Research profiles

An Acadia University graduate student is taking the gamble out of farming for Nova Scotia apple growers. Almost 10 percent of Canada’s annual apple crop (approximately 2.5 million bushels) comes from Nova Scotia. These crops can fluctuate considerably from year to year, resulting in a significant impact on the quality, value and bounty of the harvest, which in turn has financial implications for the farmers. With support from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA), the Government of Nova Scotia and the Mathematics of Information Technology and Complex Systems Network Centre of Excellence (now known simply as MITACS), the researcher identified readily-available materials, like vinegar, that are compliant with organic growing standards, and which can be used to positively influence an apple tree’s production cycle. Field trials are now underway to identify optimum dosages and concentration levels.

A former graduate student at the University of Victoria took a proactive approach to coping with forecasts of increased rainfall as a result of climate change. His answer? Permeable surfaces. Permeable surfaces, such as living roofs, paving stones, special porous concrete and rain gardens, let rainfall soak into the natural ground, rather than being diverted through our water systems. This “gentler” way of managing rainfall will also mean fewer costly infrastructure upgrades.

Wind energy is one of the fastest growing energy sources around the world. Currently, Canada ranks 12th internationally for installed wind energy capacity, with approximately one percent of our national energy portfolio generated by wind. Researchers at 16 universities across Canada with a vision for increasing Canada’s wind energy supply have come together under the leadership of a team at the University of New Brunswick to build manufacturing capacity within Canada that specializes in wind technologies and address the growing demand for highly skilled personnel in this area. The team will focus on developing solutions for a sustainable wind energy sector in Canada and, over the next five years, will complete training of 150 engineers with expertise related to wind energy technologies.

Researchers at the University of British Columbia are turning beetle-infested wood into biofuels. In recent years, the pine beetle infestation has destroyed more than 13 million hectares of Lodgepole pine – a devastating hit for the province’s forest sector. No longer suitable for regular forestry products, researchers are developing a technique for harvesting this now lower quality lumber to produce cellulosic ethanol. Cellulosic ethanol is capable of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 90 percent. Researchers have created a production schedule that will enable the forest sector to use this infested wood to meet the province’s renewable fuel standard each year for the next 25 years.

The DNA Regional Cluster – a multi-party collaboration between Trent University, Fleming College, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and the City of Peterborough among others – has created a Wildlife Forensic DNA Laboratory database. Used widely at the provincial and national level, the database enables the effective management of (endangered) wildlife within Canada including improving our ability to understand wildlife population structure, as well as enhancing the ability of researchers to track diseases in animals that are potentially lethal to humans. The database can organize and extract thousands of DNA from tissue samples in a matter of days – a task that would have taken two to three years only a decade ago.