes are recorded in the language in which business was conducted (English), but upon request, a French translation can be provided.

 

The agenda for the December 2014 meeting in Ottawa is available here.  Minutes of the meeting will be posted after approval in May 2015.

 

Note that reports referred to in these minutes have not been appended.

Minutes of the May 2014 Council meeting, Montreal.

Minutes of the December 2013 Council meeting, Ottawa.

Minutes of the May 2013 Council meeting, Kelowna.