The ECAB Team

Josh Kurek, Principal Investigator

I’m an Associate Professor at Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick, Canada. I lead the Environmental Change & Aquatic Biomonitoring (ECAB) Laboratory in the new Gairdner Building. My research program includes aspects of aquatic science, paleolimnology, and monitoring of ecosystems. I am interested in studying the responses of lakes, rivers, and wetlands to environmental stressors, such as pollution and climate change. This often involves understanding how the ecological structure and overall function of freshwater ecosystems has changed across time. I enjoy mentoring students within my research program and helping to develop their abilities, knowledge, and interest related to environmental science.

Email: jkurek@mta.ca
Phone: 506-364-2390
Office: #305 Avard-Dixon
Links: [Google Scholar] [Twitter]

Norma Fernanda Charqueño Celis, Post-doctoral fellow

I´m passionate about the study of paleoecology. I started my academic journey at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), where I pursued a Bachelor's and Master's degree focusing on modern ecology, studying macroinvertebrates and microcrustaceans in the lakes of the Yucatán Peninsula. Then, for my PhD in Comahue University in Bariloche, Argentina, I directed my research on the paleoecology of two bioproxies (Testate amoebae and Chironomids) in lakes of southern Patagonia, Argentina. During my career, I have become increasingly aware of the importance of examining the interplay between environmental variables and bioindicators. For this reason, I´m continuing my journey at the ECAB LAB analyzing the relationship between bioindicators and dissolved oxygen in the Wolastoq watershed. My research aim is to achieve better reconstructions that help us to understand the watershed responses to environmental changes.

Links: [Researchgate] [Google Scholar] [LinkedIN]

Branaavan Sivarajah, ADJUNCT ASSISTANT PROFESSOR

I am currently a Fisheries Management Biologist (Arctic Region) with Fisheries and Oceans Canada based out of Inuvik, NT. I also occasionally teach GENS 3491 Global Environmental Change at Mount Allison University during the spring academic term. Prior to my position with the federal government, I was a Mitacs-Accelerate Postdoctoral Fellow in the ECAB Lab examining the environmental legacies of historical gold mining activities on lakes in Nova Scotia, Canada. You can see more on this research here. I used biological and geochemical proxies preserved in lake sediments (field of paleolimnology) to assess the long-term ecological consequences of anthropogenic activities. I also served as a regional coordinator for the Blue Futures Pathways program (Students On Ice) while at Mount Allison. My undergraduate and graduate training were completed at Queen’s University.

Email: bsivarajah@mta.ca
Office: #326 Avard-Dixon
Links: [Google Scholar] [Twitter]

Katlyn Morrow, MSc Biology student, 2023-2025

As a recent graduate from the University of New Brunswick Saint John with a BSc in Biology, I am passionate about recovering and protecting our freshwater ecosystems here in Canada. I am from Saint John, New Brunswick, but I have spent a lot of time in Rowley, NB where I have had the opportunity to grow up enjoying nature at our family home on a lake. Working with the Belleisle Watershed Coalition during my undergrad is what really inspired me to continue working on freshwater ecosystem conservation and rehabilitation. I am eager to work on my MSc project that will be looking at invertebrate responses to historical DDT inputs, as well as potential lake recovery from this legacy stressor using lake sediment analyses and invertebrate bioindicators.

Ilya Dimitrovas, MSc Biology student, 2023-2025

I am from Pickering, Ontario, and completed my BSc in Biological Sciences while specializing in environmental toxicology at Ontario Tech University. While working on my undergraduate thesis, which focused on using macroinvertebrates as bioindicators of stream health, I knew then that I wanted to continue in this field. My MSc project will examine legacy DDT pollution and benthic invertebrates in remote lakes across New Brunswick. Using lake sediments, I aim to determine how legacy pesticides and other environmental stressors have influenced lake ecosystems and their recovery from historical pollution.

CHLOE ROBICHAUD, BSc Hons student, 2024-2025

I am a student from Bouctouche, New Brunswick, entering my fifth year as an BSc Honours student in Environmental Science. I am excited to be working in the ECAB Lab during the summer and into next year completing my research related to lake eutrophication in northwestern New Brunswick. I will be investigating how benthic chironomid communities in low-nutrient lakes respond to climate change and increased aquatic production since ~1900. I hope to gain experience working in the field and developing skills that I will carry into my career. I am passionate about environmental conservation and restoration and strive to pursue a career within that field following graduation.

William Chapman, BSC Hons STUDENT, 2024-2025

I am a 4th year Environmental Science student from Ottawa, Ontario, minoring in Language and the Mind. I am excited to return to the ECAB Lab this summer to continue my work in scientific communication that I began last year as a research assistant and to begin work on my honours thesis. My research revolves around the pathogenic Vibrio spp. bacteria in shellfish in the Northumberland Strait and PEI's North Shore. Specifically, I am interested in how water temperature affects bacteria counts, and how marine conditions that favour Vibrio spp. will evolve over the next few decades as sea surface temperatures rise. Please see www.wills-corner.com for more information.