I started my project on September 1st 2021. First, I attended the course BIOL 822 - Long Term Environmental Change taught by Professor John Smol with the aim to increase my theorical knowledge in paleolimnology. In addition, I completed a microscope workshop given by Dr. Kathleen Rühland and the Workplace Hazardous Material Information System and Health and Safety Awareness training sessions for increasing my skills in the laboratory.
In October 2021, I went for sampling to the Dorset area for learning how to take sediment samples from deep lakes, how to section them and process the samples obtained. After that, I started working with samples obtained from SGang Gwaay (Zvezdin et al., under review and one paper in preparation) and from Cape Dorset (Bosch et al., 2024) by leading the identification of the diatoms present in the sediment.
In August 2022 I performed the sampling of 8 different ponds situated on different islands in Lake Winnipeg and St Martin Lake (Manitoba). I have been working with these samples since then and the identification of the diatoms was ended in July 2023. I lead the identification of the diatoms as well as the writing of at least one manuscript that is already in preparation.
In addition, I carried out two samplings in ponds located on different islands of the province of Nova Scotia (September 2022 and June 2023), by leading the last sampling and the identification of the diatoms of all the samples taken. The results of this research will be published as soon as we have all the variables measured.
While I was working at PEARL, we started a research based on the application of paleolimnological approaches in bird nests (something never done before) and which has shown very new and promising results in conservation biology: one paper will be submitted during this month and another one in preparation.
Regarding dissemination activities, I participated in Science is Wonderful in November 2021. I also participated in the radio program Cambio Climático of CanalSur Radio from Andalucía, where I talked about the problems associated with climate change in Canada. In addition, during the field work carried out in Nova Scotia in September 2022, I was aboard the SOI ship where I shared my work in different activities that SOI organized for communicating science and reaching broad audiences (students, members of the Canadian Government, NGOs, etc.). Finally, I have a webpage where I share in both Spanish and English my latest progresses in research (
https://ialvarezmanzaneda.weebly.com(se abrirá en una nueva ventana)).
Some of the results of my stay at Queen’s University have been presented in 5 international conferences as oral communications.
Papers published, under review or that will be submitted in short term for publication within this project:
- Bosch et al., 2024.
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-69860-z(se abrirá en una nueva ventana)- Zvezdin et al. Botany, under review. Manuscript ID: cjb-2024-0099
- Álvarez-Manzaneda et al. Quaternary Science Reviews. It will be submitted during the next month.
In addition, three additional papers have been published during this period, even though there are not fully related with the project:
- Álvarez-Manzaneda et al., 2024.
https://doi.org/10.3390/su16198305(se abrirá en una nueva ventana)- de-los-Ríos-Mérida et al., 2024.
https://doi.org/10.3390/su16041685(se abrirá en una nueva ventana)- Colls et al., 2024.
https://doi.org/10.23818/limn.43.07(se abrirá en una nueva ventana)