Centre for Ecosystem Management

📄 New research spotlight:

🌡️ What happens to ecosystems when conditions start to shift? Our latest blog post features new work from one of our Research Chairs that explores exactly that!

Tap into their insights 👉 www.ecosystemscience.ca/news/0kncs58...

#SciComm #Ecology #UoG #ClimateChange

@uofguelph.bsky.social @uofgcbs.bsky.social @integrativebiology.bsky.social

Recognizing Research Excellence: Dr. Bernhardt Honoured with Stevenson Lectureship — Centre for Ecosystem Management We are delighted to announce that our own Dr. Joey Bernhardt has been selected as this year’s recipient of the Stevenson Lectureship Award in recognition of her exceptional scientific leadership a...

🎉 Shoutout to our very own @joeybernhardt.bsky.social on being awarded the Stevenson Lectureship Award from @cdnsciencepub.com for her leadership and impact in aquatic science!

Read more about this achievement and her upcoming plenary lecture at the IAGLR & SCAS conference: 🔗 tinyurl.com/ys8r9tbf

🎉 Big congratulations to one of our amazing CEM postdoctoral fellows on landing a new role at the Santa Fe Institute! An exciting next chapter at a world-renowned research hub for complex systems and interdisciplinary science. We’re thrilled for you and excited to see the impact you’ll make!

Behind the Scenes: CEM's Postdoctoral Fellows — Centre for Ecosystem Management Every week at the Centre for Ecosystem Management (CEM), our postdoctoral fellows (PDFs) gather for a standing meeting that’s part think tank, part sounding board, and part creative laboratory.

This meeting could have been an email. (Just kidding. It absolutely could not.)

🧠 The Centre for Ecosystem Management's postdoctoral fellows are bringing big brain energy into their weekly meeting! Find out what they're so keen to discuss:

www.ecosystemscience.ca/news/behind-...

@uofgcbs.bsky.social @uofguelph.bsky.social

Learning Together on the Land and Water — Centre for Ecosystem Management A day of outdoor exploration, wildlife sightings, and freshwater science came to life as some of our postdoctoral fellows led a hands-on outreach event for local youth on the Saugeen Peninsula.

🏫 Some of our postdoctoral fellows recently partnered with the Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation to host a PA Day featuring outdoor learning on the Saugeen Peninsula. From wildlife spotting to food web games, it was a day of shared discovery:

🔗 www.ecosystemscience.ca/news/tmfly5m...

🏞️ Invasive mussels are back in the news, as their long-documented impacts continue to threaten Great Lakes whitefish on both sides of the U.S.–Canada border:

🔗 www.ecosystemscience.ca/news/jko2rpj...

New Working Group: Understanding the Pace of Change in Ecosystems — Centre for Ecosystem Management Every ecosystem relies on its primary producers, the organisms that capture sunlight and turn it into energy for others. Their traits—how efficiently they photosynthesize, how quickly they grow, and h...

⏩⏩ What happens when nature itself starts to speed up? A new CEM working group led by Dr. Hale brings together researchers from 5 countries to study how #globalchange is accelerating the pace of #ecosystems — and what that means for the stability and productivity of food webs.

tinyurl.com/mrccfnhp

Pow Wow Booth Engages Public on Lake Huron’s Changing Food Web — Centre for Ecosystem Management The 40th annual Neyaashiinigmiing Traditional Pow Wow brought together community and culture in early August in Cape Croker, attracting several hundred attendees from multiple states and provinces.

🐟 Dive into the tiny world that’s quietly shaping Lake Huron’s recovery story! At the 40th annual Pow Wow in Cape Croker, our team set up an interactive booth exploring nutrients → phytoplankton → zooplankton → the comeback of the whitefish (dikameg). 👉 Check out the full story: tinyurl.com/mpkthyfv

Why Open Data Matters for Ecosystem Management — Centre for Ecosystem Management At the Centre for Ecosystem Management (CEM), we believe that science grows stronger when knowledge is shared. That’s why we advocate for open data practices across ecological research and environme...

🌿 Data drives better decisions. At the CEM, we’re committed to advancing open data practices that help researchers, managers, and communities understand and protect ecosystems more effectively:

🔗 www.ecosystemscience.ca/news/why-ope...

#OpenData #EcosystemScience #Conservation #GreatLakes

Climate tipping points are being crossed, scientists warn ahead of COP30 Global warming is crossing dangerous thresholds sooner than expected with the world’s coral reefs now in an almost irreversible die-off, marking what scientists on Monday described as the first “tipping point” in climate-driven ecosystem collapse.

Climate tipping points are being crossed, scientists warn ahead of COP30: 🔗 www.reuters.com/sustainabili...

A sea lamprey attaches itself to a lake trout

🍁 Number of the Week: $50.8 million - how much money Ontario municipalities and conservation authorities spend each year battling invasives

🔗 www.insidehalton.com/news/ontario...

🌿 #InvasiveSpecies #Ontario #Conservation #Biodiversity #EcosystemHealth #GreatLakes

🎉 We're excited to introduce the CEM's newest addition, Dr. Carling Bieg! As a theoretical ecologist, her work looks at the dynamics of populations and food webs, global environmental change, and what makes ecosystems resilient. Her insights will be a welcome addition to our research community!

Multi-species eDNA as a screening tool to facilitate early detection and eradication of aquatic invasive species in large water bodies - Scientific Reports Scientific Reports - Multi-species eDNA as a screening tool to facilitate early detection and eradication of aquatic invasive species in large water bodies

🧬 eDNA is revolutionizing how we detect aquatic invasive species—faster, easier, and more precise!

🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

🧡 September 30th marks the National Day for Truth & Reconciliation

Happy National #PostdocAppreciationWeek to ALL of our hard-working postdoctoral fellows here at the Centre for Ecosystem Management! Your curiosity, dedication, and big-picture thinking drive our research forward every day—we’re grateful for all that you do to advance science and inspire our team 👏

Can Lake Superior hold off invasive mussels? | The Narwhal Lake Superior is the last holdout against invasive mussels that have plagued the Great Lakes. Scientists fear climate change threatens its fate

As invasive mussels ravage the Great Lakes, Lake Superior is the last holdout: thenarwhal.ca/lake-superio...

An assessment of the impacts of climate change on the Great Lakes: 2025 report This report confirms climate change is affecting the Great Lakes region through warmer and wetter weather, greater fluctuation in lake levels and disappearing fish populations.

📄 A new report out of the @elpcenter.bsky.social highlights how climate change is affecting the Great Lakes — warmer waters, less ice cover, and shifting ecosystems. See what the data show:

🔗 www.preventionweb.net/quick/95883

🌡️ #GreatLakes #ClimateChange #GreatLakesScience #ClimatePolicy

An underwater view of the surface of a body of water, with sunlight and bubbles in the forefront.

🌍 It’s #WorldWaterWeek! You, too, can join the global conversation on water & climate action, because online participation in the conference - happening now in Stockholm, Sweden - is FREE 👇

🔗 worldwaterweek.org/attending/at...

#WaterForClimate #WWWeek #GreatLakes #Sustainability 💧

Great title!

Pictured: Staff from both the QFC and CEM collaborate in real-time (not pictured are our virtual attendees) at a board table in the Arboretum Center (University of Guelph)

🌊 Exciting steps toward collaboration! The CEM and Quantitative Fisheries Center recently met to share ideas, highlight postdoc research, and build momentum for a Great Lakes grant proposal 👇

🔗 tinyurl.com/mv4jbbum

#GreatLakes #Research #GreatLakesScience #SciComm @pitcherlab.bsky.social

Welcoming Dr. Megan Szojka to the Centre for Ecosystem Management — Centre for Ecosystem Management We’re excited to welcome our newest postdoctoral fellow, Dr. Megan Szojka, to the Centre for Ecosystem Management (CEM)!

📢 We're excited to introduce our newest post-doc, @megan-szojka.bsky.social! Her work - using theory + field data to explore how warming, species interactions, and dispersal shape ecosystems - will deepen our understanding of resilience in a changing world: www.ecosystemscience.ca/news/welcomi...

Research Spotlight: Tracking Fish to Protect Freshwater Ecosystems — Centre for Ecosystem Management Freshwater ecosystems are under growing pressure from human activities like development, climate change, and pollution. But how do we know when fish are most at risk—and how can we use that knowledge ...

🌊 Research Spotlight: Erica Plivelic analyzes years of fish tracking data from three #AlgonquinPark lakes to reveal how fish vulnerability changes by season, habitat, and species—insights that help guide development timing and safeguard #freshwater ecosystems under stress 👇

🔗 tinyurl.com/43xuwx27

The struggle is real .....

How Agriculture Is Reshaping—and Destabilizing—Stream Food Webs — Centre for Ecosystem Management A new study co-authored by the Centre for Ecosystem Management’s Dr. Kevin McCann reveals that agricultural land use—especially nutrient runoff and the loss of streamside vegetation—is reshaping how e...

🌾 How does agriculture reshape stream ecosystems? 🚜

A new study co-authored by our own Dr. McCann at #UofG shows that land-use change can destabilize #foodwebs —shrinking #fish, simplifying energy flows, and reducing resilience. But there's hope 👇

www.ecosystemscience.ca/news/how-agr...

#LakeErie

Whitefish in Decline: A Warning Sign for Great Lakes Biodiversity — Centre for Ecosystem Management Bridge Michigan reporter Kelly House is highlighting a distressing trend: lake whitefish (or adikameg , in the Anishinaabe language) — once a staple in the diets and culture of those living along th...

🎣 Lake #whitefish (or adikameg) are more than a meal — they’re a cultural cornerstone of the #GreatLakes. But their collapse signals deeper trouble.

What’s driving the decline, and what can be done? Catch our most recent blog post for the answers:

www.ecosystemscience.ca/news/whitefi...

New Research Reveals How Human Impacts Are Rewiring Nature’s Food Webs — Centre for Ecosystem Management As the planet faces unprecedented environmental change, understanding how ecosystems respond is increasingly important. A new study, co-authored by the Centre for Ecosystem Management’s Charlotte Ward...

🌥️ Global change isn’t just disrupting nature—it’s reshaping the hidden networks that keep ecosystems running.

A new study authored in part by our researchers finds predators are adjusting their diets as habitats shift, rewiring #foodwebs in the process:

www.ecosystemscience.ca/news/new-res...

💵 The Canada Water Agency announces $9.3 million in funding for #freshwater solutions under the Great Lakes Freshwater Ecosystem Initiative:

www.canada.ca/en/canada-wa...

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