Yukon Research Centre

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

For the past 40 years, the population size of the Willow Ptarmigan has been predictable until recently. The current expected cycle of the Willow Ptarmigan in the Yukon has disappeared, alarming scientists around the world about what the disappearance might mean to the entire ecosystem.

“An ecological community will collapse without a healthy keystone species and the Yukon’s arctic tundra is built upon the 10 year cycle of the Ptarmigan”, said biologist Dave Mossop of Yukon College, who has spent many years in the field counting Willow Ptarmigan in the arctic tundra.

The 10 year cycle charts the natural rise and fall of the population of the herbivorous birds, which in turn affects the population of their predators. “The Ptarmigan survey results are frightening – the numbers suggest that we have lost the last cycle and when their population numbers should be increasing, they are decreasing”, explained Mossop. Since 2000, population peaks within the cycle seem to be disappearing which may be bad news for predators in this ecosystem.

A species that is heavily dependent on the Willow Ptarmigan is its predator, the Gyrfalcon. In the 1970’s, Yukon biologist, Norman Barichello partnered with Mossop and began examining the relationship between these two species. “What we discovered was that the Gyrfalcon breeds according to the abundance of its food supply” said Barichello. It looks like the good years are critical. The male Gyrfalcon lavishes the female with many rich meals of Ptarmigan as part of courtship. With the disappearance of the peaks in numbers of the Ptarmigan, the hungry Gyrfalcon is now breeding later in the season with the return of migratory birds. This is causing the pair to breed at a time when the young do not normally survive. The disruption in the Ptarmigan cycle is mirrored by a decline in the Gyrfalcon.

The results of Mossop and Barichello’s research have caught the attention of other biologists across the circumpolar north. Earlier this year, they were invited to present and publish their work at a conference, “Gyrfalcons and Ptarmigans in a Changing World”, held by the World Centre for Birds of Prey. Scientists in attendance were both interested and concerned with the results of these findings. A similar pattern is being seen in Europe with a disruption in grouse population cycles. Dan Puplett, with the “Trees for Life” organization in Scotland, states that colder weather in June and July has increased the mortality among newly hatched chicks that are unable to regulate their body temperature.

Dave Mossop will continue to research the Willow Ptarmigan for many more years to come. He believes that long term monitoring is essential, and will help us to understand what is happening to this species. His passion for the Willow Ptarmigan is fueled by how much depends on their survival.

Dave Mossop currently works as a professor emeritus with the Yukon Research Centre at Yukon College. His peer-reviewed paper, LONG-TERM STUDIES OF WILLOW PTARMIGAN AND GYRFALCON IN THE YUKON TERRITORY: A COLLAPSING 10-YEAR CYCLE AND ITS APPARENT EFFECT ON THE TOP PREDATOR has been published by the Peregrine Fund.
 

Friday, February 10, 2012

Apply Now for Student Placements with the Polar Continental Shelf Program in Resolute, Nunavut.

Students will take part in one of three placements that run from April 30th to June 10, June 8 to July 22, or July 20 to August 31, 2012. Students will be paid $24.08 per hour based on a 37.5 hours per week.

The deadline for applications is Friday, February 17th. Please submit your resume and cover letter to:
 

Clint Sawicki
Director, Yukon Research Centre
867.668.8772
csawicki@yukoncollege.yk.ca

The work objectives can be found here.

Wednesday, February 01, 2012

On January 23rd and 24th 2012, Cold Climate Innovation (CCI) and Technology Innovation (TI), of the Yukon Research Center, hosted its first Research, Innovation and Commercialization (RIC) Workshop. We are pleased to say that 98 people attended the day sessions, and 63 people joined us for the Innovation Think Tank.

The Yukon Research Center’s Data Server session was a gathering of researchers and people who have, need, or use Yukon data to present this prototype and to gather their needs and suggestions. The objective is for it to eventually become the central Data Server for Yukon data, with interoperability with many other data bases (such as the Polar Data Catalogue).

Presentations from funding agencies that support research, innovation and commercialization. We wanted to help bridge the gap between Yukon inventors, researchers, individuals and businesses and the agencies that can support their work. 4 Vignettes of innovative projects happening in the Yukon were presented over the course of the two days.

The Innovation Think Tank on Monday night was a lively evening of discussions around themed challenges. The discussions’ summaries are available in our newsletter. The aim was to bring inventors, thinkers, tinkerers, curious and brilliant minds together to collectively work on solutions to northern challenges we face. Keep your eyes open and your ideas churning, we plan to make this a regular event!

A big thank you to everyone who attended RIC. We hope that you had a great time and walked away with new knowledge, good networking opportunities and a head full of ideas.

Thank you, from all of us at
Cold Climate Innovation
& Technology Innovation,
Yukon Research Center

Our Presenters & Links to their Presentations
(Click on title to access the presentation or presenter’s website)*
 

Rick Steele, Data Server scope
Doug Tremblay, Data Server policy
Dave Rogers, Data Server’s content
Julien Plourde, Demonstration of Northwestel Environmental Data Acquisition Project
Julie E. Friddell, The Polar Data Catalogue: Data and Information Portal for Northern Research and Monitoring
Rick Warner, NSERC A Many Splendored Agency
Rob Hopkins Vignette: User Generated Community Radio using Open Source Technology
Martyn Ward, How IRAP can Help Your Company Grow through Technology and Innovation
Joe Bradley, CanNor, Canada’s Northern Economic Development Agency
Harry Borlase, LOOKNorth: investing in remote sensing for a changing Northern Canada
Treharne Drury Vignette: Northern Greenhouse Project
Thomas Hu, Scientific Research & Experimental Development (SR&ED) Investment Tax Credit Program
Terry Hayden, Context of Research, Innovation and Commercialization in Yukon
Tess Menges, The Canadian Innovation Commercialization Program (CICP)
Garret Gillespie, Vignette: Plastovac Plastic Separation System
Olivier Pellegrin, How can an Organization Grow and Expand with a Best Chance of Success and Governmental Support

* If for some reason any links don’t work, you may contact us at: krobichaud@yukoncollege.yk.ca
and we will forward the presentations to you electronically.

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

The Yukon Research Centre is now accepting applications for both the Mining and Petroleum Environmental Research Group (MPERG) and the Northern Research Endowment Fund. The funding deadline for the Endowment Fund is Monday, March 19, 2012 and the deadline for MPERG is Monday, March 26, 2012.  For more information, visit How to Apply for Funding.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

WHITEHORSE—They say great minds think alike. Later this month, the Cold Climate Innovation Centre (CCIC) at Yukon College is hoping that they’ll think together.
The CCIC is holding an ‘Innovation Think Tank’ on January 23 at 7 p.m. at the Westmark Hotel.
They’re hoping where brains meet brains, great things can come about.
“It’s basically an idea lab,” says Rick Steele, one of the organizers. “We want to hear from people who want to bounce their ideas off other people.”
The CCIC is holding a two-day ‘Research Innovation and Commercialization’ workshop January 23-24, and the think tank is a highlight of the program.
It’s a chance for people with good ideas to come and share them with like-minded inventors, dreamers, and innovators. Participants will be asked to talk about their ideas with others- without fear or favour.
And what is brought up in the room stays in the room- you’re not to take someone else’s idea and run with it, says Steele. You’ll be asked to sign a non-disclosure form before you enter the invitation-only event.
“We call it both full disclosure and non-disclosure,” he says. “It’s probably not the greatest thing to come to if you’re paranoid about sharing a great idea.”
The payoff for sharing? Steele notes that refining concepts and bouncing issues off others makes it more likely an idea will progress.
“You can have 100 per cent of nothing, or a share of something that actually becomes a reality,” he says.
Depending on the success of this month’s event, the think tank might become a regular happening, says Steele. Interested members of the public are now being invited to join.
To participate, you can contact Cold Climate Innovation at YRC.
Cold Climate Innovation is one of six key programs that operate under the Yukon Research Centre at Yukon College. The others are Technology Innovation, Northern Climate ExChange, Science Adventures, Resources and Sustainable Development in the Arctic, and Social Economy Research Network of Northern Canada.

Interested media can contact Kawina Robichaud to line up interviews at krobichaud@yukoncollege.yk.ca