Frédéric Laberge

I grew up in and around Quebec City fascinated about life in all its forms, particularly in the aquatic environment. My disposition led me to study biology at the local University, where I experienced scientific research for the first time during a project on fish thermoregulation in the laboratory of Michel Cabanac. That experience got me hooked and excited my curiosity about the mechanistic aspects of biology. I went on to study rat metabolic physiology during my Master's degree. Allergy against the laboratory rodent forced a change of animal model for my Ph.D. I went to the laboratory of Toshiaki Hara in Winnipeg to study the neurobiology of fish olfaction. This degree offered not only the opportunity to go back to my early love of aquatic life, but also the possibility to investigate behaviour, anatomy and physiology at the same time, an integrative approach that I value greatly. My postdoctoral research has focused on comparative aspects of brain anatomy and physiology based on work in amphibians. It sharpened my interest in the evolution of the nervous system. My current research covers behaviour, neurobiology, ecophysiology, and ecotoxicology of anamniote vertebrates (amphibians and fish).

• B.Sc. Laval 1996
• M.Sc. Laval 1998
• Ph.D. Manitoba 2002

1) Animal cognition and its neural correlates

We want to understand how variation in brain structure and size influences organismic function and identify the factors that drive evolution and plasticity of the nervous system. To this aim, we study variation in structure and size of vertebrate brains, the proximate mechanisms generating this variation, and the functional consequences of this variation. Investigations focus on amphibians and fishes in both laboratory and natural settings. Our integrative approach involves behavioural assays, anatomy and histology work, and molecular methods. Field sampling allows to combine our lab efforts with quantitative ecological methods to explore the influence of ecology and environmental factors on the brain. Such investigations can inform us of the cognitive abilities needed by wild animals to thrive in their natural environment.

2) Ecophysiology

Using a highly collaborative approach, we try to develop novel indicators of performance in aquatic wildlife for improved environmental monitoring of watersheds. Current work on this topic focuses on indicators of ecological performance and chronic stress in wild fish (e.g. organ sizes, enzyme assays, gene expression, hormone content of fish scales).

3) Ecotoxicology

We combine approaches in the lab, such as toxin exposure and behavioural assays, with field sampling to evaluate the impacts of emerging pollutants (e.g. amino acid algal neurotoxins, industrial solvent, microplastics) and develop new indicators of exposure to pollution. This work aims to raise awareness of the impacts of these pollutants on the health of fish and amphibians as well as potential risks to humans.

• A.M. Reside, P.K. Sandhu, J. Solonenka, S.J. Murch, K.S. McCann, N.J. Bernier and F. Laberge (in press). Detection and potential biomagnification of the neurotoxin β-methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA) and its isomers in Western Lake Erie. Toxicon.
• K. McAllister, M. Dolan, C.J. Axelrod, B.W. Robinson and F. Laberge (2025). Assessing cognitive performance in nature: brain size and personality correlates of novel object recognition in nest-guarding male pumpkinseed sunfish. Frontiers in Ethology 4:1683770.
• P.N. Mahabir, N.J. Bernier and F. Laberge (2025). Environmental and ecological factors, but not agricultural activity, are associated with brain size in creek chub (Semotilus atromaculatus). Environmental Biology of Fishes 108:131-146.
• S.M. Procopio, B.M. Studden, C.J. Axelrod, F. Laberge and B.W. Robinson (2024). Adaptive divergence of seasonal heart plasticity between Canadian and Spanish pumpkinseed sunfish populations. Journal of Zoology 322:351-363.
• I. Yin-Liao, P.N. Mahabir, A.T. Fisk, N.J. Bernier and F. Laberge (2023). Lingering effects of legacy industrial pollution on yellow perch of the Detroit River. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 42:2158-2170.
• A.M. Reside, S. Gavarikar, F. Laberge and N.J. Bernier (2023). Behavior and brain size of larval zebrafish exposed to environmentally relevant concentrations of beta-methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA). Toxicological Sciences 193:80-89.
• C.J. Axelrod, B.W. Robinson and F. Laberge (2022). Evolutionary divergence in phenotypic plasticity shapes brain size variation between coexisting sunfish ecotypes. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 35:1363-1377.
• E. Versteeg, T. Fernandes, M. Guzzo, F. Laberge, T. Middel, M. Ridgway and B. McMeans (2021). Seasonal variation of behavior and brain size in a freshwater fish. Ecology and Evolution 11(21):14950-14959.
• S. Ouellet, A. Lavictoire and F. Laberge (2020). Determinants of the water seeking response in a T-maze in the fire-bellied toad Bombina orientalis. Learning and Motivation 72:101679.
• F. Laberge, I. Yin-Liao and N.J. Bernier (2019). Temporal profiles of cortisol accumulation and clearance support scale cortisol content as an indicator of chronic stress in fish. Conservation Physiology 7:coz052.
• C.J. Axelrod, F. Laberge and B.W. Robinson (2018). Intraspecific brain size variation between coexisting sunfish ecotypes. Proceedings B 285:20181971.

Lab students in bold

• ZOO*3000 - Comparative Histology

• Ella Parkinson (PhD)
• Reid Williams (MSc, co-supervised with N. Bernier)
• Amanda Reside (PhD, co-supervised with R. Prosser - SES)
• Erin Francispillai (PhD, co-supervised with A. Turko)