Home-grown research: Sudbury study examines forest-fish relationship.

AuthorKelly, Lindsay
PositionSudbury

More than a century after mining operations began in Sudbury, a British researcher has taken up residence at the Vale Living with Lakes Centre to look at the long-term impacts those activities have had on local fish populations.

Dr. Andrew Tanentzap, a lecturer with the University of Cambridge in

England, and his crew of six students are conducting a two-year study that examines the near-shore environments of the lake bottom to determine how they impact fish populations, which in turn is an indicator of the impact mining and forestry activity has had.

The project is being funded by the British government's Naturi Environment Research Council.

Tanentzap said the research centre is the ideal place to conduct the study, for the world-class facilities and expertise it offers.

"The facilities here are unparalleled internationally, in terms of the support for what we're doing," Tanentzap said. "If you're interested in the world's fresh water, this is where you come to, because this is where the world's fresh water is."

Though Tanentzap has worked with Laurentian for more than 10 years, he's only gone to Cambridge recently. But he's hopeful this study is just the start to establishing further links between the two universities.

Sudbury's reforestation efforts have almost been too successful, in that, to the public eye, the work is largely complete. But the fish populations haven't recovered nearly as well as the forests, Tanentzap said.

Forests are essential to thriving fish populations. Trees shed leaves and small twigs, creating litter fall, which gets washed into nearby streams and eventually carried into lakes. The larger, heavier material starts accumulating in these near-shore environments.

"They're really important biologically, because all the material that accumulates there is going to support organisms and others trying to make a living off of breaking down that material, and then it's going

to support other organisms that eat those things that are breaking down the leaf material," Tanentzap said. "So these near-shore environments are really important hot spots for biological activity."

Fish like perch, which lay their eggs in those near-shore environments, benefit directly from the foliage that accumulates there. Bacteria breaks down the foliage, plankton feed on the bacteria, and fish feed on the plankton.

"Those tree leaves work their way up the food web, from the microscopic things all the way up to fish," Tanentzap said.

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