Features
CBS Prof Studies Human Impact on Nature in North
BY ANDREW VOWLES
“We unmistakably have an effect on the environment. The question is, what type of environment do we want?” Prof. Karl Cottenie, Integrative Biology, is looking north to learn more about humans' effects on nature and how to lessen the impact of climate change and other factors.
This summer he will begin studying ponds and pools around Hudson Bay that he believes will serve as natural early warning systems for the effects of climate change. Working in ponds often no bigger than the desktop in his science complex office, Cottenie will look at physical factors — salinity, pH — and creatures living in the pools.
He hopes his studies will help scientists figure out whether ranges of plants and animals are changing. Many researchers believe a warmer climate will allow organisms to push northward into new areas. Northern regions are particularly vulnerable to climate change, he says, adding that many experts point to human activities such as burning of fossil fuels as a major factor.
Cottenie will study changes in communities of zooplankton — microscopic animals such as rotifers and copepods, which resemble tiny shrimps. “It's like entering a different world,” he says.
Most of his hands-on work will involve analyzing data and looking for patterns on the computer. A graduate student will help set up experiments and collect samples this summer near Churchill, Man.
The researchers may, for example, alter salinity in various pools and test the effects on plants and animals. They'll also study pH or acidity, which is linked to atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. Scientists think rising levels of atmospheric CO2 are altering the acidity of lakes and oceans.
Cottenie says working in small pools will help make the project manageable. At the same time, he expects to use systems and resources back here at Guelph. Researchers at the Biodiversity Institute of Ontario (BIO) will help him use U of G's bar-coding technology to identify many cryptic specimens of organisms. He first visited Churchill last summer with departmental colleague Prof. Paul Hebert, who runs the BIO and has spent years working on organisms in northern Canada.
Cottenie also expects to use the limnotron, a new research facility opening this year in the BIO. There, huge tanks will allow researchers to create artificial ecosystems to test environmental factors. He anticipates running tests there to complement his field studies.
“That's where the limnotron becomes useful,” he says. Even with the best-designed field study, “you can't control everything. With studies of dispersal, it's hard to stop natural movement. You have cryptic dispersal stages in some organisms. Things get moved by wind and animals. It's difficult to completely eliminate that.”