Mark your calendars!

The next CAISN Annual General Meeting (AGM) will take place from April 26 to 28, 2010 in Victoria, BC.

The city of Victoria is British Columbia’s capital city and boasts a youthful energy that mingles with the elegance of time-honoured traditions. Its spectacular scenery includes harbour views, historic buildings and glorious gardens. The climate is moderate year-round with averages of 13°C (55°F) in the month of April.

The AGM will also schedule time around a visit to the Royal BC Museum to see CAISN’s 4th and final installment of the national Aquatic Invasive Species exhibit. A lecture will introduce the exhibit to the public. More details will be posted as the event approaches.

For more information on the city of Victoria visit their tourism site here.

Red dye experiment Nº 2

Red dye (Rhodamine WT) and tracer particles will be released into the St. Clair River system near Sarnia, Ontario several times during July and August 2009, under a joint Canada-U.S. research project, led by the Canadian Aquatic Invasive Species Network (CAISN) and the Great Lakes Observing System (GLOS). Sarah Bailey, CAISN researcher and DFO scientist, is the lead Canadian scientist for the project.

The experiment will study the rate of dilution and dispersal of the dye and particles; results will be used to validate pollution/spill response and search and rescue models for the area as well as evaluate the potential for new species introductions by ballast water.

The experiment does not pose any threat to public or environmental health and has received the required approvals from both Canadian and American authorities. These dye/tracer products are routinely used by environmental and health professionals to check the integrity of water supply and sewage systems.


The results will improve the ability of both countries to manage and protect the St. Clair River system against aquatic invasive species, pollution/spills and to assist with search and rescue.

Prix d'Excellence

Beth Piercey will be awarded a prestigious DFO personnel award (Prix d'Excellence) based on her performance in these categories:

-enhancing long-term policy/research, especially with external partners
-strengthening our policy/science capacity

Beth will accept her award in Ottawa on June 12 for her exemplary support to the West Coast Sampling Team and other CAISN related duties.

Congratulations Beth!

Fun times in the Maritimes!

The 2009 CAISN Annual General Meeting (AGM) took place from May 4 to 6 in beautiful Halifax, Nova Scotia. This year’s accommodations, events and meeting spaces were located at the Lord Nelson Hotel and Suites. The meeting included a full agenda with presentations from 2 Keynotes speakers and 16 CAISN Members. As well there were 40 poster presentations from CAISN students and post-doctoral fellows involved in our second annual juried poster competition. This year’s poster awards went to:

1st place – Meike Wittman, University of Alberta, for the poster titled “A mechanistic model for the establishment success of Bythotrephes in North American lakes”.

2nd place – Carly Strasser, University of Alberta and Dalhousie University, for the poster titled “A stage-structured, temperature-dependant model of the invasive copepods: Implications for Pseudodiaptomus marinus”.

3rd place – Farrah Chan, GLIER, University of Windsor, for the poster titled “Analysis of recent shipping activities in the Canadian Arctic: Toward assessing ship-related invasion risk”.

A special thanks goes out to all of our volunteer judges for their time and expertise in deciding this year’s award winners; Sarah Bailey, Becky Cudmore, Janice Lawrence, Chris McKinsey, Gregory Ruiz, and Thomas Therriault.


PHOTO HIGHLIGHTS:

Keynote speaker Dr. Jeb Byers, University of Georgia, presents "Retention, range limits and invasions in advective environments: Is Atlantic Canada naturally better protected from marine invasions?"


CAISN Director Dr. Hugh MacIsaac, GLIER, University of Windsor, leads discussion for the network participants.


Farrah Chan, GLIER, University of Windsor, is presented with third prize for her winning poster (actually, she received an honourary napkin, as the actual cash prizes are being processed and sent by mail)

CAISN 2009 AGM Halifax secures two keynote speakers

CAISN is now planning it's third annual general meeting and conference, this time taking it over to the east coast. The CAISN AGM 2009 will be in Halifax, Nova Scotia at the Lord Nelson Hotel and Suites from May 4-6.

Once again CAISN is very excited to announce two keynote speakers to start off each day of CAISN Network activities.

DR. SUSAN WILLIAMS, UC Davis

Dr. Williams is a professor at UC Davis in the section of Evolution and Ecology and is Director of the Bodega Marine Laboratory. Her research focuses on the ecology of nearshore marine ecosystems, particularly seagrass and seaweed beds and coral reefs. She, along with an associate, Dr. Matt Bracken has also been funded by the National Science Foundation to evaluate the consequences of nonrandom biodiversity changes in intertidal seaweed assemblages on primary production and nutrient acquisition.

Dr. Williams has published in environmental journals and has held numerous labs with a number of students to continue her research.

To read more about Dr. Williams you can go to the website:
http://www-bml.ucdavis.edu/facresearch/williams.html


DR. JEB BYERS, University of Georgia

Dr. Byers is an associate professor at Odum School of Ecology at the University of Georgia and is a highly published researcher, with numerous publications in various journals and magazines. His research interests include: the study of species interactions in nearshore, estuarine, and marsh environments.

He has sought to develop and implement new quantitative tools which are: aid the understanding of how and when invading species will impact native systems and help to increase the ability to predict outcomes of future invasions.

To read more about Dr. Byers, you can check out the website: http://blackbear.ecology.uga.edu/jebyers/byers

MacIsaac awarded Excellence in Mentoring

Congratulations to Hugh MacIsaac who will receive a 2008 Excellence in Mentoring Award. The award is offered to a faculty member who has demonstrated excellence in mentoring by offering personal, academic and professional guidance to students and has made significant contributions to their all-round development, leading to and following their graduation. H The award, sponsored by Patrick Palmer BComm'70, Principal and CEO, Where Eagles Soar, Inc and the Alumni Association Board of Directors, will be presented at the Alumni Association Annual General Meeting and Awards Presentations on 26 November. Hugh was nominated for this award by a GLIER MSc graduate, currently in a doctoral program at Queen's. Well done, Hugh!