Présentation de Biodiversité Québec, la nouvelle boussole de suivi de l’état de la nature québécoise
by Vincent Beauregard, Université de Sherbrooke
Thursday 30 March 2023 at 3pm, room B-354
The conference will be followed by a discussion with the speaker in the multi-function room
On 15 March 2023, Dave Smith received the Professional Engagement Award from the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. It’s a well-deserved honor for Dave, who works with enthusiasm and ardor every day to allow us to give the best of ourselves. His dedication makes our work easier and more enjoyable.
Thank you very much, Dave, for your dedication.
In an interview on ICI Radio-Canada’s Moteur de recherche program, Geneviève Lajoie answers the fascinating question “Can a pruned tree live forever?”. Listen to the interview in French at the following link on Ohdio.
The research work of Antoine Caron-Guay, a M.Sc student under the supervision of Étienne Laliberté, has been the subject of two recent media reports.
“How drones and AI could help stem the spread of a plant invading Quebec parks”, a report broadcast on 18 January 2023 on CBC News, can be viewed at the following link. The video is also accompanied by an article on the subject.
Antoine also appeared on Radio-Canada’s Le 15-18 program later that day. You can listen to the interview entitled “Drones and artificial intelligence to fight invasive plants in the Îles-de-Boucherville ” on Ohdio at the following link.
The plant functional ecology laboratory directed by professor Etienne Laliberté is looking for a part-time research assistant for the period from 30 January 30 to 21 April 2023.
The person will be responsible for making annotations of plant species on orthomosaics produced from photos of Quebec peatlands collected by a microdrone. The work will be carried out in a geographic information system (GIS) and the person will have to work in collaboration with the student responsible for the project. Other similar tasks may be added to the contract depending on the progress of the work to be done.
See this document for all the information.
The organizers of the IRBV photo contest would like to congratulate all participants, as the competition was fierce this year with over 20 entrants and 100 photos submitted.
Here are the winners in each category
An excellent article on the creation of the Acfas Herbarium, written by 3rd year undergraduate student in biological sciences at the University of Montreal Martine Pelletier, has just been published on the Acfas website. The creation of this new herbarium involves the expertise of Étienne Léveillé-Bourret of the IRBV (seen in the photo with Sophie Montreuil, director general of Acfas).
The article, which describes in detail the entire process of creating a herbarium board, can be read (in French) at the following link.
Charles Picard-Krashevski, a doctoral student at the Institut recherche en biologie végétale, won the Humains-Nature jury prize, sponsored by Space for Life, in the ACFAS competition La preuve par l’image. The announcement was made at the 78th ACFAS Gala. The winning image shows a bog nestled in the Parc national du Mont-Tremblant that is the subject of a floristic inventory to assess the impacts of climate change. To find out more, visit the ACFAS website.
On the occasion of the 78th ACFAS Gala, Michel Rapinski, doctoral student at the Institut de recherche en biologie végétale, was awarded the France-Quebec joint supervision thesis prize. This prize rewards the best theses produced within the framework of a Franco-Quebec joint supervision agreement and is sponsored by the ministère des Relations internationales et de la Francophonie du Québec and the General Consulate of France in Quebec.
Michel received this award for his doctoral thesis entitled “Ethnobiologie et ethnomédecine des Peuples premiers d’Amérique (Cris d’Eeyou Istchee, Parikwene et Pekuakamilnuatsh). L’impact de l’alimentation et de la médecine traditionnelle sur la santé et le bien-être des diabétiques”.
Read about it (in French) in Le Devoir.
Congratulations Michel!
“Les changements climatiques menacent aussi les insectes”, an article by Jean-Benoit Legault for The Canadian Press, published in the 25 November 25 2022 edition of Le Devoir, includes an interview with Jacques Brodeur, researcher-entomologist at the IRBV .
Read the article (in French).
Audréanne Loiselle, a Ph.D. student under the supervision of Stéphanie Pellerin, researcher at the IRBV and the Montreal Botanical Garden, and the co-direction of Raphael Proulx, professor at UQTR, is the recipient of the 2022 Marie-Victorin Excellence Award. Her thesis focuses on the synergies and trade-offs between the ecological functions and services (ESF) of different types of lakeside wetlands.
The results of her research project will make it possible to optimize wetland protection and conservation efforts by developing an integrative approach, taking into account the interactions between biotic and abiotic components, and focusing on the supply of ESF. The analysis of the impacts of climate change and land use scenarios will make it possible to build a more sustainable basis for land management projects in the medium and long term. More generally, the results of this project and the methods proposed therein represent significant advances in the fields of wetland ecology, conservation, modeling of anthropogenic impacts and the study of ESFs.
Audréanne Loiselle, who previously completed a master’s project on the impacts of urbanization on the taxonomic and functional diversity of urban wetlands, is already recognized for her expertise on wetlands, which has allowed her to participate in various collaborative projects and to be invited to give training, particularly on the delimitation of wetlands.
Audréanne is particularly distinguished by her impressive record of scientific communications and the receipt of numerous prizes and distinctions highlighting the excellence of her work and her ability to communicate.
Mathilde Gaudreau, a Ph.D. student under the joint supervision of Paul K. Abram, researcher at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in British Columbia, and Jacques Brodeur, researcher at the IRBV and professor at the Université de Montréal, is the recipient of the 2022 Marcelle-Gauveau Excellence Award, and the very first student to receive this prize.
Mathilde has distinguished herself through her important work on several Equity, Diversity and Inclusion committees as well as through her involvement in several companies working in the field of entomology. She is specifically committed to identifying and eliminating potential systemic barriers to marginalized communities while reducing the influence of unconscious biases on selection processes. She is also involved with the Ouellet-Robert Collection, the Entomological Society of Quebec (SEQ) and the Entomological Society of Canada. She has been a member of the company’s board of directors since 2018 and for four years participated in the editorial committee of Antennae, the Company’s newsletter. During her mandate, she wrote, for example, a directory of Canadian entomological collections and an entomological glossary representing more than 300 specialized terms. Mathilde also has an excellent record of publications and communications with the general public (twelve over the past four years).
Congratulations Mathilde!
Antoine Caron-Guay, a master’s student under the supervision of Étienne Laliberté, distinguished himself at the last congress of the Association des biologistes du Québec by winning the prize for the best student presentation (“Cartographier l’envahisseur: télédétection précoce d’une plante exotique envahissante à l’aide des drones et de l’intelligence artificielle”).
Congratulations Antoine!
The Marie-Victorin Herbarium was the subject of an excellent article in the science section of the November 19, 2022 edition of the newspaper Le Devoir. The article includes, among other things, interviews with the curator of the Herbarium Étienne Léveillé-Bourret, as well as with Geneviève Lajoie, researcher at the IRBV. You can read the article at the following link.
Photo: Jacques Nadeau, Le Devoir
Alexandre Michaud, a master’s student under the supervision of Michel Labrecque and Sébastien Boquel of CEROM, is the 2022 recipient of Société d’Entomologie du Québec Fund scholarship. With his master’s project, Alexandre is interested in characterizing the insect communities of several genotypes of fast-growing willows in Quebec. The originality of his project earned him this scholarship.
Congratulations Alexandre!
After receiving a Mosaïques d’Excellence scholarship earlier this year, Laurie St-Fleur, a master’s student with Joan Laur and Pierre-Luc Chagnon, is awarded the Ben MarcDiendéré 2022 Audacity and Innovation scholarship – by the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies. This scholarship aims to support students whose study projects are beneficial for society. It rewards the creativity, the originality and the audacity of the subjects and the methodological approaches.
Congratulations Laurie!
This year, the Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies of the University of Montreal awarded an excellence scholarship to two doctoral students from the IRBV, Constance Le Gloanec and Viraj Alimchandani. Supervised respectively by Daniel Kierzkowski and Anne-Lise Routier, Constance and Viraj use confocal microscopy and 3D image analysis to explore and understand the growth and development of plant organs. Excellence scholarships are awarded to students who have a very good academic record and are distinguished by their research achievements. This year, Constance published an article (as first author) in the journal Development and presented her research at the 10th International Plant Biomechanics Conference in Lyon, France. Viraj presented his work at two international conferences, the APS March Meeting in Chicago and the 18th European Mechanics of Materials Conference in Oxford, UK. Congratulations to both!
Back to the future of research
On November 11, Espace pour la vie will hold a new edition of Researchers’ Night at the Botanical Garden, an event that reveals scientific research in a whole new light.
This year, visitors will cross a “time vortex” and will be able to meet dozens of scientists gathered under one roof. The great scientific minds will be present to present their current and dream research work, while keeping in mind the learnings, mistakes and successes of the past.
For more information, download this document.