News
GRIL-UQAM members in the news

August 2024 - Cassandre Lazar in Capsules Fond de Recherche du Québec
Cassandre Lazar was featured in FRQ's August capsules: La vie, à vingt mille lieues sous la terre.

August 2024 - Prof Michelle Garneau receives the Gisèle-Lamoureux prize
Michelle and her co-author Léonie Perrier win prize for the publication Les tourbières de l’île d’Anticosti : un patrimoine naturel unique à étudier et à conserver .

July 2024 - The conversation: Alison Derry, Annabelle-Fortin and Beatrix Beisner
Comprendre l’incidence de l’activité humaine sur le zooplancton est essentiel pour la protection des eaux des lacs

July 2024 - The conversation: Beatrix Beisner
Climate change may cause lake phytoplankton to become predatory, putting more CO2 into the atmosphere

July 2024 - The conversation: James Harris and Marie Larocque
James Harris, research associate, and Prof Marie Larocque publish an article in The conversation about the role of underground water in lakes.

July 2024 - The conversation: Maikel Rosabal and Marc Amyot
The green energy transition requires a large quantity of minerals and metals. This can impact lakes.
Photo Maikel Rosabal

June 2024 - Bluemethane, IHA and UQAM to establish global hydropower methane monitoring network
The program, funded by the Global Methane hub, provides free-of-charge GHG measurements for 20 partner reservoirs. Prof Yves Prairie and research associates Katherine Velghe and Sara Mercier-Blais are spearheading the project.
For a follow-up article, click here .

June 2024 - Members of the CarBBAS lab create museum exhibit at the Montreal Biosphere
Paul del Giorgio, Pascal Bodmer, Michaela de Melo, Pedro Maia Barbosa, Sara Mercier-Blais, Alice Parkes Mariana Peifer Bezerra, Bianca Rodriguez-Cardona and Sara Soria-Piriz helped create the exhibit Watersheds! Follow the Flow as members of the scientific advisory committee. The exhibit will run for an entire year.
To buy tickets and for more information, see the Espace pour la vie website and the press release in Actualités UQAM .

May 2024 - Many GRIL-UQAM students win awards at ecotoxicology conferences
Vincent Blouin (Maikel Rosabal's lab) was awarded best oral presentation at ECOBIM (France) and Marie-Soleil (Maikal Rosabal), Arnaud Marois (Maikel Rosabal) and Fernanda Cruz (Philippe Juneau's lab) won awards for poster presentations at the Chapitre Saint-Laurent / EcotoQ 2024 conference.
To read the press release in Actualités UQAM.

April 2024 - GRIL funding renewed!
Thank you to the Fonds de Recherche du Québec - Nature et Technologie for supporting our research! The GRIL received 6 more years, of support, at the maximum funding level, through the regroupement stratégique initiative. Thank you to all the professors and research professionals for their hard work during the renewal process! To many more years of collaborative research on freshwater ecosystems!
To read the annoucement on X and to peruse the competition results.

March 2024 - Elise Lhoste wins Ma thèse en 180s
Elise, a PhD candidate in Cassandre Lazar's lab, tells the story of heartbreak for microbes when their mining partners pack up and leave. Elise will now represent UQAM in the national finals. Congratulations Elise!
To read the press release in Actualités UQAM.

March 2024 - Prof Marie Larocque and Julie Thériault (UdeM) awarded 9.4M to study the water cycle
The CANO project (Cloud to Aquifer Natural Laboratories – Exploring the changing water cycle in Eastern Canada) will put in place high tech instrumentation in Eastern Canada in order to quantify atmospheric processes.
To read the press release in Actualités UQAM

October 2023 - Prof Maikel Rosabal's lab host a multi-actor workshop on sustainable mining processes
The workshop gathered citizens, scientists and mining companies to discuss solutions to common problems.
To read the press release in Actualités UQAM

August 2023 - The CarBBAS research group releases a video Behind the scenes of a field campaign: from science to camaradery
Students and postdocs from Prof. Paul del Giorgio's lab document their journey on the La Romaine reservoir during the summer of 2022. The funding for this video was awarded in the context of the Dialogue project, a platform for scientific outreach.
To watch the video on Youtube.

June 2023 - Prof Marie Laroque présents her research to Québec Science and Les années lumière
Marie Laroque presents one of the study site of her research chair in water and territorial management in Covey Hill, in the Montérégie region of Quebec to Québec Science and Les années lumières. Her research on underground water is further highlighted as Quebec struggles with its managment.
To read the press release in Actualités UQAM and Le Devoir

June 2023 - Prof Cassandre Lazar receives funding from Génome Québec to characterise DNA from rocks
In collaboration with partners from the mining industry (Derena Geosciences, Exploration Midland, Mine Raglan (Glencore), Nouveau Monde Graphite and Ressources Utica Forages) the team aims to develop a new DNA microbial database.
To read the press release in Actualités UQAM.

May 2023 - Prof Paul del Giorgio and Marie Larocque receive the Marie Laroque receive Prix d’excellence de la recherche from the Faculté des sciences de l’UQAM
Prof Paul del Giorgio received the Volet Carrière award and Prof Marie Larocque receive the Professeure experte award. Both were honoured for their achievements and contribution to the development of the Faculty of Science. Félicitations!
To read the press release in Actualités UQAM and to watch an interview with Paul on Youtube.

May 2023 - Prof Alison Derry and Maikel Rosabal obtain research grants from the FQRNT
Prof Alison Derry for her project on eco-evolutionary dynamics in lake ecosystem restoration and Prof. Maikel Rosabal for his research project on modelling metal toxicity in aquatic ecossytems. Congrats!
To read the press release in Actualités UQAM.

April 2023 - Joan Pere Casas Ruiz, Pascal Bodmer, Mathilde Couturier, Paul del Giorgio and colleagues co-author an article in Nature Communications
Their research article entitled Integrating terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems to constrain estimates of land-atmosphere carbon exchange adds a new perspective to the global carbon cycle.
To read the press release in Actualités UQAM.

April 2023 - Marie-Pier Hébert, former PhD student co-supervised by Prof Beatrix Beisner, receives 2023 Lindeman Award
“The Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography presents the Raymond L. Lindeman Award annually to a young aquatic scientist for their notable work on an outstanding, peer-reviewed, English-language paper in the realm of aquatic sciences.” Marie-Pier receives this award from ASLO for her paper Warming winters in lakes: Later ice onset promotes consumer overwintering and shapes springtime planktonic food webs. Congrats Marie-Pier!
To read the official announcement from ASLO.

March 2023 - Freshwater ecosystems are getting saltier
Prof Alison Derry and collaborators co-write a special issue of Limnology and Oceanography Letters
documenting an increase in salinity in fresh and coastal waters across the globe.
To read the press release in Actualités UQAM and related articles in The Conversation and MenaFN, L'Actualité, Le Devoir and Le Soleil.

April 2023 - Prof Michelle Garneau receives 8.7M$ to study the carbon budgets of wetland ecosystems in southern Québec
To read the press release in Actualités UQAM and related articles in Newswire.ca and Bulletin d'Aylmer and Réseau de l'Université du Québec.

March 2023 - Protection of bogs, a conservation priority
Longtime regarded as ecologically useless, we now know that bogs are immense carbon reservoirs that are essential to greenhouse gas regulation. Prof Michelle Garneau is currently participating in a new pan-Canadian research project to define new policies for the protection of wetland ecosystems.
To read the press release in Actualités UQAM.

March 2023 - Prof Beatrix Beisner is the recipient of the 2023 Frank Rigler prize awarded by the Canadian Society of Aquatic Sciences (SCAS)
This prize is awarded for major accomplishments in the filed of limnology in Canada.
Read the official announcement from the SCAS.

October 2022 - Prof Dolors Planas - first woman to receive a PhD in Limnology in Spain
Prof Dolors Planas is an emeritus professor within the GRIL-UQAM research group. Her accomplishments, including receiving the first PhD in limnology in Spain in 1972, are mentionned in the review article Women in limnology: From a historical perspective to a present-day evaluation.

September 2022 - Dr. Cynthia Soued, Sara Mercier-Blais and Prof. Yves Prairie on the contribution of reservoirs and dams to CO2 and CH4 greenhouse gas emissions
In an article published in Nature Geoscience, the authors track long term greenhouse gas emissions from reservoirs across the globe. Although CO2 emissions peak at the inception of the reservoir, CH4 emissions continue to increase, especially in warmer climates.
To read the press release in
Actualités UQAM and articles in La Presse, Le Journal de Montréal, OI Canada, World Nation News, WSU Insider, Réseau de l'Université du Québec and another mention in Actualités UQAM.

August 2022 - Cristina Charette and Prof. Alison Derry on invasive species in the St-Lawrence river
Cristina Charette highlights the importance of the invasive round goby fish in the St-Lawrence ecosystem
To read the article published in The conversation.

August 2022 - Maikel Rosabal discusses invisible contamination by rare earths
Prof Maikel Rosabal discusses the environmental contamination of metal recycling of La Fonderie Horne in Abitibi-Temiscamingue on freshwater invertebrates, fish and water quality.
To read the article in Le Devoir.

July 2022 - Cindy Paquette receives ESA's Exceptional Promise in Graduate Research award
Cindy Paquette (PhD student under Prof Beatrix Beisner) receives the prestigious award for Exceptional Promise un Graduate Research from the Ecological Society of America for her article Environmental drivers of taxonomic and functional variation in zooplankton diversity and composition in freshwater lakes across Canadian continental watersheds published in the journal Limnology and Oceanography.

July and February 2022 - Increasing lake salinity leads to cascading biomass loss
UQAM professors (Alison Derry and Beatrix Beisner) and students (Louis Astorg, Simon Thibodeau and Marie-Pier Hébert) along with many international collaborators show that salt application to roads leads to zooplankton and phytoplankton loss in lakes and that current government guidelines do not adequately protect aquatic ecosystems.
To read the article in Proceedings of the Natural Academy of Sciences click here and for the presse release click here. To listen to the segment on Les années lumières and to read an article on Agence Science-Presse

July 2022 - 4th year of Phoslok treatment of Lac Bromont
Prof Dolors Planas continues her research of the past 4 years on the application of Phoslok in order to reduce the amount of phosphorus in the water column of Lac Bromont.
To read the article in La Voix de l'Est and Le Soleil

June 2022 - GRIL-UQAM members at the Eureka Festival
Students Candice Aulard, Mathilde Salamon, Emilien Mineau, Karine Villeneuve, Elise Lhoste, Divya Patel and research associates Alice Parkes and Katherine Velghe wowed the crowds at the Eureka festival at Parc Jean-Drapeau with activities on bacteria, plankton and fish identification and tested participants knowledge about water. Over 40 000 people attended the festival!

June 2022 - Luana Hainzenreder Bauer receives award for 2nd best poster at ECOTOC- Chapitre St-Laurent symposium
PhD student Luana Hainzenreder Bauer (under the supervision of Prof Maikel Rosabal) receives 2nd place award for her poster entitled «Trace metal bioaccumulation: analysis and comparison among marine fish species from the Indian River Lagoon (Florida, USA)» .
To read the segment, click here

Mai 2022 - Prof. Alison Derry and Beatrix Beisner co-sign a letter on equity in environmental sciences in universities
With 70 other members from Quebec universities, Profs Beatrix Beisner and Alison Derry, co-sign a letter on the systemic barriers in science, technology, engineering and math at the university level.
To read the letter in Le Devoir

May 2022 - Prof. Yves Prairie discusses the impact of hydroelectric reservoirs on carbon budgets
Hydroelectric reservoirs aren't as green as everyone thinks. Reservoirs emit CO2 and CH4 which must be taken into account in carbon budgets.
To read the articles in Resilience, Salon, Le Manic

May 2022 - Jérémy Dupont and Frédérique Pelletier receive prestigious awards at ECOBIM symposium
Students Jérémy Dupont and Frédérique Pelletier (supervised by Prof Maikel Rosabal) received prizes for Public's favorite and Best oral presentation, respectively.
To read the segment, click here

May 2022 - Prof Marie Laroque participates in panel on the future of research about climate change with Quebec Minister of the Environment
In collaboration with other professors from UQAM, Prof Marie Laroque conveys the importance of underground water and integrated management of these ressources.
To read the presse release on Actualités UQAM

April 2022 - Prof Marie Larocque discusses water shortages
To view the segment on La Semaine Verte and to read the segment on Ici Radio-Canada

December 2021 - Lakes under close watch
UQAM professors (Yves Prairie, Beatrix Beisner, Dolors Planas along with other GRIL professors) discuss the current status and long term perspectives of lakes in Quebec
To view the segments on La semaine verte and read the articles in Ici Radio-Canada Nouvelles and TV5 Monde

September 2021 - Cristina Charette, PhD student, on Radio Canada's La semaine Verte
Cristina explains her research on the nutritional effects of the round goby, an invasive species, on the food web of the Saint-Lawrence river.
To view the entire segment on La semaine verte, click here

July 2021 - Profs Alison Derry and Marie Larocque get funding from NSERC Alliance grants
Alison's project, in collaboration with the River Institute, is on the influence of aquatic invaders
on nutritional provisioning and contaminants in sport fish. Marie's project, in collaboration with Kenauk Nature, the MFFP and Nature Conservancy Canada, is on the effects of climate change and land use on stream connectivity in temperate forests.
To read the press release, click here

July 2021 - Prof Beatrix Beisner receives the Gisèle-Lamoureux prize
The goal of the FRQNT prize is to promote publications written open source, in French and are pertinent to Quebec.
The prize was awarded for this article in Le Naturaliste Canadien, with first author Jade Dormoy Boulanger, Beatrix's MSc student .
For the press release, here

June 2021 - Profs Marie Larocque, Michelle Garneau and Monique Poulin: the study of wetlands along route 138
Route 138 will be extended between Kegaska and La Romaine. In colaboration with the Ministère des transports du Québec, these UQAM profs will and study the effets of the road expansion on the wetlands and bogs.
To read the full article in Actualités UQAM, click here.

May 2021 - Prof Beatrix Beisner receives the UQAM Expert de la recherche prize
Prof Beatrix Beisner receives this prize for her contributions to research in aquatic ecosystems as well as her work as director of the GRIL.
To read the full article in Actualités UQAM, click here.

April 2021 - Profs Yves Prairie and Beatrix Besiner give online conferences about threats to lakes through Le Centre Déclic
In part 1, Prof Yves Prairie gives an overview of lakes and their threats in Quebec and across the globe. In part 2, Prof Beatrix Beisner discusses solutions. For more information, click here.

March 2021 - Prof Marie Larocque discusses water management at the watershed level
Prof Marie Larocque talks about an integrated approach to water management in Quebec during an interview as part of the web video series '' Flatten the curve '' of UQAM's Institute of Environmental Sciences. To view the video (in French), click here.

March 2021 - Beatrix Beisner receives a scientific communication grant about lake health
Prof Beatrix Beisner and Marie-Andrée Fallu, GRIL coordinator, received a Dialogue grant from the Fonds de recherche du Québec for a project entitled «Threats to lakes». The objective of this grant is to make people aware of the stressors that can affect the water quality in lakes in Quebec. To read the press release (in French), click here and for more information about the project click here.

February 2021 - Carbon sequestration in peatlands
Prof Michelle Garneau, Joannie Beaulne and Gabriel Magnan, published a paper where they determined that boreal peatlands stock more greenhouses gases than forests over a 200 year time scale. To read the press release (in French), click here.

February 2021 - Prof Beatrix Beisner, La voix de l'eau
Prof Beatrix Beisner gives an interview about her scientific journey and the role of women in science . To read the full article (in French), click here.

January 2021 - Cindy Paquette, PhD student, participates in web series L'Fabrik
Cindy Paquette, along with two other UQAM graduate students, build a trash collector out of everyday items. This web series is a part of the Montreal Centre des Sciences' digital initiative to highlight the contributions of women and girls in science. To see all the episodes, click here.

July 2020 - JiHyeon Kim, PhD student, awarded the Bourse de la Fondation J.A. DeSève
JiHyeon, a PhD candidate in prof Yves Prarie's lab, is awarded the Bourse de la Fondation J.A. DeSève from the Fondation de l'UQAM. Her research interests are centered on the large scale dynamics of greenhouse gases in lakes.

July 2020 - Prof Beatrix Beisner on the of health lakes in southern Quebec
As a member of the NSERC Canadian Lake Pulse Network, prof Beatrix Beisner talks to La Tribune about the status of lakes in southern Quebec from eutrophication to invasive species.

May 2020 - Prof Marie Larocque holds the new research Chair in water and land conservation
This new Chair was created in partnership with Nature Conservancy of Canada and a generous donation from Tamar and Patrick Pichette. The Chair will allow Prof Larocque to continue her groundbreaking research on the hydrological dynamics of wetlands and subsurface waters.

February 2020 - Profs Michelle Garneau, Steven Kembel and Marie Larocque join the GRIL-UQAM
New members in 2020! Their research themes broach subjets such as anthropogenic changes in peatlands, the interactions between microorganisms and plants and the dynamics of aquifers. Welcome!

January 2020 - The CarBBAS chair receives new funding
Launched officially in 2009, the CarBBAS chair is financed jointly by NSERC's Collaborative Research and Development Grant (CRD) and Hydro-Quebec. With Prof Paul del Giorgio at it's head, the chair has been renewed for another 6 years.

December 2019 - Marie-Pier Hébert explains what is plankton on the show Couple de nerds
Marie-Pier Hébert, PhD candidate at McGill and co-supervised by Prof Beatrix Beisner at UQAM, explains what is plankton, how to sample it what it does on the show Couple de nerds.

Fall 2019 - Prof Yves Prairie reviews the International Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) report on greenhouse gas emissions
Yves Prairie participates in the 2019 Refinement to the 2006 IPCC guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories. Among other items, important changes are brought to the section on greenhouse gas emission calculations from hydroelectric reservoirs.

November 2019 - Recruiting students internationally
Prof Philippe Juneau, representing UQAM's faculty of science, participates in university fairs in Bejing and Shanghai . Professor Juneau himself supervises two chinese students in his laboratory whom he met during his outreach to universities abroad.

October 2019 - Support for UNESCO Chairs in Quebec
Prof Yves Prairie, chairholder of the UNESCO chair in global environmental change, will receive 15 000$/yearly in additional support from the Fonds de Recherche du Québec.

October 2019 - Prof Beatrix Beisner is awarded the Prix Michel Jurdant
Beatrix Beisner (UQAM) was awarded the Acfas Michel-Jurdant 2019 prize in environmental science. This award, sponsored by the Canada Foundation for Innovation, was presented to her on November 14th in Montreal to recognize "the excellence of her work in environmental science".

August 2019 - New funding for professors Cassandre Lazar and Beatrix Beisner
Prof Beatrix Beisner received funding for her projet Plankton trait flexibility and lake food web functioning and for the purchase of a new phycoprobe to study phytoplankton distribution in the water column. Prof Cassandre Lazar received funding for her project Linking microbial community composition, metabolic functions and ecology in terrestrial subsurface and surface habitats. Cassandre also received additional funding with the program Tremplin vers la découverte, reserved for new professors.

August 2019 - Vincent Fugère is awarded the Prix de la Relève étoile Louis-Berlinguet
Vincent Fugère, postdoctoral fellow in Beatrix Beisner's lab, is the winner or the competition Étudiants-chercheurs Étoiles du FRQ for his article Human influences on the strength of phenotypic selection published in PNAS.

Summer 2019 - Marie-Pier Hébert receives the ESA prize for Exceptional Promise in Graduate Research Award
Marie-Pier Hébert, PhD candidate at McGill and co-supervised by Prof Beatrix Beisner at UQAM, receives an award for her article The overlooked impact of rising gylphosate use on phosphorus loading in agricultural watersheds published in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment.

Summer 2019 - Inteliswim
Nicolas Fortin St-Gelais, former PhD student at GRIL-UQAM and current scientific director at CANN Forecast, developped a tool to estimate the concentration of E. coli in rivers for recreational activitie. This artificial intelligence algorithm was developed during the 2016 Aquahacking challenge.

February 2019 - Profs Dolors Planas and Philippe Juneau participate in the remediation of Lac Bromont
Preliminary results of the spreading of Phoslock in Bromont Lake, a project put forward by the city of Bromont in collaboration with Professors Dolors Planas and Philippe Juneau at UQAM, seems indicate that cyanobacterial blooms have decreased via a decrease in phosphorus concentrations. This initiative is the first of its kind in Quebec.

October 2018 - Sargassum has returned
Sargassum algae are back in full swing this year, which displeases the tourism industry enormously. Professor Philippe Juneau comments on the toxicity of this algae and why they are so abundant.

May 2018 - The history of the GRIL in the ASLO bulletin
Prof Beatrix Beisner, director of the GRIL, gives an overview of the GRIL's past, present and future following its renewal.

March 2018 - Prof Cassandre Lazar joins the GRIL and GRIL-UQAM
Newly appointed Professor in the department of biological sciences at UQAM, prof. Cassandre Lazar joins the GRIL .Her research centers on subsurface microbial ecology.

May 2017 - Renewal of the regroupement stratégique FRQNT GRIL
Le regroupement stratégique FRQNT GRIL, dont la Directrice est Prof. Beatrix Beisner, a été renouvellé pour 6 ans pour un total de 3,6 millions de dollars, soit le maximum alloué par le FRQNT. Ces fonds serviront pour la formation d’étudiants et de professeurs, pour la mise-en-place d’une base de donnée géomatisée sur les eaux douces du Québec

March 2017 - Collaboration in research
Prof Philippe Juneau explains the strength of a network of researchers to understand and improve water quality in the article Examining wastewater published in the Campus Montreal journal.

October 2016 - Two teams made up of GRIL members qualify for the grand finale of the AquaHacking Challenge
5 finalist teams presented their projects to the jury and 2 teams were made up of GRIL members: - Info-Baignade Montréal (GRIL participant: Nicolas Fortin St-Gelais from UQAM) -awarded 1st rpize - eFish (GRIL participants: Beatrix Beisner, Louis Astorg and Alison Derry from UQAM, Carina Poulin from U. Sherbrooke, Charles Charrier Tremblay and Zofia Taranu from UdeM). Awarded 3rd prize

September 2016 - Prof Maikel Rosabal joins the GRIL and GRIL-UQAM
Newly appointed professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at UQAM, prof. Maikel Rosabal joins the GRIL. His research focuses on aquatic environmental metallomics.

August 2016 - Alexandre Langlais-Bourassa,MSc candidate, receives The Stephen Bronfman Funds for Environmental Studies
Alexandre Langlais-Bourassa, master's student, under the supervision of Beatrix Beisner at UQAM and Jan Franssen of UdeM, received a second-year graduate scholarship aimed at enriching research: these are the Stephen Bronfman Funds for Environmental Studies, offered by the Jewish Community Foundation of Montreal.

June 2016 - Jonathan Naoum, MSc candidate, wins award at the 20th congress of the Saint-Laurent Chapter
Jonathan Naoum, master's student under the supervision of Philippe Juneau at UQAM, won first prize in the category “Best student presentations by posters” at the 20th congress of the Saint-Laurent Chapter that was held in Quebec on June 2 and 3.

June 2016 - Cynthia Soued, PhD candidate, receives an Alexander-Graham-Bell Canada Graduate Scholarship
Cynthia Soued, doctoral student under the supervision of Yves Prairie at UQAM, received an Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarship awarded by the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) .

February 2016 - Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences Dolors Planas receives the status of Professor Emeritus
A specialist in freshwater aquatic ecosystems, Dolors Planas has contributed to the advancement of research in the field of limnology and the environment for more than 30 years. She has contributed to a better understanding of a large number of environmental issues, including the effects of logging on nutrient inputs to aquatic environments, contamination of the food chain by mercury, and the proliferation of cyanobacteria in the freshwater lakes of eastern Quebec, particularly in the Eastern Townships.

February 2016 - Matthew Bogard, PhD candidate, receives the Prize for Best Student Research
Matthew Bogard, currently a doctoral student in biology, won the UQAM Best Student Research award for an article published in Nature Communications in 2014.

Fall 2015 - Matthew Bogard winner of the 2016 Canadian Peters Limnology Rob Peters Award
Matt is the recipient of the Rob Peters Prize for his article Oxic water column methanogenesis as a major component of aquatic CH4 fluxes published in Nature Communications.

November 2015 - Prof. Philippe Juneau joins the GRIL
Welcome to Prof. Philippe Juneau, professor in the biological sciences department of UQAM, who is a new member of GRIL. His research interests focus on aquatic ecotoxicology, specifically on environmental factors affecting cyanobacteria and zooplankton.

September 2015 - The arrival of the spiny leaf spot in Quebec - Prof. Beatrix Beisner comments
The spiny water flea, although known in Ontario for several years, has just appeared in Quebec water bodies. Beatrix Beisner discusses how these predators are bringing about major changes in aquatic ecosystems, particularly in zooplankton communities and via the contamination of fish.

August 2015 - Proliferation of brown algae in the Caribbean - Prof. Dolors Planas and David Bird comment
This winter, Mexico and the Dominican Republic, there have been large quantities of Sargassum algae that have accumulated on the beaches. Although unpleasant for bathers, these algae are not dangerous for humans. Prof Dolors Planas and Prof. David Bird explain that this natural phenomenon is simply more abundant this year.

July 2015 - Matthew Bogard awarded the FQRNT Étudiants-chercheurs étoiles prize
Matt Bogard, PhD student in Paul del Giorgio's laboratory, is the winner of the FRQ's Étudiants-chercheurs étoiles competition for his article Oxic water column methanogenesis as a major component of aquatic CH4 fluxes published in Nature Communications.

July 2015 - Beatrix Beisner awarded the Humbolt Prize
Prof. Beatrix Beisner received the Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award for research and teaching excellence worth 45,000€. This prize aims to promote research between German and young international researchers. During her sabbatical at the Liebniz Institute, Professor Beisner will study the molecular diversity of aquatic ecosystems using mesocosms.

June 2015 - Beatrix Beisner appointed director of the GRIL
Prof. Beatrix Beisner was elected as Director of GRIL. The GRIL brings together more than 40 researchers from 8 institutes across Quebec. GRIL celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2015.

January 2015 - Renewal of the CarBBAS chair
The Industrial Research Chair in Carbon Biogeochemistry of Boreal Aquatic Ecosystems (BiCÉAB), in partnership with the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (CRSNG) and Hydro-Québec has been officially renewed for a second 5-year term. Congratulations to Paul del Giorgio and all the members of his laboratory!

October 2014 - Prof. Paul delGiorgio is awarded the Prix Michel-Jurdant
Paul del Giorgio is the recipient of the thirtieth edition of the Michel-Jurdant Prize, awarded by the Association Francophone pour le Savoir (l'Acfas). This distinction is awarded to him not only for his important scientific contributions but also for his work in environmental protection.

September 2014 - Jean-François Lapierre FRQNT laureate
Jean-François Lapierre, doctoral student in the laboratory of Paul del Giorgio, is the winner of the Étudiants-chercheurs Étoiles du FRQ competition for his article Increases in terrestrially derived carbon stimulate organic carbon processing and CO2 emissions in boreal aquatic ecosystems published in Nature Communications.

July 2014 - A study by Sara Mercier-Blais and Yves Praire makes waves
A study by Yves Prairie, and Sara Mercier-Blais, a research assistant in his laboratory shows that the waves caused by wakeboard boats are harmful to the banks of lakes. The study suggests that the waves from these boats would increase shoreline erosion and the turbidity of the water. To maintain the health of the banks, the study suggests circulating 300m from the shoreline.

July 2014 - 50 000$ to study urban streams
Professor Beatrix Beinser, in collaboration with Marie-Christine Bellemare (former GRIL-UQAM student) and Guy Garand of the Laval Regional Committee for the Environment (CRE-Laval) obtained a grant from the RBC Blue Water project for the study and improvement the water quality of streams in Laval. These streams are places that contain a great biodiversity of insects and fish. Unfortunately, these are disappearing due to urban and agricultural development in the region.

Spring 2014 - GRIL-UQAM is awarded a grant to purchase new laboratory equipment
Professor Yves Prairie, Beatrix Beisner and Paul del Giorgio received a John R. Evans grant from the Canada Innovation Foundation (CFI) for an analytical platform to support a network of lake observatories. These new portable instruments will be used to characterize bacteria communities in lakes and rivers, to analyze dissolved organic carbon and to determine primary production in situ. In addition, this grant will be used for the acquisition of a nutrient auto-analyzer, which will complement the data collected by the buoys.

January 2014 - A discovery by Prof. Paul del Giorgio and collaborators celebrated as one of the top 10 scientific discoveries of the year 2013
For a long time, researchers believed that the carbon decomposed by aquatic bacteria came from recent sources such as dead leaves, animal droppings and bank erosion. Such that the carbon cycle was relatively quick (a few years). However, Paul del Giorgio and Leigh McAllister have demonstrated, using isotopic techniques, that a large proportion of the carbon consumed by bacteria over 1,000 years ago.

May 2013 - Prof. Yves Prairie comments ont ehsaving of the Experimaental Lake Area on Radio-Canada
Prof. Yves Prairie speaks with host Mathieu Grégoire on the Boréal Express talkshow, broadcast by Radio-Canada, about the preservation of experimental lakes area in Ontario.

Mai 2013 - The GRIL-UQAM at the 24 heures de sciences
Several GRIL-UQAM members revealed the secrets of ponds in Montreal, an aquatic-themed activity that took place at Parc LaFontaine during the 24 heures de science. Over a hundred people of all ages came to admire the zooplankton, the larvae of aquatic insects and the different colors of water found around Montreal. The audience also participated in the "Wheel of Misfortune", a game that brings people to reflect on the impacts of human activities on aquatic ecosystems. A great success despite uncooperative weather!

April 2013 - Prof. Alison Derry on the front page of the Journal de l’Université du Québec à Montréal and in l’Agence Science Presse
Prof. Alison Derry décrit la recherche effectuée dans son laboratoire qui se spécialise dans un domaine émergent de la biologie, soit celle de l’écologie évolutive. Elle y raconte les recherches effectuées dans les Laurentides en 2012 par Anthony Merante et Marilyne Robidoux sur les effets de l’addition du carbone et phosphore sur les communautés à la base du réseau trophique. Puis décrit les futures approches de ses étudiants Cristina Charette et Jorge Negrin-Dastis, en collaboration avec Prof. Dylan Fraser de l’Université Concordia, qui porteront sur les organismes au sommet du réseau trophique.

April 2013 - Prof. Yves Prairie elected President of the International Society of Limnology (SIL)
Prof. Yves Prairie was elected President of the International Society of Limnology. He will hold this position for a 3-year term starting in August 2013 during the SIL conference in Budapest.

December 2012 - The Lac Hertel mesocosms on putforward on Le Code Chastenay
The Lac Hertel mesocosms, located on the Mont Saint-Hilaire wildlife reserve, are the result of a collaboration between McGill University and UQAM. The chronical "Tomorrow Our Lakes ...", on Le Code Chastenay on Télé-Québec, showcases studies carried out by researchers at McGill University on climate change. Prof. Beatrix Beisner and her master's student, Geneviève Thibodeau, also use these mesocosms to study the effects of pH on phytoplankton communities.

November 2012 - Book launch Nature all around us: A guide to urban ecology
This book, éditer by Prof. Beatrix Beisner from GRIL- UQAM among others, helps us perceive the natural wonders of the world in urban environments. Chapters were also authored by by other GRIL members: Alice Parkes, research associate, Marie Longhi, postdoctoral fellow and Allain Barnett, François Guillemette, Rich Vogt, former PhD candidates.
November 27th 2012, 5 to 7
Paragraph books, 2200 McGill College

November 2012: Conférence: Il était une fois 900 000 lacs
Professeur Yves Prairie, chairholder of the UNESCO Chair in Global environmental change, disucsses the 900 000 laks that appeared after the end of the last glaciation.
22 novembre 2012, 19:00
UQAM, Pavillon SH, Amphithéatre (salle SH2800)

October 2012 - Conference: Voyage au coeur des océans
Professor Josep Gasol, who is currently on sabbatical leave at UQAM, speaks about a high sea excursion that reunited researchers from 16 countries during 7 months.
25 octobre 2012, 19:00
UQAM, Pavillon SH, Amphithéatre (salle SH-2800)

Summer 2012 - The CarBBAS team in Schefferville
This video (produced by Nicolas Fortin St-Gelais, doctoral candidate in the Beisner / del Giorgio laboratory) shows the CarBBAS team doing laboratory manipulations at McGill Universiy's the subarctic research station in Shefferville.

Spring 2012 - The GRIL-UQAM at the 24 Heures des Sciences
Members of the GRIL - UQAM took part in the 24 heures des Sciences. This year's theme was water. We welcomed around fifty elementary students for the UQAM Water Fair. The students visited the laboratories and participated in activities. We also set up a kiosk at Angrignon Park in Montreal, Discovering the secrets of the pond, to demonstrate water sampling techniques to the general public.