Ciborowski Lab - Current Lab Members

Current Ciborowski Lab Members

Below are the current students and researchers residing in the Ciborowski Lab. Under each name you will find a brief summary of the individual's project or duties.

Graduate Students

Carla Wytrykush
Ph.D. Candidate

Thesis Title: Diversity and ecosystem processes and properties in wetland communities: the effects of ecosystem stressors and reclamation challenges.

Project Summary: Decomposition of dead plant material is an integral process providing key nutrients to drive primary productivity in wetlands. How rapidly aquatic plant matter is broken down within a wetland can indicate the potential for productivity and, by extension, the adequate functioning of aquatic ecosystems. In contrast, the sequestration of incompletely decomposed materials ultimately results in organic matter production, potentially supporting the development of fens and bogs. Carla's research examines the effects of four factors on cattail and moss decomposition in constructed and natural wetlands: 1) oil sands process sediments (present/absent); 2) oil sands process water (present/ absent); 3) wetland age (younger vs. older); and 4) sediment organic content (low-unamended/high-amended). Her preliminary results suggest OSPM affected wetlands function similarly to natural wetlands in terms of plant decomposition. An important result from Carla’s project is the evidence that moss growth can occur in OSPM wetlands. This is useful in terms of the development of bogs and fens in the oil sands reclamation landscape.

Mary Sebastian
Ph.D. Candidate

Thesis Title: Nondestructive Biomarkers of Exposure and Toxic Effects for Birds Breeding in Organochlorine Polluted Areas.

Project Summary: Persistent organochlorine compounds are widespread environmental contaminants that are capable of affecting wildlife and laboratory animals by inducing wide ranges of toxic and biochemical effects. Organochlorine pesticides like DDT were heavily used by farmers in Point Pelee National Park in 1950s and 1960s to control agricultural pests and biting insects. Mary studied tree swallow (Tachycineta bicolor) nestlings in Point Pelee to see whether bioaccumulation of local organochlorines occured in their tissues. She found that nestlings did have detectable levels of PCBs, DDT and metabolites in their tissues, and that contaminant burdens in swallow nestlings strongly reflect the amount and types of contaminant in their diet insects.

Mary’s current goals are to 1) develop and adapt several nondestructive biomarkers for tree swallow nestlings, and 2) to see if there are ecologically meaningful behavioural differences among the swallow parents in the organochlorine contaminated sites and to delineate the parental effects and the effects from contaminants assimilated on nestlings’ growth and development.

Emily Crisovan
M.Sc. Candidate

Thesis Title:Size-selective mortality of walleye in Western Basin Lake Erie.

Project Summary: Walleye are an important ecological and economic species; walleye are top predators and commercially harvested in Lake Erie. Since walleye are commercially harvested, the population may exhibit size-selectively mortality, meaning the larger fish of each age group are removed from the population more quickly than the smaller fish. For this research project walleye scales from four cohorts, each with six age groups, will be used. These walleye scales will be aged and back-calculations of size-at-age will be calculated. The goals of this project are to describe the age and growth of walleye in the western basin of Lake Erie, determine if size-selective mortality is occurring in the walleye population, the age at which it is first occurring and the intensity of the selection. Over time, size-selective mortality could cause genetic and evolutionary changes. Therefore, knowledge of size-selective mortality in western basin Lake Erie walleye could greatly help with management decisions and, depending on the results of this study, improve the commercial fishery to ensure the walleye population is sustainable and will remain so into the future.

Kaitlin Kennedy
M.Sc. Candidate

Thesis Title: Assessing Productivity of Chironomidae in Reclaimed Wetlands in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region of Northeastern Alberta.

Project Summary: The objective of this study is to determine the growth rate, fecundity, and abundance of Chironomidae in wetlands affected by oil sands process material (OSPM) and assess how these aspects of productivity compare to reference wetlands. Two of arguably the most toxic components of OSPM are naphthenic acids and salts. Therefore, this study will focus on the toxicity of these two components and how they affect aspects of productivity. Whether these effects are additive, synergysitic, or antagonistic will also be determined. Kaitlin will utilize laboratory toxicity tests to assess how naphthenic acids and salts, alone and combined, affect the growth rate of chironomid larvae. A reciprocal transplant in situ toxicity test will also be used to relate laboratory toxicity results to real world toxicity of OSPW and determine whether larvae are able to adapt to these toxic environments or simply tolerate them.

Michael Chen
M.Sc. Candidate

Thesis Title: Sediment interfacial interactions controlling nutrient and REDOX flux within experimental oil sands end-pit lake tailings

Project Summary: Sediment Oxygen Demand (SOD) is a major contributor to oxygen depletion in wetlands. Biochemical processes occurring at the sediment-water interface can influence wetland ecosystem function and sustainability in accordance with sediment composition. The biochemical reactions associated with natural sediment can be altered by the presence of Oil Sands Processed Material (OSPM), which can affect SOD and, by limiting oxygen concentrations in the overlying water, affect ecosystem viability. Establishing the biotic and abiotic controls of SOD is imperative in assessing current wetland reclamation designs’ effectiveness at restoring productivity to those observed during premining conditions.

In a laboratory microcosm laboratory, we will measure the REDOX chemistry of fresh tailings sediment (MFT) to investigate chemical and biological influences and to study the role of developing microbial communities as new MFT ages. Changes in the principal chemical, physical and biological populations of the MFT will be assessed in both aerobic and anaerobic microcosms using a combination of microelectrode arrays and DNA profiling at the tailings water interface. We will also use a novel bench-scale technique to characterize tailings and their impact on sediment oxygen demand (SOD) for future end-pit lake model behaviour.

Sheeva Nakhaie
M.Sc. Candidate

Thesis Title: Species area relationships in avian biodiversity in reclaimed and natural wetlands of north-eastern Alberta – Tests of contrasting hypotheses

Project Summary: Wetland habitats are in decline due to changing weather conditions and impacts of human development. They are home to a large variety of avian species including a disproportionate number that are rare or at risk. Many wetland obligate species have shown declines in both range and abundance as critical habitat is lost. Thus, effective wetland conservation is essential. It has been documented that species diversity increases with habitat area; larger wetlands support greater avian diversity as well as individual species abundance. In addition, there may be upper and lower limits where species diversity is independent of wetland size and these limits determine a critical habitat size that should be achieved to sustain avian biodiversity in wetlands. We will perform point counts in reclaimed and natural wetlands in north-eastern Alberta that vary in size to determine trends in avian biodiversity. We hypothesize that at the community level there should be an upper limit to the number of species that a wetland can support regardless of wetland area which should indicate the regional species pool. At the individual species level, noncolonial birds should demonstrate increasing abundance with increasing wetland size. Colonial birds should exhibit minimum species abundance as well as a maximum number of individuals that the wetland can support. These limits are likely determined by additional factors such as vegetation, micro habitats and colonial bird interactions.

2010-2011 Undergraduate Thesis Students

	Paige McDonald Thesis title: Coming soon...
	Julia Springolo Thesis title: Coming soon...

Research Assistants

Li Wang
Lab duties: Li joined the Ciborowski Lab in 2006 as research assistant. Her expertise is in GIS mapping, spatial analysis, and database management. Li has worked on various Great Lakes projects, including the Lake Erie Binational Habitat Mapping Project, and the spatial distribution of walleye abundance in Lake Erie. She is currently working on the ECCS and WEEMS projects, climate change data, and general lab management tasks.

Michelle Dobrin
Lab duties: Michelle's primary responsibility is sorting and identifying aquatic invertebrates for various projects, including Severn Sound, Lake Erie Hexagenia Survey, ECCS, and occasionally Fort McMurray. With many years of experience in invertebrate taxonomy and ecology, Michelle is very handy to have around when a hard to id bug pops up. Michelle has been in and out of the lab for 13 years, most recently joining again in May 2008. She also helps out with organization and logistics of sample sorting and other data collection.

Laxmi Pandit

Laxmi Pandit
Lab duties: Laxmi joined the lab in winter 2010 as the project manager for CFRAW. She works with PI's and postdoctorate fellows, assists with the development of databases and the quality assurance of samples, and associated data collected or compiled in Alberta wetlands. Laxmi also assists with preparing for, convening, and transcribing notes from CFRAW-related workshops and meetings.

Lyndon Barr
Lab duties: Lyndon joined the lab as a research assistant in January 2010. His primary responsibilities involve sieving and sorting of benthic samples, chironomidae mounting for genera identification and invertebrate measuring for productivity analysis. Lyndon is also responsible for training sample processing and invertebrate identification to new lab members. Lyndon was also part of the ECCS 2010 fieldwork on Lake Erie, aboard the CCGS Shark and CCGS Limnos.

Jessica Cuthbert
Lab duties: Jessica joined the lab in fall 2009 as a research assistant, working on a variety of projects in addition to performing general organization lab duties. She mainly works on projects for the Lake Erie Millennium Network, including updating the LEMN website, and helping to organize the 2010 LEMN Conference. In addition, Jessica maintains the CFRAW and Ciborowski lab websites. Jessica was also part of the ECCS 2010 fieldwork on Lake Erie, aboard the CCGS Shark and CCGS Limnos.

Jasmine Cheah
Lab duties: Jasmine joined the lab in 2009, and completed her Honours Undergraduate Thesis in the Ciborowski lab in May 2010. This summer and fall, she has continued to work on identifying chironomids from Severn Sound, and investigating their potential use as indicators of environmental condition.

Postdoctoral Fellows

Dr. Shubha Pandit
Research project: Downscaling global climate change, and developing habitat suitability models for fish species in Lake Erie.

Dr. Katya Kovalenko
Research project: My primary research project is on the development and evaluation of biological indicators and predicting community thresholds in response to anthropogenic stress in the Great Lakes (GLEI-2 project). In addition, I continue working on carbon dynamics and food web structure in oil sands reclaimed wetlands (CFRAW project).
My other current projects include meta-analysis of the effects of habitat complexity, new approaches to habitat-specific modeling of predator-prey interactions, and food web effects of invasive aquatic plants. [Katya Kovalenko CV]

Past research assistants, undergraduate thesis, and summer students

Mirna Jajo (2004-2010; undergraduate thesis and summer student)
Katie Millette (2008-2010; undergraduate thesis and summer student)
Karolina Jurkowski (2009-2010; undergraduate thesis and summer student)
Melanie Martin (2009-2010; undergraduate thesis and summer student)
Hana Yosief (summer 2010)
Jason Hwang (summer 2010)
Divya Dube (summer 2010)
Megan Schieck (summer 2010)
Nicole Barker (research assistant, 2009)
Kyle Swiston (research assistant, 2009)
Jessica Dowson (summer 2009)
Keven Bruce (summer 2009)
Amanda Hasulo (summer 2009)
Emily Carey (summer 2009)

Lab Photos

Summer 2010 Lab party
Top row: Divya Dube, Jesse Gardner Costa, Nadia Qureshi, Dr. Jan Ciborowski
Middle row: Jasmine Cheah, Jessica Dowson, Carsten Slama, Emily Crisovan, Jonathan Crisovan
Bottom row: Michelle Dobrin, Katya Kovalenko, Sheeva Nakhaie, Ellen Green,
Megan Schieck

Christmas 2009 Ciborowski and Corkum lab photo
Back row: Dr. Jan Ciborowski, Karolina Jurkowski, Michelle Dobrin, Jessica Cuthbert, Katya Kovalenko, Kurt Frederick, Josh Martin, Carsten Slama, Jesse Gardner Costa, Shubha Pandit, Bill Glass, Krista Lajevardi, Stan Yavno, Dr. Lynda Corkum
Front row: Mirna Jajo, Li Wang, Kaitlin Kennedy, Emily Crisovan, Katie Millette, Ellen Green

The Ciborowski lab samples Lake Erie and Alberta oil sands invertebrates yearly, to examine their distribution, species-specific abundance, and use as indicators.
Collecting samples in the field
	Lake Erie fieldwork: Nicole and Jenn of the 2009 CCGS Limnos crew, sieving a ponar grab with the elutriator	Alberta fieldwork: Kaitlin collecting insects from sticky terrestrial traps at a wetland near Fort McMurrary.
Processing samples back at the lab
	Michelle washing a sample	Sorted sample- four size fractions (0.25 mm, 0.5 mm, 1.0 mm, and 4 mm sieves)
Identifying invertebrates
	Summer students Katie, Hana, and Jasmine identify invertebrates present in samples from Fort Mac	Summer student Divya identifies invertebrates present in a sample from Fort Mac