What the facility does
Food web transfer and cycling of environmental contaminants
Areas of expertise
Mercury and metal contamination is a global issue, especially in aquatic ecosystems. The Dynamic Environment & Ecosystem Health Research (DEEHR) Group tackles this by examining how mercury and metals become bioavailable, are transferred through ecosystems and accumulate in living things to high concentrations. Understanding those processes will enable people to reduce the harm those contaminants do by efficiently reducing sources and establishing priority regions for future management.
Research services
Laboratory analyses of environmental samples for mercury, in-situ quantification of water quality parameters, analyzing multi-parameter large environmental contaminant databases
Sectors of application
- Environmental technologies and related services
- Fisheries and aquaculture
- Mining, minerals and metals
- Professional and technical services (including legal services, architecture, engineering)
Specialized labs and equipment
| Specialized lab | Equipment | Function |
|---|---|---|
| Milestone DMA 80.3 tri-cell direct mercury analyzer | Rapid analyses of environmental samples for total mercury. | |
| YSI 6600 multi-parameter water sonde | In-situ measurements of multiple water quality parameters in lakes and other water bodies. | |
| Cleanroom Trace Environmental Analysis Laboratory (CTEAL) | Cleanroom for trace metal analyses | Low-particulate analytical space for ultra-trace and trace-level metal analyses of environmental samples. |
| GIS and data analyses workstations | Computational capacity for rapid GIS mapping, spatiotemporal analyses and large database analyses. |
Private and public sector research partners
- Environment and Climate Change Canada
- Natural Resources Canada
- Geological Survey Canada
- Fisheries and Oceans Canada
- Ontario Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change
- Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry
- Nova Scotia Department of Fisheries& Aquaculture
- Nova Scotia Environment
- Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources
Additional information
| Title | URL |
|---|---|
| Selected media releases and interviews (collated) | http://ap.smu.ca/~lcampbel/media.html |