PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

The ArcticNet Student Association (ASA) Executive Committee is proud to present our first newsletter! The newsletter has been designed to give students the opportunity to share research experiences, preliminary results, stories and pictures with the ASA. In this issue, you can read articles about ASA events, student research and an update from the ASA Executive Committee. We hope that you will enjoy this issue and we welcome your contributions and feedback.

Lisa Loseto, ASA President

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ASA EXECUTIVE UPDATE

The members of the ASA executive have been busy since December, organizing events, updating the website, carrying out surveys, attending meetings and planning the next ArcticNet student day. For more details, please visit the ASA website or contact the Executive Council.

New Members

After the December elections, the ASA Executive welcomed two new members to our team! Shannon O’Hara (Aurora College, NT) is our Internal Northern Advisor, assisting us with outreach to students in northern communities, and Ryan Galley (University of Manitoba) is our Newsletter Coordinator, working closely with the ASA Communication Officers to design what you are presently reading.

RMC and Board Support

The 2006-2007 ASA budget was reviewed by the Research Management Committee (RMC) and approved by the Board of Directors in March 2006. Since December 2005, ASA President Lisa Loseto sits on the RMC as an ex-officio, non-voting member representing ArcticNet students. Please feel free to contact Lisa if you have any inquiries or would like student concerns raised at future RMC meetings.

Website

The ASA website serves as a communication tool allowing students to post upcoming ArcticNet events as well as external topics of interest such as arctic conferences and research grants. The student section can be reached by selecting ‘Students’ from the ArcticNet homepage. An online forum is available on the ASA website and is open to all students in order to encourage open discussion between ArcticNet researchers. New discussion topics can be initiated by students by following the instructions provided on the website. The website will soon include links to relevant organizations, conferences, scholarships and training opportunities for arctic researchers.

Lisa Loseto & Dany Dumont

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President’s Message.........................1Executive Update...........................1Events............................................2Student Research...........................3Interview with James Ford.............5

ArcticNet Student Association Newsletter volume 1 number 1

Jens Ehn

SUMMER 2006 - VOLUME 1 NUMBER 1

ArcticNet Student Association Newsletter

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Ryan Galley

EVENTS

ArcticNet students at the Arctic Climate Change Youth

Forum

On February 13, 2006 the Arctic Climate Change Youth Forum (ACCYF) was held at Grant Park High School in Winnipeg, MB. This forum was organized by Lucette Barber, Program Coordinator for Schools on Board, with the collaboration of three Grant Park students together with their teachers. This event allowed high school and university students to exchange information on the causes and consequences of climate changes in the Canadian Arctic. Dr. David Barber, a professor from the University of Manitoba started the day with a plenary on climate change. More than ten ArcticNet graduate students and several ArcticNet Network Investigators shared their field and laboratory research experience aboard the CCGS Amundsen. These presentations were much appreciated by all participants, underscoring the relevance and importance of dialogue between students and ArcticNet researchers.

Graduate Seminar – Student Research

An ASA seminar course was initiated at the University of Manitoba by Dr. David Barber and included more than 20 participating ArcticNet graduate students. The objectives were to have students familiarize each other with their ArcticNet research through oral presentations and peer-reviewing articles for presentation. In addition to oral presentations, each class had a speaker who discussed a topic of interest (e.g. communication skills). A goal of the course was to produce a publication on the use of Integrated Regional Impact Studies (IRIS) using ArcticNet Theme 3 as a case study in an effort to evaluate progress made and provide recommendations for the future.

Regional Workshops

At the beginning of this year, the ArcticNet student community was surveyed in order to guide the organization of this year’s activities and the next Student Day. Results revealed that students would prefer to participate in regional rather than national events. To date, two such events have been held. The first workshop was held during

the seminar class at the University of Manitoba where Eric Loring, Senior Researcher with Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami’s Environment Department, provided participants with insight and expertise on communicating scientific research to northern communities. The second event was held at Laval University, Quebec City, on May 19, 2006. All students from eastern Canada were invited to attend and discuss the theme of ‘Integration and Communication’. A third event will be organized in Ontario in the coming year. Any student initiative is welcome as a way to support and improve networking among ArcticNet students. Do not forget to visit the ‘Events’ section of the website to read event reports and learn about upcoming events.

Montreal Biodome Presentation

ASA Special Activities Coordinator Corinne Pomerleau organized a public conference about Arctic research with the partnership of the Montreal Biodome. Six ArcticNet students presented at the conference: Kary Proteau (UQAR), Virginie Sibert (UAQR), Geneviève Tremblay (UQAR), Judith Alain (Laval

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University), Corinne Pomerleau (Fisheries and Oceans Canada) and Louise Chavarie (University of Waterloo). ArcticNet’s Scientific Director, Prof. Louis Fortier, also gave an overview talk on ArcticNet and arctic climate change. This activity was an excellent opportunity to promote ArcticNet and ArcticNet student research as well as strengthen communication with the public.

NCE Events

ArcticNet is funded by the Networks of Centres of Excellence Program, and we are often invited to participate in other NCE Student Association workshops to learn and share new skills. For example, Lisa Loseto, ASA Executive Committee President, participated in the GEOIDE summer school held at University of Calgary between June 4 and 10, 2006. ArcticNet students have also been invited to attend the Canadian Institute for Photonic Innovations student workshop at the University of Montreal in the winter of 2006. The ASA Executive will keep you posted on these networking and educational opportunities as they occur across Canada.

Coastal Zone Canada Conference and Youth Forum

The 2006 Coastal Zone Canada Conference presents a unique opportunity for ArcticNet students to present their research to northerners and arctic researchers. Seventy-five northern youth will be attending the Youth Forum in Tuktoyaktuk, NT providing a fantastic opportunity for students to interact with northern community members fostering future partnerships. Several ArcticNet students will attend and are currently planning activities to build stronger partnerships with northern youth. Please let the ASA know by email (asa@arcticnet.ulaval.ca) if you plan on attending.

ASA Student Day 2006

Student day will take place on Tuesday December 12th in Victoria, BC. The day’s program will be posted in October 2006.

Pascale Lafrance, Sonja Ostertag, Corinne Pomerleau, Dany Dumont & Lisa Loseto

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STUDENT RESEARCH

The Rankin Inlet Peregrine Project

Alastair Franke is a Ph.D. Candidate at the University of Alberta. He is a project member within ArcticNet Theme 3.

Over 6000 years ago, the Egyptians introduced the solar-year calendar – the same one we use today. Many thousands of years before that, in what is now named the Kivalliq region of Nunavut, tundra peregrine falcons competed fiercely, year in and year out, for the fleeting privilege of holding a nesting territory. They continue to do so today. Each May, male and female peregrines converge on rocky outcrops, shaped by millennia of glacial action. All that they require is a drift-free ledge, large enough to safely hold three or four cinnamon-colored eggs and an incubating adult peregrine falcon – later it has to be large enough to compensate for the antics of up to four young falcons.

Environmental conditions in Kivalliq are as severe as any encountered in

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Alastair Franke

the global range of the peregrine. Winters are long and cold, and by November coastal waters are completely frozen over. Summers are short; in Rankin Inlet the ice does not break up until July. Strong winds are common and storms can be frequent. The main effect of this environment on tundra peregrines is dramatic interannual variation in productivity and the size of the breeding-population – something that is never observed in peregrine populations that have evolved to breed in more temperate regions. Although researchers involved in the Rankin Inlet Peregrine Project have been monitoring the study population for over two decades, our last two field seasons (funded solely by ArcticNet) have demonstrated the extremes in the natural range of variation in productivity, caused in large part to environmental stochasticity.

On May 20, 2004, Andy Aliyak, Mike Setterington and I set out on two snow machines, each towing a komitik, to survey the study area and identify adults that had been

marked in previous field seasons. We also came prepared to trap any unmarked breeding-aged adults that we encountered. The spring thaw had yet to begin and cliffs were often completely covered by snow. Prey was sparse and temperatures were lower than expected – it was more like late February than mid-May. We surveyed territory after territory and few of them held defensive pairs. Those individuals on territory faced an uncertain future, given the possibility that the tradeoff between arriving early to claim a territory and surviving the cold could end poorly. We hoped the weather would change and bring with it an abundant prey base. We completed our survey and left the study area in early June just prior to incubation. The air temperature was -13ºC accompanied by an unpleasant wind. We quietly wondered how the late spring would affect productivity and keenly looked forward to returning to the study area later that summer.

Ultimately (and counter-intuitively) the late spring was a non-issue! During our summer survey, site after

site held fiercely territorial adult peregrines that clearly indicated their displeasure as we scrambled the cliffs in search of ledges that invariably held three or four young. We banded 66 young peregrines from 23 nest sites that summer. In 23 years of monitoring, the Rankin Inlet peregrine population had never been so productive.

Spring 2005 was very different from 2004. Ice melt was very advanced by the time we arrived at the study area – exposed tundra vegetation was clearly evident over much of the land making travel by snow machine difficult. Permanent ponds could not be crossed because of slushy, thin ice. Conditions on Hudson Bay were worse. In some places the rising and lowering tide had flooded the ice with a foot or more of seawater. Temperatures were well above zero. Passerines were abundant and remains of peregrine-killed ptarmigan were not uncommon. Spring occupancy of peregrine territories was tremendous. Breeding pairs were recorded on almost every

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were well above zero. Passerines were abundant and remains of peregrine-killed ptarmigan were not uncommon. Spring occupancy of peregrine territories was tremendous. Breeding pairs were recorded on almost every known territory. We crossed our fingers, anticipating all the young peregrines that should result from abundant prey and warm, dry weather.

In early August, Andy Aliyak, Matt Fredland, Gordon Court, and I set out to record the season’s productivity. Despite the early spring and initially abundant preybase, the effects of a wetter-than normal summer on productivity were staggering. Site after site had been abandoned and, at most sites, no evidence of nestlings was apparent. The peregrine capital of Nunavut was eerily silent. What had happened? After several days of searching and finding not a single active nest, a tale of failure began to unfold as Andy described the wet spring and summer. Severe storms had occurred – Andy recounted that on one occasion “the rain was falling sideways”. We were beginning to think that we were about to observe total reproductive failure in the study area and decided that a visit to Navigation Canada might provide some of the missing weather details. Sure enough, several weather events, like the one Andy had described, had been carefully logged by the Rankin Inlet air-traffic controllers – each one was deadly for the local falcons. We searched for two more days after that visit to Navigation Canada before we found a site with three young and were unable to find more after that. From what we

know of peregrine demographics, chances are very good that at least two of the three young will be dead within a year. Assuming the third survives, it will likely not get a chance to compete for its own territory for at least another two years. It was truly remarkable to have seen, in two consecutive seasons, the weather with which tundra peregrines have had to contend for thousands of years. If warmer, wetter springs and summers become the norm rather than the exception, we can expect near or total reproductive failures to occur more and more frequently. A dramatic shift in weather could possibly represent a greater threat to the tundra peregrines of Kivalliq than contamination from DDT ever was – time will tell.

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AN INTERVIEW WITH JAMES FORD

Klaus Gantner

James Ford completed his Ph.D. at the University of Guelph under Project 4.2 ‘Reducing Human Vulnerability to Environmental Changes in the Canadian Arctic’ and contributed to

the first scientific paper fully funded by ArcticNet (Ford, J.D. and B. Smit (2004) Arctic, 57(4): 389-400). The following interview with James was carried out in March 2006 by Klaus Gantner, an ArcticNet student also from the University of Guelph.

Klaus Gantner: Give us some background information about yourself?

James Ford: I have been doing my Ph.D. research at the University of Guelph for the last 3 ½ years. Before I came to Guelph I did a B.A. in Geography and M.Sc. in Environmental Change at the University of Oxford, and worked for a year as a researcher at Oxford’s Environmental Change Institute. My past research interests were quite different from what I am doing now. For my Master degree I developed a logistic regression model to predict flood events in the southern UK. My current interests concern how people interact with the environment, using this as a basis to understand vulnerability to climate change. In my Ph.D. work, for the last 3 years I have been working with Inuit to assess climate change vulnerability. It’s been a great experience to work closely with communities and,

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although a steep learning curve, I have enjoyed every minute.

KG: When and how have you gained interest for arctic research?

JF: It was really only during my Ph.D. that I developed an interest in the Arctic. When I first arrived at Guelph I had little idea of where I wanted to do my research, just an interest in human vulnerability to climate change. After looking at what research had been done, what struck me was our limited understanding of vulnerability to climate change in the Arctic. Given the predictions of dramatic climate change and concerns of communities, our lack of knowledge came somewhat as a surprise to me and formed the backdrop to my Ph.D. work. Since deciding to work in the Arctic, I have been lucky to have spent a lot of time in the Arctic, mainly in Nunavut but also the Northwest Territories and Yukon. Working in the Arctic has given me an appreciation of the amazing scenery and rich culture of the indigenous inhabitants.

KG: What is the subject of your thesis and which communities or regions were involved?

JF: My Ph.D. work characterizes Inuit vulnerability to climate change in Nunavut, largely focusing on the resource-harvesting sector. I have worked with two communities (Arctic Bay and Igloolik) identifying who is vulnerable, to what stresses vulnerability exits, why, and what capacity exists to cope with climate change. I have finished the field component and interpretation stage of the work and I am now working with policy makers to develop ways to reduce vulnerability. I am also working with other researchers at the University of Toronto and Memorial University to better understand and characterize landscape hazards facing Arctic Bay and Igloolik and understand how these risks might be affected by climate change.

KG: You are the author of the first fully ArcticNet funded publication. Give us a summary of the paper and what you hope its impact of it will be.

JF: The paper is in the journal Arctic [vol. 57, Dec 2004], and it forms an important part of my Ph.D. work by setting the context for the research. It argues that despite the problem posed by climate change in the Arctic, existing research has failed to

sufficiently assess the ways in which communities are vulnerable, identify drivers of vulnerability, and evaluate the degree to which communities can cope with changing conditions. The article’s main contribution is the introduction and development of a conceptual model of vulnerability and presentation of an analytical approach for assessing vulnerability in communities. The approach presented in this article has guided the empirical component of my work in Arctic Bay and Igloolik, Nunavut, part of which I presented at the 2005 ArcticNet Annual Scientific Meeting (ASM2005).

KG: What were your impressions of the first two ArcticNet Annual Scientific Meetings?

JF: I have been lucky to have been involved with ArcticNet from the start and have seen the program evolve from a great idea to a network of scientists and students producing high calibre research. What always amazes me is the diversity of research going on. The first ArcticNet meetings while great fun, were hard work. Many researchers at first saw Theme 4 (of which my research is part) as the ‘integration theme,’ where the work

Contact informationIt is our hope that two more newsletters will be produced this year, in addition to student feature articles published online. We’d like to find out about the ArcticNet student experience, in the field or lab, terrestrial or aquatic. Please submit your photos, stories and research-related essays to the ASA!

Email asa@arcticnet.ulaval.ca with submissions or for more information or contact the ASA by mail: Arcticnet Student Association Pavillon Alexandre-Vachon, Room 4081 Université Laval Quebec (Quebec) G1K 7P4

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of themes 1-3 would somehow be ‘integrated’ and made ‘relevant’ to Inuit and other stakeholders at the end. My colleagues and I in Theme 4 saw things differently: if, as the mandate of ArcticNet states, we are to do research to increase Inuit adaptability to climate change, this requires original research which actively involves communities at the start of the research process not the end. While this concern has not been fully resolved, great progress has been made as evident at the ASM2005. And it is great to see new projects coming on board, which are actively promoting research in which northern partners take the lead.

KG: What do you think about the direction ArcticNet is going?

JF: I think it is going in the right direction, but we need to keep in mind that one of the central objectives of the network is to: “contribute to the development and dissemination of the knowledge needed to formulate adaptation strategies and national policies to help Canadians face the impacts and opportunities of climate change and globalization in the Arctic.”

KG: What is your opinion of the Student Day?

JF: Student Day was great. There

are a lot of students in ArcticNet doing some really wonderful work, and Student Day provided a forum within which this work was illustrated. For me the highlight was Tristan Pearce’s presentation with Fred Kataoyak from Uluhaktuk. The aim of ArcticNet is to produce research to help Inuit better deal with climate change, and Fred Kataoyak really brought home how ArcticNet is already facilitating this. I also enjoyed the panel discussion. It gave students an opportunity to ask questions of those with a lot of experience in the north.

KG: What kind of activities would you like to see from the ASA?

JF: It would be great to develop a ‘project exchange’ where those working in the physical sciences can get experience of doing community research and vice versa. I would also like to see participation of northern student in the annual meeting, maybe sponsored by the ASA. The speaker series is also a great idea. Having funding available for students to go and present their work and give lectures at other universities with ArcticNet projects would be good experience and a great way to disseminate ArcticNet research. I would also like to see more media attention given to student projects and there would be potential at

the next annual meeting to try and involve the press.

KG: What are your future plans? Will you be involved in ArcticNet after your Ph.D.? Will you be involved with arctic research in general?

JF: I have a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Post-Doctoral Fellowship which I am going to take to McGill University or Memorial University. Either way I will be doing arctic research and will be part of ArcticNet. I am certainly looking forward to the ArcticNet ASM next year in Victoria, BC. In one of my projects (funding permitting) I plan to do a comparative analysis of vulnerability between my Ph.D. work in Nunavut and communities in western Greenland. I am also part of an International Polar Year project on comparative vulnerability analysis in the Arctic.

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Special thanks to our collaborators!

Conception: Ryan Galley, Sonja Ostertag, Dany DumontContributors: Pascale Lafrance, Alastair Franke, Klaus Gantner, James Ford, Lisa Loseto, Corinne PomerleauTranslation: Marie-Ève Garneau, Catherine VallièresRevision: Jaime Dawson, Natalie Desmarais, Sylvain Tougas, Martin Fortier

Networks of Centres of Excellence Réseaux de centres d’excellence