News

Activities since last update

  • Creation of the Canadian Trait Network, bringing together working groups on traits of plants (TOPIC), invertebrates (CRITTER), and non-vascular plants

  • Insect Functional Trait Symposium at Entomology 2018

    With the CRITTER network as a backdrop, Dr. Tanya Handa will be chairing the symposium “Functional Diversity of Arthropods” at the 2018 Joint Annual Meeting of the Entomological Society of America, Entomology Society of Canada and the Entomology Society of British Columbia from November 11–14, 2018 in Vancouver, Canada.

  • 2018 International Functional Traits Course

    The 8th edition of the International course on Functional Traits was held in Villa de Leyva, Colombia from May 28 to June 1, 2018. 33 students participated this time and the presentations of the five teams revolved around the themes: 1) seed traits; 2) photosynthesis; and 3) variability in leaf traits across an altitudinal gradient; as well as 4) CSR strategies along a gradient of intensifying land use; and 5) integrating traits of roots with traits of mycorrhizae. The first day of intensive courses was followed by a hike in the & pàramo », a unique alpine ecosystem in the Andes. The students were teamed up to conduct field and lab analyses, trait measurements and data analysis, activities that were alternated with lectures. Following the final day of lectures on Thursday and a big push to finish their presentations, the results were revealed on Friday morning. After a final discussion on how the course went, the group returned to Bogata to catch a flight home or to continue travelling the beautiful country. Many thanks to Juan Posada and Carolina Alvarez (Universidad del Rosario, Bogotà) for their warm welcome and coordination. The next edition of the course is expected to be held in 2019 in southern France!

  • Announcing CRITTER!

    The CRITTER network was established to stimulate, facilitate and promote the use of functional traits among ecologists studying invertebrates across Canada. Spearheaded by Tanya Handa (UQAM) and Isabelle Aubin (CFS) and enthusiastically supported by Laura Jeanne Raymond-Léonard (UQAM), the initiative was officially launched in December 2017 by Dr. Handa at the 2017 Quebec Centre for Biodiversity Science Symposium in Montreal, Quebec. Network members are currently addressing key research questions in biodiversity science, global change, forest ecology and management, interaction ecology, etc. Building on experience gained from TOPIC’s development, CRITTER’s goal is to compile existing knowledge (i.e. data) of functional traits of invertebrates in Canada and is organized in two modules. Currently, the CRITTER database documents approximately 50 functional traits and has entries for over 400 different taxa. The compilation of this knowledge has the additional advantage of fostering potential collaborations among researchers according to an established data sharing procedure.

  • CoVitas workshop, February 2017

    Held under the auspices of the Forest Change initiative (CFS) and the Canadian Institute of Ecology and Evolution (CIEE) in February 2017 at the Gault Nature Reserve in Mont Saint-Hilaire, Québec, the CoVitas workshop reunited the first time participating scientists from across Canada to foster a national and transdisciplinary interpretation of results. Launched in 2013, the « Co-VITAS » project (a French acronym for “Intraspecific variability of aboveground and belowground plant traits”) is a multidisciplinary and collaborative science initiative led by Dr. Isabelle Aubin (Canadian Forest Service) and Dr. Alison Munson (Laval University). The project is investigating the response to environmental changes of six widely distributed forest understory forest species’ by measuring a set of ecophysiological and genetic attributes throughout the species range. The group enlisted and coordinated the efforts of 23 research teams across Canada for field sampling of 81 sites from Newfoundland to Yukon. Its objective is to tease apart key aspects of Canadian forest adaptive capacity, particularly in the context of climate change. This work will inform management options to support forest adaptation in Canada, reducing its vulnerability to climate change. Manuscripts in progress and new projects stemming from this initial collaboration were discussed. The unique pan-Canadian dataset will be available via TOPIC after publication.

Network presentations

Handa, I.T., et al. Canadian Repository of Invertebrate Traits and Trait-like Ecological Records – Traits des invertébrés du Canada (CRITTER).

  • 12th Annual Conference of the Centre for Forest Research, Québec, April 30–May 2 2018
  • (Official launch) QCBS Annual Symposium 2017, Montreal, December 12–13 2017

Boisvert-Marsh, L., et al. The TOPIC network: collaborative science to make trait data available to Canadian scientists.

  • GLFC Friday Seminar series, Sault Ste-Marie, December 1 2017.
  • 53rd Annual meeting of the Canadian Botanical Association. Waterloo, July 6 2017.

Aubin, I. et al. Collaborative science to investigate above- and belowground intraspecific trait variability at continental scale.

  • GLFC Friday Seminar series, Sault Ste-Marie, November 10, 2017.
  • ISFORT, Ripon, September 27 2017.
  • (Invited lecturer) 39th New Phytologist Symposium. Exeter, UK. June 27–29 2017.

Fenton, N., Arseneault,. A. Aubin, I., Haugland, D., Caners, R., Higelin, M. Developing a framework for Canadian bryophyte and lichen response and effect traits. 53rd Annual meeting of the Canadian Botanical Association. Waterloo, July 6 2017.