Project Complete
Principal investigator
Audrey Limoges, University of New Brunswick (MEOPAR) & Jean-Carlos Montero-Serrano, Université de Québec à Rimouski (RQM)
Investigators
Camille Deslauries, Université de Québec à Rimouski & Patrick Lajeunesse, Université Laval (RQM); Owen Sherwood, Dalhousie University (MEOPAR)
Call
RQM-MEOPAR Call
Marine ecosystems provide countless benefits to human populations (e.g. food resources, commercial activities, aesthetics, identity). The health, stability and functioning of the ecosystems depend upon a series of factors and processes, including those modulated by interactions between geology and biology.
In the Lower St. Lawrence Estuary (LSLE), the presence of submarine canyons is hypothesized to influence hydrodynamic processes responsible for high biological productivity by steering currents and water mass distribution, and concentrating suspended nutrients. While the occurrence of storms influences patterns of sediment erosion and accumulation along the coast, canyons pose a risk for submarine avalanches and resuspension of localized seedbeds of harmful algae. However, the links between coastal dynamics, canyon activity and productivity have never been investigated, and public awareness and concerns about the potential for natural hazards have not been assessed.
This project brings together an interdisciplinary team who will monitor bio- and geo-hazards during sediment remobilization events. The project will characterize the role of sediment remobilization in the preconditioning of harmful algal blooms and determine the influence of geomorphology on LSLE productivity dynamics. Coastal communities want to better understand the changes in their environment. Knowledge that will be acquired during this project can empower populations in taking an active role in the process of decisionmaking. It will provide information that is critical to sustainable infrastructure management and marine spatial planning. The research and problematics will further animate literary creations, and ethical and philosophical reflections that will be combined into a book for the large public.
