A Natural Love Story

"To conduct my experiment, I used the experimental floating dock of Lac Hertel, which contains experimental units called mesocosms. They allowed me to reproduce natural aquatic phenomena that are difficult to reproduce in a traditional laboratory setting. The results of this research will help shed light on the potential sources of contaminants in Quebec and Canada's freshwaters."

“Doing my doctoral research at the Gault Nature Reserve gave me the opportunity to work in nature. (...) No matter the season, my fieldwork allowed me to reconcile my scientific and personal interests, thus helping me to maintain a pleasant life-work balance despite the ongoing research projects."

"Having access to facilities at Gault allowed me to scale up experiments on the impacts of Tench, an invasive fish currently expanding in the Saint Lawrence River. In our downtown lab, I had been limited to extrapolating conclusions from experiments with small juvenile fish. Using the mesocosms we built at Gault, I was able to test whether adult Tench are better at finding and eating prey in some habitats than others. This yielded valuable information for the management of this invader."

“Thanks to the Gault team! I consider myself lucky to have had all the help I needed to bring my research project on the invasive Tench to fruition in such a pleasant environment."