Living with Lakes Centre

10/13/2026

Congratulations to our Director, Dr. Jacqueline Litzgus, who was recently awarded the prestigious Francis R. Cook Mentorship Award at the Canadian Herpetological Society (CHS) Annual Conference!

The award recognizes individuals who have made significant contributions to encouraging, supporting, and guiding the next generation of herpetologists in Canada. Dr. Litzgus, a Jane Goodall Research Fellow in Conservation Biology, leads a research team dedicated to studying and protecting amphibians and reptiles, among the most imperilled animals on the planet.

The impact of her mentorship was on full display at this year’s conference. When receiving the award, Dr. Litzgus looked out at a room that included nearly 20 current and former students. In a testament to her legacy, the conference organizers were three of her former graduate students, now tenure-track professors themselves, and both the President and Past-President of the CHS are alumni of her lab.

Through her dedicated mentorship, Dr. Litzgus continues to shape the future of field biology and species-at-risk conservation across Canada.

10/06/2026

Congratulations to Andrea Gigeroff, a PhD student in Dr. Jackie Litzgus' lab, on receiving the award for the Best Poster Presentation at the 2026 Canadian Herpetological Society (CHS) Conference! Their award-winning poster was titled "In this together - A systematic review of the social behaviour of Canadian reptiles". Andrea is co-supervised by Dr. Julia Riley at Mount Allison University.

09/28/2026

Another CRADLES research program thesis defence! Join us on Thursday, October 1st for Adam Delage's M.Sc. Thesis Defence entitled "Variation in Life History Traits and the Trophic Niche of Lake Trout (Salvelinus namaycush) across a Continuum of Ecosystem Size in Boreal Shield Lakes of Ontario".

Join us either onsite in Room LL-102 or via Zoom. See you there!

09/25/2026

Happening in one week! Join us in person or on Zoom. Parking will be available in Lot P1 in front of the Fraser building.

If you are joining us online, register at: https://laurentian.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_nwb4RmFRTg2h9PyDVYUOog #/registration

09/24/2026

Check out the new study exploring the history of the spiny water flea in North America, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. This innovative research was done in collaboration with CFEU’s Dr. Liz Favot!

This important work highlights the potential for sediment DNA analysis to detect spiny water flea invasions before they are identified through traditional net surveys, providing a valuable early-warning system for detecting and responding to future aquatic invasions.

📖 Read the paper here: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2622864123

Discover more of Dr. Favot’s research here: https://laurentian.ca/academics/faculty-directory/EFavot

09/19/2026

09/11/2026

We are thrilled to have Dr. Maria Strack, a Professor and Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Wetland Climate Solutions at the University of Waterloo join us as our 2026 Annual Watershed Lecturer!

The annual lecture will take place on Friday, October 2nd from 12-1 p.m. in person at the Executive Learning Centre FA-386. If you are unable to join in person, register for the Zoom webinar online at: https://laurentian.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_nwb4RmFRTg2h9PyDVYUOog #/registration.

We look forward to seeing you there!

08/29/2026

New publication! Former CFEU M.Sc. student Haley Moskal’s paper on crayfish recovery in Killarney Provincial Park is now available in the “Just-IN” section of the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences. Congratulations to Haley, as well as CFEU authors Dr. Brie Edwards, Dr. John Gunn, and Ed Snucins.

Read the paper at: https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/abs/10.1139/cjfas-2026-0072

08/28/2026

Join us on Tuesday, September 8th for Gabrielle Faucher's MSc Thesis Defence entitled "Functional diversity in food webs of acid-recovering lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) lakes in Northeastern Ontario" as part of the CRADLES research program.

Join us either onsite in Room LL-102 or via Zoom. See you there!

08/11/2026

Join Dr. Liz Favot for Aquatic Ecology (ENSC-3246) starting this fall! This course explores the physical, chemical, and biological features of surface waters, including rivers, wetlands, and lakes, as well as the human impacts on these waterbodies.

Class times: Tuesday and Friday 11:30 a.m. - 12:50 p.m.