Visiting Student: Frank van Herpen

The River Institute attracts students from all over the world. At the moment Frank van Herpen, from Wageningen University in The Netherlands, is wrapping up the work he has done at the River Institute over the summer towards his Master’s degree. Frank is a student in the Environmental Sciences program at Wageningen and he has come to the River Institute to conduct research on the invertebrate communities (which include animals such as snails and aquatic insects) that live on or near the bottom sediments of the St. Lawrence River.

“I put cages containing rocks on the river bottom to create small habitats that will be colonized by the invertebrates. After a time, I simply remove the cages and see what they contain. I compare the invertebrate communities of an area where the sediment is polluted with mercury with a similar reference site that contains lower levels of mercury. The goal is to see whether the higher mercury levels affect the types of invertebrates that colonize the cages”, says Frank. “Research on the effects of mercury contamination is important because mercury can bioaccumulate through the food chain and end up in the fish we like to catch and eat”.

Frank arrived in Cornwall in April and will be in Canada until the end of September.

"So far I really like it in Canada. The Canadians are very friendly and the enormous amount of space in Canada is something I certainly am going to miss when I am back in the Netherlands."

For more information about the project: fvanherpen@riverinstitute.ca

Eco-Friends Summer Day Camp Photo Album

Eco-Friends Summer Camp staff have just completed another great summer of fun and learning about the environment - visit the 2005 Eco-Friends Photo Album to see staff and camper in action! For more information, please see the Media Release (.pdf, 102 KB).

OPG supports the Eco-Friends Summer Day Camp

PRESS RELEASE - The Eco-Friends Summer Day Camp would like to thank Ontario Power Generation for their continued support.

Pictured above are: Jordan Ann Kevan - Eco Kids Day Camp Coordinator, Linda Halliday - OPG Public Affairs Officer, and Camp participants Zara Fox, Jessica Collard D'Amour, Taylor Bird, Mackenzie Eaton, Rebekah Collard and Kyle Owen.

OPG has been a generous sponsor of the Eco-Friends program since it began in 1997, and is also a sponsor of other River Institute programs such as the Eastern Ontario Children's Water Festival.

Press Release from OPG. (.pdf - 55 KB)

Scotiabank Announces $5000 Donation to River Institute

PRESS RELEASE - Scotiabank today announced a $5,000 donation to the St. Lawrence River Institute of Environmental Sciences. Pictured above are: Christina Collard, Program Leader, Administration, Bruce Doran, River Institute Biologist and Connie Vardy, Branch Manager of Scotiabank Cornwall. The funds will be used to purchase a Digital PCR Imagizer, a state of the art DNA analyzer used in a broad range of research from bacteria source tracking in drinking water to assessing genetic diversity in fish populations. Continue reading this Press Release...