By | par Olivier Grégoire When visiting potential agricultural sites for the installation of RECON stations (RECON stands for Riparian Ecohydrological Connectivity Observation Network), we encountered a few little nature wonders! -------- Lors de nos visites de sites potentiels pour l'installation de stations du projet ROCER (l'acronyme ROCER signifie Réseau d'Observation de la Connectivité Écohydrologique… Continue reading Field Visits’ Wonders | Les merveilles des visites de terrains
Category: Field work
Fieldwork in the Fall | Le travail de terrain à l’automne
By | par Olivier Grégoire Left: Collecting data from our first operational station of the RECON project (Riparian Ecohydrological Connectivity Observation Network). Middle: Lake Hertel at the Gault Nature Reserve in the morning clouds. Right: Our groundwater wells transect emerging from the fall leaves. Photos by Olivier Grégoire Gauche: Collecte de données à notre première… Continue reading Fieldwork in the Fall | Le travail de terrain à l’automne
Collection of Tree Cores | Prélèvement de carottes d’arbres
By | par Florence Dancose Extraction of a tree core with an increment borer Extraction d'une carotte d'arbre avec une tarière de Pressler Photo: Alex Tran On July 16th, during our first installation day for the Riparian Ecohydrological Connectivity Observation Network (RECON), our lab team had the chance to experiment with a new instrument! The… Continue reading Collection of Tree Cores | Prélèvement de carottes d’arbres
Drilling in Rocky Soil | Creuser en sol rocheux
When drilling at the Gault Nature Reserve to install shallow groundwater wells, we encountered some rocky surprises!
Sampling Québec Rivers for Science Outreach Activities | Échantillonnage de plusieurs rivières québécoises pour des activités interactives de vulgarisation scientifique
On May 13th, 2025, a team of ECOHYDROS students visited five rivers between Montréal and Trois-Rivières. The team collected water samples from the Assomption, Yamachiche, Nicolet, Saint-François, and Richelieu rivers in preparation for hosting interactive science-outreach activities.
Tracking Fecal Coliforms: How Human Activities Affect Water Quality | Étudier les coliformes fécaux: l’effet des activités humaines sur la qualité de l’eau
This summer, I am studying the impact of extreme weather events on the water quality of Ours Creek, an important tributary of the Hurons River. Located in Montérégie, the river is labelled as having a very bad water quality in the province of Québec. I am analyzing 44 different water quality parameters, including total dissolved phosphorus, trace metals, and isotopic signatures, to better understand contaminant transport mechanisms. One of the parameters I’m focusing on is the concentration of fecal coliforms in the water, which serves as an indicator of contamination from fecal matter such as manure and sewage.
275 Samples and 276 Mosquito Bites
--by Thanuja Thavarasa Living organisms need a variety of nutrients in order to grow. For plants, nitrogen is an essential nutrient. Nitrogen, found in the form of nitrate (NO₃ˉ), is taken up through plant roots from the surrounding soil. Thus, we thought it would be interesting to explore the relationships between soil nitrate concentrations and… Continue reading 275 Samples and 276 Mosquito Bites
If you were wondering why the Dairy Bush was blue… It was us.
-- by Thanuja Thavarasa, on behalf of myself, Aidan Doak and Jamie Bain Water flow through soil is quite complex. It can move either vertically or horizontally dependent on a variety of factors like soil texture and different types of rainfall events. It can be valuable to know these water flow patterns since they can… Continue reading If you were wondering why the Dairy Bush was blue… It was us.
Testing the “two-water-worlds” hypothesis in southern Manitoba ~ by Janelle Laing
During the 2015 field season, members of our research group conducted a study on the Fort Garry campus of the University of Manitoba; the study aimed to test the “two water-worlds” hypothesis, which suggests that plants preferentially access tightly-bound soil water over mobile soil water. We collected rainwater, streamwater, mobile soil water (using suction lysimeters), bulk… Continue reading Testing the “two-water-worlds” hypothesis in southern Manitoba ~ by Janelle Laing
What is the relative importance of soil water versus bedrock groundwater?
While most of Prairies are relatively flat, the Pembina escarpment (also called Manitoba escarpment) is a striking topographic feature responsible for the presence of few steep-sloped landscapes in Manitoba. Because the escarpment is associated with the presence of different shale units and bedrock fractures, however, its impact on regional hydrology is probably much more complex… Continue reading What is the relative importance of soil water versus bedrock groundwater?
Ecohydrological Systems Laboratory - Laboratoire sur les systèmes écohydrologiques 