The Smits Team

Judit and Jane in the field
Affiliation: University of Calgary, University of Saskatchewan
Principal Investigator: Dr. Judit Smits
Current Graduate Students: None at present

Team Role: The Smits team are studying amphibian development, growth, endocrine effects and immune function in experimental trenches and at focal wetlands. They are also examining diet, production, fledging success and health of breeding tree swallows, and will correlate productivity with insect diet (emerging aquatic insect) in collaboration with the University of Windsor.





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Past Graduate Students & Postdoctoral Fellows


 

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  1. Danna Schock (Postdoctoral Fellow)
  2. Completed: 2010

Project Summary: Danna's work has involved the health, stress and immune assessment of tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) nesting on the Alberta oil sands and wood frog tadpoles developing in wetland water. She provided advice to graduate student from other universities engaged in avian and amphibian studies. Additionally she studied tadpole immunity to viruses, and anuran development in oilsands process water. 

 

 

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  1. Sukhbir Nain (Postdoctoral Fellow)
  2. Completed: 2009

Project Summary: Based at the University of Saskatchewan (Veterinary Pathology), Sukhbir contributed to laboratory work and helped with data analysis on both amphibian and avian studies.


Naomi Jane Harms
  1. Naomi Jane Harms (M.Vet.Sc.)
  2. Completed: 2009
  3. Thesis Title: Health, stress and immune assessment of tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) nesting on the Alberta oil sands.


Thesis Abstract: Naomi's research focused on the effects that residing on reclaimed wetland habitats have on tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor). Naomi examined changes in corticosterone levels (a stress hormone in birds), as well as the effects on the immune function, growth, and fitness of tree swallows living on different wetlands habitats in the Alberta oil sands. She also developed new ways to assess changes in the immune function of birds in response to the health of their surrounding environment, and used a newly validated method for measuring corticosterone in feathers. Naomi predicts that tree swallow growth and reproductive success would be lower, immune function would be less robust and corticosterone levels would be higher in birds living on less mature and more contaminated wetlands.

 

Blair Hersikorn
  1. Blair Hersikorn (M.Sc.)
  2. Completed: 2009
  3. Thesis Title: In-situ Caged Wood Frog (Rana sylvatica) Survival and Development in Wetlands Formed From Oil Sands Process-Affected Materials (OSPM).

Thesis Abstract: Currently there are three companies producing bitumen from the Athabasca Oil Sands Region located near Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada. Extraction of bitumen produces solid (sand) and liquid (water with suspended fine particles) tailings material, called oil sands process affected-materials (OSPM). These waste materials are stored on site due to a “zero discharge” policy and must be reclaimed when operations end. The OSPM is known to contain naphthenic acids (NAs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and has high pH and salinity. A possible method of reclamation is the “wet landscape” approach, which involves using OSPM to form wetlands that would mimic natural wetland ecological functioning. This study investigated the effects of wetlands formed with OSPM on wood frog larvae (Rana sylvatica), using endpoints including survival, growth, time to metamorphosis, hormonal status, and detoxification enzyme induction [ethoxyresorufin-o-dealkylase (EROD) activity].

In-situ caging studies were completed in 2006 and 2007. Four wetlands were studied in 2006 and 14 wetlands were studied in 2007. The 2006 season saw a host of problems that were resolved for the 2007 season. In 2006, tadpole survival did not differ among reference wetlands and old OSPM-affected wetlands but there was 100% mortality of tadpoles in the young OSPM-affected sites that contain the highest concentration of toxic components. Results were similar in 2007, with tadpoles raised in young OSPM-affected wetlands having 41.5%, 62.6%, and 54.7% higher tadpole mortality than old OSPM-affected, young reference, and old reference wetlands, respectively. In 2007, tadpoles from young OSPM-affected sites had delayed metamorphosis (12 days longer than tadpoles from old reference wetlands and 18 days longer than tadpoles in old OSPM-affected wetlands). The thyroid hormone ratios of tadpoles in young OSPM-affected wetlands were between 25% and 42% lower than tadpoles in all other wetlands groups. The EROD activity of tadpoles in young OSPM-affected wetlands was an average 223% higher than those in old OSPM-affected wetlands, showing us that tadpoles were responding to higher levels of contaminants in young OSPM-affected wetlands. Size differences were only noted in 2007, most likely not as a result of exposure to OSPM, but due to differences in population density. The results of this study lead us to believe that toxicity due to OSPM decreases as wetlands get older and OSPM-affected wetlands could support native amphibian populations if they are allowed to mature. Since we considered wetlands to be old if they were seven years or older and the fact that old-OSPM wetlands showed effects on tadpoles similar to those of reference wetlands and showed much less toxicity than young OSPM-affected wetlands, we believe wetlands that are at least seven years old would sustain amphibian life.


Marie-Line Gentes
  1. Marie-Line Gentes (M.Sc.)
  2. Completed: 2006
  3. Thesis Title: Health assessment of Tree Swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) nesting on the Athabasca Oil Sands, Alberta.

Thesis Abstract: Oil sands mining companies in Alberta, Canada, are planning to create wetlands for the bioremediation of mining waste materials as part of a reclamation strategy. To assess feasibility, experimental wetlands mimicking proposed reclamation scenarios were constructed on mining leases. This research assessed the health of tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) nesting on these sites where they were naturally exposed to a mixture of chemicals including unrecovered bitumen, naphthenic acids (NAs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Endpoints reflecting health were compared among three experimental wetlands and one reference site. In order to specifically investigate toxicity of NAs to birds, an experimental exposure to NAs was also conducted on a subset of nestlings on the reference site.

In 2003 and 2004, approximately 50 breeding pairs (total, per year) nesting on the following sites were monitored: Suncors Consolidated Tailings and Natural Wetlands; Syncrudes Demo Pond and Poplar Creek reference site. In 2003, reproductive success was very low on OSPM-sites compared to the reference site, but was relatively unaffected in 2004. Compromised reproductive performance in 2003 was linked to harsh weather, during which mortality rates of nestlings reached 100% on the site with the highest levels of PAHs and NAs, while they did not surpass 50% on the reference site. In 2004, mortality rates were low but nestlings from OSPM-sites weighed less and showed greater hepatic detoxification efforts (etoxyresorufin-o-deethylase activity) than those on the reference site. Furthermore, nestlings on OSPM-sites exhibited higher levels of thyroid hormones and suffered parasitic burdens (Protocalliphora spp.) approximately twice that of those on the reference site. Several of these findings may be associated with low post-fledging survival, suggesting that wet landscape reclamation strategy is not optimal for avian species and may require improvement.

As part of a separate study investigating toxicity of naphthenic acids, twenty nestlings from the reference site were randomly selected for an experimental exposure. Nestlings received 0.1 ml/day of NAs (15g/L) orally from day 7 to day 13 of age while being reared normally by their free-ranging parents. Nestling growth, hematocrit, blood biochemistry, organ weights and etoxyresorufin-o-deethylase activity (EROD) activity appeared unaffected by naphthenic acids. No toxic changes were detected on histopathological evaluation of major organs. These findings suggest that for nestlings reared on oil sands reclaimed sites, exposure to other chemicals such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons is a greater concern than exposure to NAs. However, this study did not investigate the chronic or reproductive toxicity of naphthenic acids. More research still needs to be conducted as a part of an assessment of the sustainability of wet landscape reclamation because a previous study found that chronic exposure to NAs severely compromised reproduction in mammals.

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Past Undergraduate Student Projects


  1. Cale Neville
  2. Completed: 2009
  3. Thesis Title: Amphibian survival & growth; innate immune function (production of reactive oxygen species); thyroid hormone (T4 T3) concentrations; naphthenic acid concentrations in muscle.



Hussein Keshwani
  1. Hussein Keshwani
  2. Completed: 2007
  3. Thesis Title: Reproductive performance and neonatal development of tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) on reclaimed mine sites on the Athabasca oil sands.
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