Browsing by Author "Sutherland, Aphra"

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    Evaluating the Potential Impacts of Municipal Wastewater Effluent on Benthic Macroinvertebrates in the Upper Bow River
    (2024-04-29) Sutherland, Aphra; Wrona, Frederick John; Flanagan, Kyla Martine; Scrimgeour, Garry Joseph; Hanisch, Justin
    Municipal wastewater effluent (MWWE) is a common, high-volume, point source effluent that is commonly released to urban aquatic systems. MWWE is a complex mixture containing nutrients and many emerging chemicals of concern (ESOCs), which may vary due to treatment type, receiving environments, and the population served. Outputs of MWWE have been associated with nutrient enrichment (eutrophication) but as populations grow and knowledge of ESOCs improves, it is crucial to understand how nutrient enrichment, and potential interactions of nutrients and ESOCs affect aquatic ecosystems. This study provides updated data on the basal aquatic food web of the Bow River in urban areas of its higher reaches (Canmore and Calgary) through characterizations of the benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages in the mainstem and experimental stream systems associated with Calgary’s Pine Creek wastewater treatment plant. Changes to benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages on a longitudinal gradient and cumulative exposure to MWWE in the Bow River were statistically significant and were generally associated with nutrient enrichment (particularly phosphorus). Through the use of different sampling methodologies, MWWE exposures in the experimental streams suggest that the high-quality treated effluent produced by the Pine Creek facility causes consistent, but divergent, cumulative effects in relation to background Bow River source water. In both projects, community metrics that identify types of taxa found in assemblages also described changes to communities more effectively than traditional metrics of urban disturbance such as diversity and richness.
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    University of Calgary - Zoology 435 Insect Survey Report - Fall 2022
    (2022-12-13) Summers, Mindi; Bickley, Emilee; Cobos, Karen; Gillis, Elizabeth; Glessing, Rachel; Hay, Jordan; Lemma, Betalihem; Maggipinto, Hudson; Neame, Tobyn; Nwankwo, Ogonna; Pauls, Elicia; Stelmack, Yvaine; Sutherland, Aphra; Wright, Jackson; Zhao, Ella; Clarke, Arminty
    Research findings from students enrolled in the fall 2022 Zoology 435 – Entomology - course at the University of Calgary. Students enrolled in this course conducted a biodiversity survey of insects throughout The City of Calgary. Insects were physically collected where permits and permissions were available in addition to digital observations from various localities using the iNaturalist platform from early May to mid-October, with most observations and collections occurring in September. In 2022, students observed 3045 insects in The City of Calgary on iNaturalist (4408 in the project overall) and collected 1241 physical specimens in The City of Calgary (1447 specimens overall). 854 total insect specimens were donated to the University of Calgary Teaching Collection, 666 of which were from The City of Calgary. Insects were observed and collected from 19 of the 25 parks in The City of Calgary where permits were obtained, with the most insects observed from Nose Hill Park (246), followed by Bowmont Park & Dale Hodges Park (82), Inglewood Bird Sanctuary (77), Prince’s Island (71), South Glenmore Park (66), Weaselhead Flats (57), Douglasglen Park (40), and Pearce Estate (38). Our report focuses on iNaturalist observations and donated physical specimens collected in The City of Calgary.