biology

herbarium projects available

dr. lada malek, emeritus professor, department of biology, is willing to supervise 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 interested in projects that will benefit our claude garton herbarium (lkhd) and provide you with experiential learning opportunities.

as a component of all projects below, 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 will participate (20-40% of time) in plant database and imaging projects related to herbarium collections. however, overall focus will be to enhance herbarium availability and participation by local citizen groups, organizations and 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 . all projects to include a search for existing programs and tools, in order to avoid duplication of effort.

project 1

google earth (ge) mapping of lkhd historic collections. in order to understand changes in plant distribution in the thunder bay district, develop ge tags for collections preceding the availability of computers. investigate the possibility of achieving this goal in other pre-existing programs such as inaturalist. initial focus on threatened or charismatic plant families.

 project 2

develop skills in the use of inaturalist program and app, with the objective to achieve curatorial status. develop inaturalist instructional tools for (1) elementary school 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 , (2) high school 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 and (3) adults. deliver one or two public presentation on the use and utility of inaturalist. this could be based not only on lkhd plant collections (vascular, moss, lichen) but on any other group of organisms currently supported by inaturalist.

 

project 3

develop an instructional module on nature photography (macro for plants and insects, telephoto for wildlife and birds). develop “mini-manuals” for the use of imaging equipment available through the herbarium. compare the utility of basic cell phone technology with sophisticated specialized digital imaging systems. deliver one or two presentations to target community audiences.

 

project 4

start developing a database of local vascular plants with “difficult” taxonomy, outlining specific features of each species used for taxonomic differentiation. select one group and develop a model for imaging these organisms, showing their differences. develop a presentation outlining to citizen groups or 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 the way in which different disciplines define “species”. evaluate critically the use of biological, geographic and morphological criteria in defining and naming of species.

 project 5

focusing on “disjunct” populations of plants, and those at the edges of their normal distribution, primarily prairie or parkland species (less importantly carolinian or arctic species), develop a database of plants potentially requiring local protection. investigate cosewic criteria for identifying rare and threatened species. investigate and list nw ontario conservation reserves protected by omnrf from logging (list specific “values” being protected). investigate strategies for funding to protect additional land in nw ontario (https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/news/2018/06/canada-nature-fund-special-ministerial-representative-and-national-advisory-committee.html). prepare a public presentation (to tbfn?) on a strategy to be used locally to identify important additional localities in tb district worthy of protection.

 

project 6

collate information on old forests in nw ontario, with focus on the greenwood lake conservation reserve. in collaboration with nrm faculty and tbfn digitize species lists and other unique features of the reserve, develop a list of potential research projects investigating the biology of this unique old growth forest. develop contacts and possible collaboration with “ancientforests.org”, local hiking club and omnrf (current owners of the reserve). give presentation on findings.

 

if interested, stop by the herbarium (cb3037, near double elevators) and chat with acting curator krisiti dysievick, or contact dr. malek directly at lmalek@lakeheadu.ca.

for more information about the herbarium, visit http://www.lkhdherbarium.ca/

outland youth employment program (oyep) stops by the department of biology for water quality assessment activities

on the morning of august 2nd, indigenous youth participating in the mink lake/sandbar outland program stopped by the department of biology to learn some common techniques for assessing water quality.  lead by the department's newest technician, kristi dysievick, youth measured water clarity and temperature before collecting water and benthic samples from lake tamblyn and the mcintyre river.

youth brought their samples back to the lab where they identified invertebrates found in the sediment, some of which were determined to be invasive to our river system.  for water quality, 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 used probes and colourimetric kits to measure ph, colour, nitrate, and dissolved oxygen.

biology technicians daniel brazeau and susanne walford provided additional assistance.  special thanks to aquatic ecologist/benthic taxonomist nancy serediak (streamline consulting) for volunteering her expertise and assistance with this activity.

 

department of biology and aboriginal mentorship program team up for experiential learning

the department of biology and aboriginal mentorship program hosted mrs. dampier's class from westmount public school for an afternoon laboratory activity.  first 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 learned the biology of northern wild rice (zizania palustris l.) from m.sc. biology candidate kristi dysievick (supervisor dr. peter lee).  kristi also discussed her research addressing the threats to native wild rice stands by invasive cattail species (typha angustifolia and hybrid t. glauca (t. latifolia x t. angustifolia).  biology technicians susanne walford and christina richard guided 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 through the micropropagation techniques of wild rice, which entails working aseptically, scarifying the seeds to expose the embryos, and planting seeds in a nutrient agar medium.   original methodology was developed in luel, a member of lucas.  elder gerry martin and mark kmill assisted with this activity, as coordinated by lisa harris. 

department of biology hosts canadian medical hall of fame discovery day

dr. heidi schraft (associate professor and applied life sciences program coordinator) along with support from the biology technicians welcomed high school 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 from thunder bay and ignace for discovery days in health sciences.  世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 worked as epidemiologists to discover the cause of a foodborne disease outbreak.  working in groups, they meticulously followed the same steps the public health agency of canada takes when an outbreak occurs.  世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 reviewed interview information from patients, statistically analyzed those data, hypothesized potential food sources from a restaurant, identified potential pathogens isolated from patient and food samples as cultured on different media, and confirmed the pathogen by preparing and running a dna gel (dna bacterial fingerprinting).  世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 discovered that solving an outbreak is like putting together the pieces of a puzzle and epidemiology would be a very interesting health sciences career.

teaching assistant positions 2024-2025


updated december 9, 2024

the biology department on the thunder bay campus continuously monitors course enrolment and graduate student numbers.  in general, tas are not used for biology courses on the orillia or barrie campuses;  however, we have new postings for or 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 !

once graduate 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 have been assigned their ta positions (june and july), any remaining positions can be filled by undergraduate 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 , pending budget approvals.  

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