Research & Industry

Environmental Science & Ecology

Environmental science and ecology concern studies of the biosphere, hydrosphere, and lithosphere that test hypotheses of importance to the sustainable support of life on Earth. In Science at Western, research in environmental science is conducted on spatial scales varying from a single algal cell (e.g., What are the micro-environmental conditions that lead to harmful algal blooms) to the Earth as a whole (e.g., How will changes in the use of fossil fuels affect the rate of climate change?) The research also spans temporal scales ranging from hours (e.g. What proportion fo this contaminant spill will infotrate the subsurgace water?) to millennia (e.g., How long will this waste material pose a threat to ecstystem or human health?) Most questions asked by Western's environmental scientists require investigation by an interdisciplinary team, which may include members from several departments in Science as well as the Engineering, Social Science, and increasingly, Medicine & Dentistry.

There is important infrastructure in place that facilitates unique investigation of environmental science. For example, Surface Science Western has state-of-the-art instrumentaion for the study of environmental surface chemistry and Western's strong connections to the Canadian Light Source in Saskatoon will provide expanded potential in that area. Likewise, substantial Institutional CFI-OIT funding has been received to expand the capabilities for the stable isotopic study of environmental interactions. Environmental Research Western has been created to capitalize on the combined strengths of Science and Engineering, and to catalyze increased research collaboration with other Faculties, and agencies and companies. While one part of environmental science is laboratory-oriented (experiments, analyses, computer simulations), another component comprises the study of Earth's natural systems. Hence field-based research comprises another important part of our activities, including the activities facilitated by Environmental Sciences Western, a field station located just north of London.

There are strong undergraduate and graduate programs in Environmental Science at Western, which reflect both its interdisciplinary character and its field- and laboratory-based nature. The graduate program is a conduit for researchers to share ideas and combine expertise from across campus. By its collaborative nature, ERW is defining a unique research niche in Canada for Western's environmental scientists, engineers, and social scientists, and their students. Our commitment to environmental science is further reflected in research chairs, including an NSERC Industrial Chair in nuclear-waster technology, the Campaign Western Fyfe Chair in Natural Resources and Sustainable Development, and the CRC for environmental science and ecology in the Department of Biology.

Western is located in one of Canada's richest agricultural regions, and it behoves us to pursue research in this area, whici is so pertinent to our societal and economic well-being. There are long-standing collaborations in the agro-environmental area, which involve several departments in Science, Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada, and the private sector. Research activities include the culture of genetically modified crops; soil studies dealing with pollution, biogeochemistry, weed seed banks, soil animals, and soil health; disease control in crops; crop testing for the local region; weed biology; control of insect pests, and pollination. A large interdisciplinary group of researchers study ecosystem-scale processes in watersheds. This team, supported by CFI-OIT PREA and NSERC funding, includes participants from Biology, Chemistry, Earth Sciences, and Geography.

On the computational side, Statistical & Actuarial Sciences is at the leading edge of research in environmetrics on topics such as water quality, reservoir systems, air quality, and ground-level ozone, typically in collaboration with scientists from other disciplines. Applied Mathematics uses modeling to study contaminant dispersion and diffusion during fluid flow (enhance by an Institutional CFI-OIT award in collaboration with Engineering), and atmospheric fluid dynamics and their relationship to radiative transfer and global warming. In Earth Sciences, the biogeochemistry of mine tailings during their degradation is being examined, supported through CFI-OIT funding. Geomicrobiology is another rapidly developing area in which Earth Sciences has been a pioneer, and which is supported by a joint Earth Sciences-Biology Tier 1 CRC (Gord Southam). Stable Isotope Science Western, which focuses on interactions among the lithosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere and atmosphere, and paleoclimate reconstruction, has also been awarded an Institutional CFI-OIT award.

In Chemistry, environmental research includes nuclear waste containment and disposal, photochemical destruction of pollutants, and metal distribution, function, and sequestration in biological systems. In the nuclear waste containment area, a companion appointment to the NSERC Industrial Chair has been made recently, and a further related NSERC Industrial Chair (J. C. Wren) has been successfully secured in partnership with AECL to study iodine chemistry as it pertains to nuclear reactor safety. Advanced analytical techniques for environmental surface chemistry are also under investigation, including synchrotron-radiation studies to be performed at the Canadian Light Source, and the substantial body of research conducted at Surface Science Western. Environmental research in Physics & Astronomy concentrates on atmospheric motions from the surface to the outer reaches of space. These studies have impact in areas of pollution transport, catastrophic weather events, aircraft safety, climate change, and satellite damage. The focus is on fundamental research while targeting pragmatic applications such as: i) mapping of lower and upper troposperic wind flow and tornado generation across Ontario; ii) solar wind-induced impacts on our electromagnetic environment, which affects satellites and ground-based power networks and pipelines; iii) temperature strcture of the atmosphere, including long-term monitoring of temperature change in the middle atmosphere, and iv) atmospheric constituents, including water vapour and ozone.