Investigating The Mobility Of Arsenic In Subarctic Mining Pollution-Affected Peatlands Near Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Jeremy Leathers

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Arsenic (As) is a pollutant of global concern that is detrimental to human and environmental health. Between 1948 and 2004, mining operations near Yellowknife, NT released over 20,000 tonnes of As trioxide (As₂O₃) that continues to persist in the surrounding landscape. Although much effort has been put into studying the chemical forms, spatial distribution, ecological impacts, and environmental cycling of As in the area, more work is needed to determine the controls of As mobility between the terrestrial and aquatic components of the landscape. Soils are known reservoirs of legacy As that can release it downslope …

Mapping With The Land: Co-Developing A Cumulative Impact Monitoring And Land Stewardship Framework With Sambaa K’E First Nation, Northwest Territories, Canada, Michael S. Mcphee

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Across the Northwest Territories (NWT), Canada, Indigenous populations are striving to achieve effective environmental protection, whilst navigating complex methods, policies, and research relationships within co-management contexts. This thesis seeks to identify how differing cultural systems, environmental change, and fractured partnerships may be unified to align with the needs of the Sambaa K’e First Nation (SKFN), a remote Dehcho Dene community. Indigenous methodologies guided co-development of research questions with SKFN leadership which yielded objectives a) develop a GIS-based method to manage, organize and mobilize cultural and environmental data; b) develop a new stewardship monitoring procedure so that users can apply the …

A Machine Learning Approach To Classify Open Water And Ice Cover On Slave River Delta, Ida Moalemi

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Seasonal temperature trend and ice phenology in Great Slave lake (GSL), are strongly influenced by warmer inflow from Slave river. The Slave river flows to GSL through Slave river delta (SRD), bringing a rise in temperature that triggers the ice break-up process of the lake. Slave river discharge is subject to multiple stressors including climate warming and upstream water activities, which in turn, directly affects the GSL break-up process. Consequently, monitoring the break-up process at SRD, where the river connects to the lake, serves as an indicator to better understand the cascading effects on GSL ice break-up. This research aims …

Nitrogen: Both A Potential Stimulator And Suppressor Of Cyanobacterial Blooms In Temperate Lakes, Catherine Goltz

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Cyanobacterial blooms are complex phenomenon that are impacted and controlled by various factors such as lake depth, air temperature, wind, and nutrient loading. Nutrients such as phosphorus, nitrogen and iron all have very differing effects on cyanobacterial blooms. While phosphorus and iron are known to drive cyanobacterial biomass, nitrogen has been observed to have a direct impact on toxin synthesis. Nitrogen exists in the environment in many different forms such as atmospheric N₂, in inorganic forms such as nitrate and ammonium as well as in organic forms such as urea which can all affect cyanobacterial bloom development differently. …

Winter Dynamics Of Storm Water Management Ponds And Winter Tolerance In Three Aquatic Plant Species, Patrick Strzalkowski

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The vast majority of the research into the performance of stormwater management ponds (SWMPs) has been performed in warm regions or during the warmer seasons in temperate regions. It is presumed that SWMPs are inactive in the winter as any potential stormwater is trapped in snow and ice. The main goal of this thesis was to test this presumption and to study the dynamics and performance of three SWMPs during the winter. Remote water level loggers were installed into the three SWMPs and daily grab samples from the influents and effluents were taken and analyzed for total phosphorus (TP), chloride, …

The Dynamic Relationship Between Permafrost And Landcover In Northwestern Canada’S Discontinuous Permafrost Zone, Olivia Carpino

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Northwestern Canada’s subarctic is among the most impacted regions in the world as it is experiencing rapid climatic and environmental change. As a result, northwestern Canada has been experiencing region-wide permafrost thaw and disappearance, both of which are also occurring at unprecedented rates. Permafrost temperatures in the Taiga Plains have been warming steadily over the last several decades, which has been particularly detrimental across its lower latitudes of the discontinuous permafrost zone where the permafrost is already relatively thin and warm. These factors indicate that permafrost in the southern Taiga Plains may be in a state of disequilibrium with the …

Assessment Of Stream Metabolism And Associated Environmental Drivers In The Greiner Lake Watershed, Nunavut, Canada, Nicole Gotkowski

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Stream metabolism is an ecological process that can be monitored to assess carbon cycling and productivity within a stream ecosystem. GPP (gross primary productivity) is measured as oxygen produced by autotrophs and ER (ecosystem respiration), which is measured by oxygen depleted by all living organisms. Complications arise when estimating GPP and ER in the Arctic because most methods require a period of darkness when GPP ceases, however, summer regimes of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) do not reach zero. Furthermore, natural diffusion of oxygen from the atmosphere (k) must be accounted for but this requires extensive field work, thus posing problems …

Contrasting Seasonal Cycling Of Arsenic In A Series Of Subarctic Shield Lakes With Different Morphometric Properties, Jeremy Harbinson

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The subarctic shield near Yellowknife, Northwest Territories (NWT), is populated with thousands of small lakes (<1.5 km²) and several large lakes. Historic mining activities in the region have left a legacy of environmental impacts and widespread arsenic (As) contamination in both aquatic and terrestrial environments. In particular, several small subarctic lakes near Yellowknife have been previously documented to be contaminated with high levels of As. Subarctic lakes are characterized by seasonal ice-cover that can persist for more than half of the year, yet little is known about the under-ice spatial and seasonal dynamics of As cycling. The objective of …

Coastal Landform Change Influences On Endangered Five-Lined Skink Distribution At Northwest Beach, Point Pelee National Park, Canada, Evan Fortushniok

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

As park visitation increased to Point Pelee National Park up until its peak in 1963, the installation of infrastructure for the purpose of supporting the recreational interest grew with it. At Northwest Beach, large parking lots were built into the coastal landscape and by the 1970s large areas of sand dunes continued to be heavily impacted by the installation of visitor associated infrastructure. The infrastructure resulted in the stabilization of sand on the beach side of the parking lot, resulting in an artificially stabilized and heavily vegetated dune. Over the last few decades, the park slowly reduced the size and …

Air Quality: Assessment Of Pollutant Levels And Chemistry In Kitchener, On Using Multisensor Pods, Wisam Mohammed

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Air quality is a growing concern amongst governmental bodies worldwide. A large number of scientific studies accumulated over the past 25 years suggest that poor ambient air quality is attributed to adverse health effects, especially in vulnerable communities that exhibit pre-existing conditions. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported around 600 000 deaths globally in children under the age of 5 as a result of acute lower respiratory infections caused by poor air quality. With the current statistics on air quality impacts, it is clear that more needs to be done. This MSc work aims to put into perspective the …

Lake Huron Shoreline Analysis, Shubham Satish Nandanwar

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Lake Huron is a popular tourist destination and is home to several businesses and residents. Since the shoreline is dynamic and is subject to change over the years due to several factors such as a change in water level, soil type, human encroachment, etc., these locations tend to encounter floods due to increased water levels and wind speed. This causes erosion and loss to the properties along the shoreline.

This study is based on two areas of interest named Pinery Provincial Park and Sauble Beach which are located on the shoreline of Lake Huron where Pinery Provincial Park is a …

Exploring Visitor Perceptions And Behaviours Related To Ticks And Lyme Disease Risk In An Ontario Protected Area, Ryan Brady

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Lyme disease is the most common vector-borne zoonosis in North America and over the past decade, reported cases of the disease have been rapidly increasing in many regions throughout Canada. The relative novelty of this public health threat presents nature-based tourism and recreation organizations with a range of policy and management challenges. Currently, there is a limited understanding of public perceptions and behaviours associated with tick and Lyme disease risk, especially within a Canadian parks and protected areas visitation and visitor experience context. To address this practical and scholarly knowledge gap, this study utilized in-situ surveys to explore visitor perceptions, …

Change Detection And Landscape Similarity Comparison Using Computer Vision Methods, Karim Malik Wilfrid Laurier University

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Human-induced disturbances of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems continue at alarming rates. With the advent of both raw sensor and analysis-ready datasets, the need to monitor ecosystem disturbances is now more imperative than ever; yet the task is becoming increasingly complex with increasing sources and varieties of earth observation data. In this research, computer vision methods and tools are interrogated to understand their capability for comparing spatial patterns. A critical survey of literature provides evidence that computer vision methods are relatively robust to scale and highlights issues involved in parameterization of computer vision models for characterizing significant pattern information in a …

Monitoring Environmental Change Using A Participatory Modified Photovoice Approach With Indigenous Knowledge Holders In Kakisa, Northwest Territories, Kaitlin Kok

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

In response to growing pressures from climate change and the lack of a monitoring strategy for food security at a local and regional level in the Northwest Territories, there is an urgency for residents to record their own images of change in relation to harvester safety. This thesis explores the connection between geographic information systems, sustainable food systems, indigenous knowledge and the importance of place. The objective of this study is two-fold: (a) to develop a monitoring system in conjunction with the community of Kakisa and (b) to increase the resilience of the local food system. The methods used derive …

Impact Of Seismic Lines On The Hydrology Of Wetlands In The Discontinuous Permafrost Zone, Southwestern Northwest Territories, Angela Hamilton

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Previous studies in the southern Northwest Territories have shown the underlying discontinuous permafrost is sensitive to disturbances such as the creation of seismic lines. Their creation has resulted in compaction topsoil and tree removal causing accelerated permafrost thaw. The loss of permafrost has caused seismic lines’ surface elevation to subside, which allows water to conjugate. This increases the soil moisture of a seismic line, which results in preferential thaw along the seismic line edges. Thaw along the edges over time has connected more previously isolated wetlands to seismic lines. This leads to more water entering, resulting in higher water levels …

An Evaluation Of Ground-Freezing Methods In The Zone Of Discontinuous Permafrost, Northwest Territories, Elzbieta Mastej Ms

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Northwestern Canada is one of the most rapidly warming regions on Earth. The southern limit of the discontinuous permafrost zone is highly sensitive to small climatic fluctuations and presently experiencing a rapid landscape change due to accelerated permafrost thaw, which is further exacerbated by anthropogenic disturbances such as seismic exploration. Recent research has begun to examine both natural and mechanical approaches to minimize permafrost loss, although the utility of such methods in peatland environments is not well understood. This study explored the efficiency of natural and artificial ground cooling processes in a peatland environment by evaluating snow exclusion and thermosyphon …

Assessing Threats And Mitigation For Scarlet Ammannia (Ammannia Robusta) In Southwestern Ontario, Kayla Salive

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Scarlet Ammannia (Ammannia robusta) is an annual emergent wetland plant of the Lythraceae family. Throughout most of its distribution, the species population is stable under present conditions. However, this is not the case in Canada, where A. robusta is considered endangered with only a few small populations documented in British Columbia and Ontario. In response, a recovery strategy was created for A. robusta outlining the lack of information on the species biology and ecology, with a primary objective to assess the populations in Ontario and gain information on what may be contributing to the species rarity. To assess …

Reconstructing Hydrologic Conditions And Metals Supplied By The Peace River To The Peace-Athabasca Delta, Jelle André Faber

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The Peace-Athabasca Delta (PAD) in northern Alberta, Canada, is recognized internationally for its ecological, historical, and cultural significance. The delta is mostly within Wood Buffalo National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and is a Ramsar Wetland of International Importance. The construction of the WAC Bennett Dam (1967) and the Site C Dam (ongoing, 2024) on the Peace River, and expansion of the Alberta Oil Sands industry along the Athabasca River have raised concerns over water quantity and quality in the delta. When industry operations began, effective monitoring had not been implemented. Consequently, pre-industrial reference conditions are unknown and can …

Development And Application Of Hydrological And Limnological Monitoring In Lake-Rich Landscapes Of Canada’S Subarctic National Parks, Hilary Emma White

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Arctic and subarctic environments are being adversely influenced by human-caused climate change across our entire planet. Canada’s northern freshwater ecosystems are influenced by a variety of environmental stressors and are particularly sensitive to climate change, since small shifts in climate have the potential to substantially alter their hydrological, limnological, and biogeochemical conditions. Some other indirect effects on northern freshwater landscapes are the expansion of vegetation as well as changes in wildlife and waterfowl populations and distribution. It is, therefore, critical to understand the observed and predicted influences of climate change and other environmental stressors on these northern freshwater environments dominant …

Influence Of Ligand Complexation On Nickel Toxicity, Speciation And Bioavailability In Marine Waters, Samantha Sherman

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Currently there are no site-specific bioavailability-based prediction models for assessing the impacts of nickel (Ni) in marine environments although there are indications that these may be warranted. The aim of this research was to characterize the complexation of Ni in relation to toxicity and speciation. Various complexing ligands were used, and it was predicted that the binding affinity (logKf) of ligands would be inversely correlated to toxicity based on dissolved Ni concentrations ([NiD]) but that on a free ion concentration ([Ni2+]) basis, toxicity would not vary. A two-phased approach was used; the first was a proof of principle where synthetic …

Using Paleolimnology To Establish Baseline Conditions For Metal Contaminants In Advance Of Proposed Mining To Inform A Northern Community-Led Aquatic Monitoring Program, Tłı̨Chǫ Lands, Northwest Territories, Canada., James Telford

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The Marian Watershed Stewardship Program (MWSP), a community-driven aquatic ecosystem monitoring program, was developed by the Tłı̨chǫ Government to address concerns regarding the cumulative impacts of multiple potential stressors. In particular, the MWSP aims to develop methods that will be effective for detecting potential pollution from the proposed cobalt-gold-copper-bismuth NICO mine within Tłı̨chǫ Lands. In collaboration with the MWSP, paleolimnological methods and geochemical normalization are used to establish pre-mine baselines of lake sediment metals concentrations in the Marian River watershed prior to mine development. This baseline framework can be used to assess for pollution from surficial sediment once the mine …

Potential Impact Of Northern Resource Development On Aquatic Biota: Toxicity Of Chromium And Rare Earth Element Processing Reagent, So Yeon Choi

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Chromite and rare earth element development was identified in the 2015 Canadian Federal budget as a significant opportunity, however, key data gaps exist regarding the environmental concerns related to these resource developments. Chromium is essential in the production of stainless steel, and no suitable substitute is known. Rare earth elements (REEs) are a series of metals that are composed of 15 lanthanides, as well as scandium and yttrium. Uses for REEs range from electronic devices (i.e. cell phones, computers, televisions) to magnets and controlling nuclear reactors. While commercial production of REEs signify a great economic opportunity for Canada, key data …

Use Of Pre-Industrial Baselines To Assess Sources And Pathways Of Metals In Surface Sediment Of Floodplain Lakes In The Peace-Athabasca Delta (Alberta, Canada), Tanner Owca

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The effects of natural resources exploitation in northern Canada on downstream aquatic ecosystems is a concern. Assessing these effects requires comprehensive monitoring practices to better inform stakeholders and environmental stewardship decisions. Here, a monitoring approach is developed and applied to assess metals concentrations in lake surface sediments of the Peace-Athabasca Delta (PAD), northern Alberta, Canada. Since the ecological integrity of the PAD is strongly tied to river floodwaters that are critical for replenishing the delta, and the PAD is located downstream of the Alberta oil sands, concerns have been raised over the potential transport of metal contaminants to the PAD …

Cosmic Ray Sensors For The Continuous Measurement Of Arctic Snow Accumulation And Melt, Anton Jitnikovitch

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

In the Arctic, winter persists for much of the year, resulting in a hydrological system that is primarily regulated by snow and snowmelt runoff, and has important implications on vegetation, animals, and on the thermal regime of the active layer and permafrost. Snow water equivalent (SWE) measurements such as remote sensing techniques provide coarse resolution data, while snow surveys and snow-pits are labour intensive, have limited spatial coverage and do not provide a continuous reading. Over the last few decades, cosmic ray sensors (CRS) have been proposed as a way to provide much improved snow data, but few studies have …

Permafrost Thaw-Induced Forest To Wetland Conversion: Potential Impacts On Snowmelt And Basin Runoff In Northwestern Canada, Emily Haughton

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

In the discontinuous permafrost zone of northwestern Canada, snow covers the ground surface for over half the year, thus snowmelt constitutes a primary source of ecosystem moisture supply and strongly influences stream hydrographs. The peat landscapes along the southern limit of discontinuous permafrost are dominated by forested permafrost plateaus (“forest”), and treeless, permafrost-free wetlands (“wetland”). Permafrost-thaw induced transformation of this landscape has changed water flow and storage processes and therefore introduced new uncertainties on the region’s water futures. Here, I a) characterize forest and wetland water storage and flow from snowmelt, and b) evaluate how permafrost thaw-induced wetland expansion at …

Landscape Scale Spectral-Temporal Modelling Of Bamboo-Dominated Forest Succession Within The Atlantic Forest Of Southern Brazil, Clara Greig

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Tropical and subtropical ecosystems have become vulnerable to biological invasion (i.e., bamboo) due to human induced forest fragmentation. Bamboo ecological processes have been found to impede forest development, resulting in a state of arrested succession, which has been found to significantly reduce biodiversity, thus contributing to biotic homogenization. In this study we use a semi-empirical approach to develop a community-level spatially explicit ecological process model (hybrid model) using a time-series of Landsat imagery to describe single-landscape scale ecological processes of a pervasive bamboo species (Merostachys skvortzovii) found throughout the Araucaria forest, a critically threatened subtype of Atlantic forest …

Spatial Modelling And Wildlife Health Surveillance: A Case Study Of White Nose Syndrome In Ontario, Lauren Yee

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Wildlife data is often limited by survey effort, small sample sizes, and spatial biases associated with collection and missing data. These factors can create unique challenges from a surveillance perspective when trying to extract spatial patterns of habitat suitability and disease distributions for conservation and management purposes. This thesis examined data quality from a wildlife health database in the context of spatial analysis of wildlife disease. Spatial analysis of the data to predict habitat suitability of bats and white nose syndrome afflicted bats was examined by using the MaxEnt modelling method. Methods to reduce spatial bias were examined and specific …

The Effects Of Fire On Snow Accumulation, Snowmelt And Ground Thaw On A Peat Plateau In Subarctic Canada, Elyse Mathieu

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

During the past century, the highest rates of warming have occurred at latitudes above 60^oN, where air temperatures have risen at twice the rate of other regions. In northwestern Canada, this warming has coincided with an increase in the frequency, size and severity of wildfires. The influence of such fires on the trajectory of on-going permafrost thaw is not well understood. As a consequence, the combined impacts of climate warming induced permafrost thaw and possible feedbacks arising from wildfires cannot be properly assessed. This study examines the impact of a 2.7 ha low-severity wildfire (July 2014) on water …

Assessing Resilient Post-Disaster Recovery Of A Flash-Flood-Prone Area: A Study Of The City Of Jeddah, Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia, Abdurazag Tammar

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Abstract

The increased incidence of natural disasters over recent decades has been accompanied by a corresponding dramatic proliferation of human casualties, economic damage and recovery costs. Post-disaster processes are therefore increasingly becoming the paramount focus of disaster-management stakeholders. Current research has noted the importance of improving community resilience with respect to household capacity, organizational capacity, and social capital, as the three main assessment dimensions to enable communities to recover effectively and efficiently from future disaster events. Community resilience involves proactive preparedness and mitigation initiatives. In the context of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the lack of either precedent research or …

Accountability, Conservation And Community: Measuring The Local Economic Impacts Of Protected Areas, Catharine A.M. Brazeau

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

As a signatory to the Convention on Biological Diversity, Canada has committed to help protect biodiversity through an increase in effectively and equitably managed systems of protected areas (PAs) by 2020. If Canada fulfills this commitment, the country will see the largest expansion of PA networks in its history. Although employing ‘equitable and effective management’ suggests PAs have a responsibility to consider their effects on local stakeholders, on the whole, Canada’s PA agencies do not publicly and systematically report on their jurisdictions’ local economic impacts. To address this gap, this thesis aims investigate mechanisms for PA agencies to identify and …