Georgian Bay Research Articles

Mitigation reduces road mortality of a threatened rattlesnake

Context Reducing road mortality is essential to reptile conservation in regions with dense road networks. The Georgian Bay, Ontario population of the eastern massasauga rattlesnake (Sistrurus catenatus) is designated as Threatened, in part because of high road mortality. In Killbear Provincial Park, four ecopassages and barrier fencing were constructed along three busy park roads to reduce road mortality of massasaugas. Aim Although mitigation of road mortality has been widely recommended and in some instances implemented for reptiles, effectiveness of mitigation efforts is often inadequately evaluated. The goals of our study were to use long-term data to quantify the effectiveness of ecopassages and barrier fencing in reducing massasauga fatalities on roads, and to evaluate the potential of these structures to serve as movement corridors for individual snakes. Methods We used five approaches to assess the overall efficacy of mitigation efforts: (1) comparison of pre- and post-mitigation road mortality; (2) camera traps in ecopassages to document massasauga and predator presence; (3) automated tag readers in ecopassage entrances to detect PIT-tagged individuals; (4) an experiment to assess massasauga willingness to enter and travel through ecopassages; and (5) measurement of temperature fluctuations in ecopassages to assess thermal suitability for massasaugas. Key results We found a significant decrease in road mortality of massasaugas on stretches of park roads associated with ecopassages and barrier fencing post construction. Automated tag readers and cameras detected the presence of massasaugas and other animals within the ecopassages, and experimental data showed that massasaugas willingly entered, and in some cases crossed through, ecopassages. Conclusion Our evaluation of mitigation structures determined that they successfully reduce road mortality and provide potential movement corridors between bisected habitats, provided that intense maintenance of the fencing is conducted yearly. We also demonstrated the need to utilise a combination of multiple post-monitoring methods to effectively evaluate mitigation structures. Implications This study provides a template for construction of similar mitigation in other key locations where reptile road mortality occurs.

Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources South-Central Region Bobwhite Quail Rehabilitation Program

Archaeological and historical evidence on status of northern bobwhites (Colinus virginianus) in southern Ontario prior to European settlement is not clear. The bird was documented on the Essex and Kent County prairies at the time of European settlement in the early l700's. Early farmsteading increased available habitat space for quail. That landscape, combined with mild winters in the l 840's, enabled bobwhites to expand their ranges. By the mid-l 850's, bobwhites ranged generally throughout Ontario's tallgrass prairie and savannah communities extending from the Detroit River approximately 300 miles north into Simcoe County, the southeast limit of Georgian Bay, and 400 miles east to Kingston, the eastern limit of Lake Ontario. Bobwhites became a valued upland bird in pioneer Ontario for hunting, viewing and controlling farm garden weed seeds and insects. The detrimental impacts of harsh winters were a major contributor to quail declines from the late l 850's to the l 980's. Additionally, more subtle factors which also contributed detrimental stresses were loss of tallgrass prairie and savannah, intensive agriculture, continued deforestation, urbanization, pesticide use, the taking of wild stock for pen-rearing and the low survival rates of introduced cultured stocks into the wild. In summary, bobwhites in Ontario declined due to the destruction, impairment and fragmentation of wildlife habitat. The population stabilized at low numbers during the early l 980's. Recreational harvesting of the species continued into the l 970's. Gun harvests probably at no time exerted a controlling influence on the quail populations. The harvest diminished to non-existence in the 1980's. The hunting seasons for wild populations were eliminated in the l 990's. People continued to appreciate the bird for recreational viewing and dog training opportunities. In spite of agricultural trends towards less intensive land uses, new emphases on resource and environmental conservation and rehabilitation, as well as milder winters in the l 980's and l 990's, bobwhite numbers have not rebounded in southwest Ontario. Approximately 185 birds in 16 coveys throughout Elgin, Lambton and Middlesex counties were documented in 1990. Although large areas of suitable land are unoccupied by bobwhites, populations remain small, disjunct and isolated. Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources formed partnerships with a number of other governmental agencies, non-governmental organizations and landowners, to initiate the rehabilitation of bobwhite quail in southern Ontario. The Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters, their affiliate and individual members, are a key sponsor to this rehabilitation initiative. These groups have participated in an advisory committee, raised funds, and offered volunteer labor, predator control services adjacent to release sites, and professional services. The committee recommended the transfer of wild bobwhites from other North American populations as a means of rehabilitating Ontario populations. The program's goal is to reestablish larger, sustainable populations of quail in southern Ontario to provide recreational viewing and hunting opportunities. It is anticipated that large numbers of urban and rural Ontarians will be pleased with the reestablishment of northern bobwhites and the recreational viewing and hunting benefits they provide. Restoration of quail hunting opportunities will generate economic benefits in Ontario and may be a suitable method for monitoring the grass-shrubland ecotone. Healthy quail populations also have the potential to function as natural control agents for some crop pests.

Revenge Against the Idol: Competing Magical Systems on the Detroit River, 1670

The Michigan Historical Review 43:2 (Fall 2017): 55-63©2017 Central Michigan University. ISSN 0890-1686 All Rights Reserved Revenge Against the Idol: Competing Magical Systems on the Detroit River, 1670 By Martin W. Walsh Thirty years before the 1701 founding of Detroit, and nearly a decade before La Salle sailed his Griffin through the strait in 1679, the Detroit River was the scene of a major clash of cultures and a conspicuous act of iconoclasm. The first explorers to record passage through le Détroit were two Sulpician Fathers, and their adversary on this occasion was a stone idol situated on the river somewhere in the vicinity of Belle Isle. Until the end of the seventeenth century, the French route to the Great Lakes was by way of the Ottawa River to Lake Nipissing, then to Georgian Bay in Lake Huron. Lakes Ontario and Erie remained relatively unknown due to the hostile presence of the Iroquois Confederacy, particularly the Seneca Nation. When the French forged a treaty with the Confederacy in 1667, initiating a peace that lasted nearly twenty years, it opened a route to explore, map, and evangelize the Lower Great Lakes for the first time. Governor General Daniel de Rémy de Courcelle dispatched a combined missionary/exploratory expedition to the area headed by two Breton Sulpician priests, François Dollier de Casson, an ex-soldier, and René de Brehant de Galinée, together with the explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle. The Sulpician Fathers (Compagnie des Prétres de Saint-Sulpice), founded only two decades before in 1647, were missionary rivals to the better-known Jesuits. The total expedition consisted of twenty-one men in seven canoes, along with two additional canoes of Seneca guides. They set off from Montreal on 6 July 1669. Galinée, a latecomer to the mission, was tasked with chronicling the voyage in a written report (procès-verbal) and mapping the newly explored areas, as he had some training as a surveyor. In the ensuing months, the joint expedition explored the southern shore of Lake Ontario and crossed the Niagara Peninsula at lake’s end, following the Grand River into Lake Erie. The first impression of the lake was under October gale winds, prompting Galinée to exaggerate that “there is perhaps no lake in the whole country in which the waves rise so 56 The Michigan Historical Review high because of its great depth and its great extent.”1 Erie’s weather would indeed prove their nemesis. Before forced into winter quarters near present-day Port Dover, Ontario, La Salle split from the Sulpicians, pursuing his own quest for the fabled river “Ohio.” The missionary party, now reduced to nine men in three canoes, spent a relatively comfortable winter on the north shore in what Galinée called le Paradis terrestre du Canada.2 It is not clear whether they had any Native guides at this point; an Amikwa (Nez Percé) captive obtained from the Seneca is the last mentioned by Galinée. After celebrating Easter on 6 April 1670, and with the lake still full of ice, they continued their traverse of Lake Erie. In the second week of April, after a long day’s paddling of some twenty leagues (40 miles), they reached the eastern shore of Point Pelee, a “beautiful sand beach” which today presents much the same look as it did then.3 The party was thoroughly exhausted from the day’s exertions, which caused them to leave their heavy packs on the beach and drag their canoes up to the tree line. During the night, a fierce northeaster racked the lake and a storm surge hit the beach, sweeping away much of the expedition’s equipment. Guns, ammunition, and provisions were sucked under the waves but most disastrously, their complete altar service was also lost. This altar service most likely consisted of a specially-constructed wooden case that would have opened out to present a consecrated altar stone with imbedded relics. The required Mass vessels—chalice and paten, with their vestments: the veil, pall, corporal, and purificator— would have been included, along with a crucifix, candles, and a missal, with possibly...

Reactive transport modelling of shale-bentonite interactions in a hypersaline environment

Bentonite is a widely considered sealing material for radioactive waste repositories and its behaviour has been studied in a variety of settings. In Ontario Power Generation's Deep Geological Repository (DGR) design for low and intermediate level radioactive waste, a reference 70:30 bentonite/sand mixture is the most voluminous component of the proposed shaft sealing system, in addition to cement- and asphalt-based components. In this study, the long-term durability of the bentonite in contact with sedimentary wall rocks of the shaft and highly-saline porewater was assessed. The possible significance of reactions between bentonite and high-salinity, magnesium-rich porewater for the sealing properties of bentonite has hitherto received less attention than reactions such as smectite illitization, iron-bentonite interactions and cement-bentonite interactions.Fully-coupled reactive transport models were developed to simulate the evolution of the interface between the bentonite/sand mixture and the Georgian Bay Shale, which forms the wall rocks of the shaft overlying the Cobourg Formation (limestone), within which it is proposed to locate the repository. The highly saline nature of the shale porewater led to a Pitzer approach being used to model mineral solubilities. The ‘base case’ simulation suggests that there will be rapid partial replacement of Namontmorillonite with Ca-montmorillonite in the bentonite/sand, with K-montmorillonite then replacing Ca-montmorillonite over longer timescales (tens of thousands of years). Over 100,000 years, minor alteration of the primary minerals at the shaft seal-rock interface occurred in this model, resulting in a reduced porosity alteration zone with a thickness of a few centimetres. The main alteration product in the bentonite/sand was saponite, whereas in the shale, it was analcime (which was included as a representative sodium-rich framework silicate). A number of variant cases were also developed that explored the effects of model discretisation and geochemical assumptions (controls on dissolved silica concentrations) on calculated system evolution. The variation in discretisation led to minor differences in the evolution of the system, especially with regard to porosity. The assumption that quartz buffers the initial dissolved silica concentrations instead of amorphous silica (the ‘base case’ assumption) resulted in kaolinite forming along with saponite in the bentonite/sand, and kaolinite forming in preference to analcime in the host rock. However, none of the simulations resulted in a significant increase in bentonite-sand porosity over 100,000 years and most of the thickness of the bentonite/sand shaft seal remained unaltered. Hence the models suggest that the performance of the DGR bentonite/sand shaft seals in contact with hypersaline porewater should not be detrimentally affected.

Effect of confining pressure on diffusion coefficients in clay-rich, low-permeability sedimentary rocks

The effect of confining pressure (CP) on the diffusion of tritiated-water (HTO) and iodide (I−) tracers through Ordovician rocks from the Michigan Basin, southwestern Ontario, Canada, and Opalinus Clay from Schlattingen, Switzerland was investigated in laboratory experiments. Four samples representing different formations and lithologies in the Michigan Basin were studied: Queenston Formation shale, Georgian Bay Formation shale, Cobourg Formation limestone and Cobourg Formation argillaceous limestone. Estimated in situ vertical stresses at the depths from which the samples were retrieved range from 12.0 to 17.4MPa (Michigan Basin) and from 21 to 23MPa (Opalinus Clay). Effective diffusion coefficients (De) were determined in through-diffusion experiments. With HTO tracer, applying CP resulted in decreases in De of 12.5% for the Queenston Formation shale (CPmax=12MPa), 30% for the Georgian Bay Formation shale (15MPa), 34% for the Cobourg Formation limestone (17.4MPa), 31% for the Cobourg Formation argillaceous limestone (17.4MPa) and 43–46% for the Opalinus Clay (15MPa). Decreases in De were larger for the I− tracer: 13.8% for the Queenston shale, 42% for the Georgian Bay shale, 50% for the Cobourg Formation limestone, 55% for the Cobourg Formation argillaceous limestone and 63–68% for the Opalinus Clay. The tracer-specific nature of the response is attributed to an increasing influence of anion exclusion as the pore size decreases at higher CP.Results from the shales (including Opalinus Clay) indicate that the pressure effect on De can be represented by a linear relationship between De and ln(CP), which provides valuable predictive capability. The nonlinearity results in a relatively small change in De at high CP, suggesting that it is not necessary to apply the exact in situ pressure conditions in order to obtain a good estimate of the in situ diffusion coefficient. Most importantly, the CP effect on shale is reversible (±12%) suggesting that, for argillaceous rocks, it is possible to obtain De values that are representative of the in-situ condition by conducting measurements on re-pressurized samples that were obtained with standard drilling practices. This may not be the case for brittle rock samples as the results from limestone suggest that irreversible damage occurred during the pressure cycling.

Pronounced Genetic Structure and Site Fidelity among Native Muskellunge Populations in Lake Huron and Georgian Bay

AbstractConservation and management issues related to genetic diversity and stock structure of native populations of Muskellunge Esox masquinongy have largely been unexplored. In Lake Huron's North Channel and Georgian Bay, Muskellunge populations have been impacted by historical commercial fisheries, recreational fisheries, loss of spawning habitat, historical water quality issues, and ecosystem changes. To determine the spatial genetic structure of native Muskellunge in Lake Huron and Georgian Bay, spawning adults were sampled from 10 sites in the North Channel and eastern Georgian Bay. Genotyping with 20 microsatellite DNA loci showed substantial spatial genetic structure, with significant pairwise divergences among spawning sites. Individual‐ and population‐based analyses revealed hierarchical population structuring, with strong patterns of spawning site fidelity and isolation by distance; very low levels of dispersal and gene flow over historical and contemporary timescales were indicated. Estimation of effective population sizes highlighted the limited genetic resources that are present in these localized populations. The present results show that Muskellunge in Lake Huron and Georgian Bay consist of multiple small populations with limited ranges and high site fidelity and should be managed accordingly.Received February 28, 2016; accepted July 1, 2016 Published online October 11, 2016

Improved estimates of phytoplankton community composition based on in situ spectral fluorescence: use of ordination and field-derived norm spectra for the bbe FluoroProbe

The use of spectral fluorometers for assessing phytoplankton concentrations and taxonomic composition in aquatic environments is increasingly common. However, the accuracy of such assessments suffers because the necessary norm spectra (spectral fingerprints) are derived using selected taxa and laboratory conditions that may not adequately represent the taxa and environmental conditions in the study area. Ordination analysis of raw fluorescence data has been proposed as a better means of interpreting spectral fluorescence data. We applied nonmetric multidimensional scaling and cluster analysis to raw in situ fluorescence data from Sturgeon Bay, a small, mesotrophic embayment of Georgian Bay (Lake Huron) to obtain system-specific norm spectra for the bbe FluoroProbe. The revised spectra gave improved estimates of phytoplankton taxonomy (root mean square error of 10% versus 14%) and of dissolved organic carbon and chlorophyll a concentrations. While promising, this method should be further explored in other systems with different and (or) weaker gradients in phytoplankton biomass and taxonomic composition.

Spawning Season Distribution in Subpopulations of Muskellunge in Georgian Bay, Lake Huron

AbstractLoss of spawning and nursery habitats has been implicated as a major factor in the widespread decline of Muskellunge Esox masquinongy populations in North America. Although there is limited evidence of spawning site fidelity in Great Lakes populations of Muskellunge, such behavior could result in recruitment failure if individuals return each year to spawning sites that have become degraded. We compared the spawning behaviors of individual Muskellunge across three subpopulations in Georgian Bay, Lake Huron, to address the hypothesis that the use of specific spawning sites and spawning site fidelity are independent of the habitat's suitability for successful recruitment. The study regions (southeastern, northeastern, and northern Georgian Bay) have experienced different impacts from human development and sustained low water levels. We radio‐tagged 49 adult Muskellunge and tracked them for up to 3 years (between 2012 and 2015). Sufficient multiyear data were only acquired for 18 individuals in the southeastern region; among those fish, 16 showed fidelity to at least one activity center over 2–3 years. Male Muskellunge occupied significantly smaller activity centers and shallower depths than females during the spawning season. The locations of adult Muskellunge were in close proximity to current and historic nursery sites that had been identified in each region by other studies, supporting the close spatial linkage between spawning habitat and nursery habitat. This study is the first to confirm spawning site fidelity in Georgian Bay Muskellunge, and our results support the spatial association between spawning and nursery habitats. The repeated use of degraded habitat by spawning adults, as appears to be the case in southeastern Georgian Bay, highlights the need to identify and protect spawning and nursery habitats.Received October 1, 2015; accepted February 3, 2016 Published online June 23, 2016

Otolith microchemistry reveals spatio-temporal heterogeneity of natal sources and inter-basin migrations of Chinook salmon in Lake Huron

Abstract The Chinook salmon fishery in Lake Huron is comprised of approximately 20% hatchery-reared fish and 80% fish from wild populations. However, finer-scale stock composition remains poorly understood because of the lack of lake-wide research and monitoring of this species and logistical constraints of mass-marking wild fish. This lack of information has resulted in a common assumption made by management agencies and used in fisheries models of a homogeneous mixture of hatchery and wild populations in the fishery. Using otolith microchemistry (multi-element concentrations and 87 Sr/ 86 Sr isotopic ratios), we identified natal sources of Chinook salmon opportunistically sampled through space and time in the 2008 and 2010 recreational fisheries. Our findings demonstrated extensive spatio-temporal variability in sample composition, providing the first direct evidence of heterogeneous mixing of hatchery and wild populations in the fishery. Our data also suggest that > 90% of all fish in the recreational fishery originate in rivers and hatcheries in Southern Georgian Bay (46%) and Northern Lake Huron (46%). The majority of wild fish appear to originate from rivers in Southern Georgian Bay (55%) and Northern Lake Huron (35%); whereas the majority (67%) of hatchery fish appear to originate from Michigan hatcheries. Analysis of 87 Sr/ 86 Sr ratios suggests that

An integrative approach to regional mapping of suitable habitat for the Blanding’s turtle (Emydoidea blandingii) on islands in Georgian Bay, Lake Huron

Mapping suitable habitat for a species at risk is one of the first steps in a conservation plan. Creating habitat suitability maps can be very challenging when the area of interest is large and located in remote areas where field excursions can be difficult to implement. Such is the case for the Blanding’s turtle, a threatened species in Ontario, that live on the Georgian Bay archipelago. With increasing anthropogenic pressures, maps indicating suitable habitat can aid management decisions and prioritize areas for protection. We apply an interdisciplinary approach using traditional field data and generalized linear models to produce high resolution, regional maps which identify suitable habitat for Blanding’s turtles throughout the archipelago. We assessed the accuracy of our models using an independent survey dataset of 16 island sites distributed throughout the archipelago, and evaluated models using a reference island as a threshold for determining suitability of survey sites. Islands with higher proportions of wetlands and vernal pools were generally considered to be suitable for Blanding’s turtles compared to those with lower proportions. Our findings highlight the importance of both permanent and temporary wet habitats for Blanding’s turtles. Based on our final model, approximately 64% of evaluated islands support habitat for Blanding’s turtles. Our study is the first to produce detailed habitat suitability maps for Blanding’s turtles on the Georgian Bay archipelago. We recommend an integrative approach be applied to create habitat suitability maps for other species at risk in Georgian Bay.

Laser Ablation-Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry analysis of copper-based artifacts from Southern Ontario and the chronology of the indirect contact period

Samples of copper-based artifacts from four components from three Late Iroquoian archaeological sites in southern Ontario were analysed using Laser Ablation-Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry. Compositional analysis showed that the concentrations of Ni, Zn, As, Ag, Sn, Sb, Au, Bi, Co, In and Pb clearly differentiate North American native copper from European-introduced smelted copper and brass. Together with radiocarbon dates, this indicates the presence of trade metals on Iroquoian sites in the early to mid sixteenth century, well in advance of a European presence in the region. The small sample analysed suggests that red brass appears earlier than yellow brass, and trade metals may be found at sites in the Lake Ontario drainage before they are found in the southern Georgian Bay area.

Paraglacial landscapes in St George's Bay, Newfoundland, Canada

The Late Wisconsinan submarine moraine in St George's Bay, Newfoundland, was exposed to erosional processes during and after an early Holocene −25 m lowstand of relative sea level. Primary morphology has been largely removed, resulting in a gently sloping platform veneered with mobile sand and gravel, terminating on the landward side in progradational ‘spillover’ lobes. Erosion of coastal Quaternary deposits has produced systems of gravel-dominated spits and barriers constructed upon subaqueous platforms that have buried glacimarine deposits and a lowstand delta. Paraglacial processes have therefore created a complex submarine terrain with few parallels in Atlantic Canada. A gently sloping platform-like shoal (average depth 20 m) extends across inner St George's Bay (Fig. 1a), enclosing several basins to the east (maximum depth 100 m). The platform surface comprises sand waves, areas of gravel ripples and patches of immobile, bouldery gravel with relief of 2–3 m (e.g. A in Fig. 1a). This mosaic of terrains is reflected in a backscatter image (Fig. 1b). As a result of wave action, sand and gravel have migrated to the NE, spilling into the adjacent basins to form lobate, prograding sediment wedges (e.g. B in …

Contrasting PCB bioaccumulation patterns among Lake Huron lake trout reflect basin-specific ecology.

This study collected multiple age classes of lake trout from Lake Huron's Main Basin, Georgian Bay, and North Channel regions to compare and contrast top predator polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) bioaccumulation patterns in separate compartments of the same ecosystem. Sum PCB concentrations were highest for Main Basin (260 ± 24.9 ng g(-1) wet wt) fish, followed by Georgian Bay (74.6 ± 16.2 ng g(-1) ) and North Channel (42.0 ± 3.3 ng g(-1)) fish. Discriminant functions analysis of lake trout PCB profiles and stable carbon (δ(13)C) and nitrogen (δ(15)N) isotope values clearly distinguished fish by location, indicating high degrees of basin fidelity throughout their lifetimes in addition to highly contrasting PCB bioaccumulation profiles. These unique profiles were not attributable to significant differences in lake trout lipid contents (p = 0.856) or trophic position (δ(15)N; p = 0.334), with rainbow smelt representing the primary prey across the basins. Furthermore, significant differences were observed among the basins for the relationships between PCB biomagnification factors and hydrophobicity. An empirical model for predicting PCB biomagnification in Lake Huron lake trout indicated that basin-specific population growth rates and prey abundances were significant for explaining these contrasting patterns of PCB bioaccumulation. The results of the present study are fundamental for understanding the role of ecology in legacy persistent organic pollutant (POP) bioaccumulation. Specifically, ecosystem characteristics such as prey abundances, foraging ecology, and ultimately consumer growth can regulate the variability of legacy POP bioaccumulation as observed within and among a wide range of freshwater ecosystems.

Snapping Turtles (Chelydra serpentina) from Canadian Areas of Concern across the southern Laurentian Great Lakes: Chlorinated and brominated hydrocarbon contaminants and metabolites in relation to circulating concentrations of thyroxine and vitamin A

The metabolites of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), as well as other halogenated phenolic contaminants (HPCs) have been shown to have endocrine-disrupting properties, and have been reported with increasing frequency in the blood of wildlife, and mainly in mammals and birds. However, little is known about the persistence, accumulation and distribution of these contaminants in long-lived freshwater reptiles. In the present study, in addition to a large suite of chlorinated and brominated contaminants, metabolites and HPCs, we assessed and compared hydroxylated (OH) PCBs and OH-PBDEs relative to PCBs and PBDEs, respectively, in the plasma of adult male common snapping turtles (Chelydra serpentina). Blood samples were collected from 62 snapping turtles (2001–2004) at 12 wetland sites between the Detroit River and the St. Lawrence River on the Canadian side of the Laurentian Great Lakes of North America. Turtles were sampled from sites designated as Areas of Concern (AOCs) and from a relatively clean reference site in southern Georgian Bay (Tiny Marsh), Lake Huron. Plasma concentrations of Σ46PCB (10–340ng/g wet weight (ww)) and Σ28OH-PCB (3–83ng/g ww) were significantly greater (p<0.05) in turtles from the Turkey Creek and Muddy Creek-Wheatley Harbour sites in Lake Erie compared with the reference site turtles. The HPC, pentachlorophenol (PCP), had a mean concentration of 9.6±1.1ng/g ww. Of the 28 OH-CB congeners screened for, 4-OH-CB187 (42±7ng/g ww) was the most concentrated of all HPCs measured. Of the 14 OH-BDE congeners examined, four (4′-OH-BDE17, 3-OH-BDE47, 5-OH-BDE47 and 4′-OH-BDE49) were consistently found in all plasma samples. p,p′-DDE was the most concentrated of the 18 organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) examined. The mean concentrations of circulating total thyroxine (TT4), dehydroretinol and retinol in the plasma of the male snapping turtles regardless of sampling site were 5.4±0.3, 81±4.7 and 291±13ng/mL, respectively. Significant (p<0.05) negative (e.g. cis-chlordane) or positive (e.g. BDE-99) correlations between some of the target contaminants and TT4, dehydroretinol or retinol were observed. To our knowledge, we report for the first time on HPC (e.g. OH-PCBs) and methylsulfonyl- (MeSO2-) PCB metabolite contaminants in the plasma of any freshwater turtle or freshwater reptilian species. Our findings also show that the accumulation of OH-PCBs, MeSO2-PCBs, OH-PBDEs and some OCPs in the snapping turtles from Lake Erie and Lake Ontario (in 2001–2004) had the potential for eliciting endocrine disruption. Exposure to these contaminants and associated adverse effects on the endocrine system in freshwater reptiles and the related mechanisms require further investigation.

FEASIBILITY STUDY OF UNDERGROUND SALT CAVERNS IN WESTERN NEWFOUNDLAND: EXPERIMENTAL AND FINITE ELEMENT INVESTIGATION OF CREEP-INDUCED DAMAGE

Underground caverns in rock salt deposits are the most secure disposal method and a type of gas-storing facility. Gas storage plays a vital role in ensuring that a strategic relationship is secured between an established energy infrastructure provider and a midstream energy company. The Fischells Brook area is a pillow-shaped body of salts located in the St. George's Bay area of southwest Newfoundland, which has three layers of salt beds, and is capable of excavating caverns for the storage purposes. The development of cavern facilities requires the stability analysis through numerical models and experimental facilities. This work was motivated to examine the engineering feasibility of the salt cavern characteristics in this area, and to investigate its stability under creep behavior. An experimental test facility was developed to investigate the constitutive parameters governing the creep of rock salt, and the constitutive parameters were implemented into a developed finite element model to investigate the stability of the cavern over a 5-year period. Also a stress-based dilatancy failure envelope was developed to interpret the results of the numerical model, and to conduct sensitivity analyses for different design scenarios. The design recommendations developed in this study will be implemented as a key part of an engineering feasibility study for underground caverns in salt deposits in western Newfoundland.

French and Indians in the Heart of North America, 1630–1815 ed. by Robert Englebert and Guillaume Teasdale (review)

Reviewed by: French and Indians in the Heart of North America, 1630–1815 ed. by Robert Englebert and Guillaume Teasdale Andrew Sturtevant Robert Englebert and Guillaume Teasdale, eds., French and Indians in the Heart of North America, 1630–1815. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 2013. 256 pp. $25.95. In his magisterial The Middle Ground: Indians, Empires, and Republics in the Great Lakes Region (1991) Richard White argued that the “Algonquians” and “French” carved out an accommodative “middle ground”—a physical and metaphorical space in which both sides pursued their goals, not by force and intimidation, but by compromise and insinuation—in the Great Lakes Region. For the last quarter century, the “middle ground” has served as the master metaphor of Native—French relations, prompting scholars to explore the compromises and cultural mixing that White describes. Both indebted to and critical of the “middle ground,” the essays in this collection offer a less sanguine and more complicated picture of Native—French relations in the interior of North America, defined broadly to include the Great Lakes region and the Mississippi Valley. Suggesting that the people of the region often remained divided and distinct, rather than blurred and mixed as White suggested, editors Guillaume Teasdale and Robert Englebert argue that the metaphor of “bridge-building” is more apt. Instead of forming a “middle ground” that is, French and Indian peoples formed “bridges” that sought, and often failed, to span the dramatic differences among peoples. In so doing, they seek to move “beyond the paradigms of the middle ground or métissage [cultural mixing]” and understand the “historical bridge-building process” which linked these groups together (xxi). Such bridging took many practical forms. As Kathryn Labelle shows in her study of the 1636 Wendat Feast of Souls, French and native people sought to build bridges through religious and diplomatic rituals. Labelle argues that the Wendat of Georgian Bay sought to “solidify a Wendat—French alliance” by inviting Jesuit missionaries to participate in the Feast of the Souls, a ritual in which the Wendat interred the bones of their dead in a common pit (3). By literally mingling Wendat and French bones, the Wendats hoped, they could figuratively integrate the French into their diplomatic and social networks. The Jesuits’ refusal to participate precluded a potentially fruitful alliance. Later Jesuit attempts to build bridges to their Illinois charges, however, proved more successful. Robert Morrissey explains how the Jesuits and Illinois neophytes cooperatively created a distinctive Illinois Christianity “on the Indians’ own terms” and literally in the Illinois’ terms as the Jesuits translated Christian concepts into the Illinois [End Page 104] language (63, emphasis in original). Such efforts allowed the Jesuits—initially at least—to bridge the religious divide with the Illinois, although it put them at odds with the Jesuits’ less accommodating Recollect competitors. If the Jesuits faltered in building bridges with their indigenous neighbors, the French people utterly failed to build lasting connections with the Natchez living in Louisiana. Summarizing French—Natchez relations from 1682 to 1736, Arnaud Balvay concludes that the French Company of the Indies “tyrannized” and “mistreat[ed]” their Natchez neighbors, provoking the devastating Natchez “Revolt” in 1726 (152). That the bridges with the Wendat, Illinois, and Natchez ultimately failed, even though both sides earnestly desired them, demonstrates the difficulty of the process and suggests that Franco—Native relations were more fraught and less cooperative than White suggests. Other bridges were more abstract and intangible. Christopher Parsons, for example, describes the attempts of Native peoples and the French to define the “ontological dimensions” of tobacco (36). Seen by the French as utilitarian and secondary to the diplomatic symbolism of the act of smoking, tobacco held greater intrinsic meaning to many of the native peoples who smoked it. Parsons argues that native peoples saw smoking as a means of transmitting a valued substance—tobacco—to “other than human” beings that craved the substance. Although the French and natives could share in the act of smoking, ultimately, they did not share the interpretation of that act. Gilles Havard likewise explores such ontological bridging, albeit a bridging that only incidentally involved indigenous people. Havard describes how French jurists, scrambling to classify native peoples...

Delineation of Paleowind Direction from Dunes in Simcoe County, Ontario

Dune fields that developed along paleolake shorelines in Ontario are a product of paleoenvironmental conditions, which developed as a result of glacially influenced geological processes. In Simcoe County, Ontario, many dune fields were created between 3 and 12 ka, when this area was covered by a series of lakes, bordered by thick sandy beaches. Coastal sediments of the glacial Lake Algonquin and the Nipissing phase of the upper Great Lakes were reworked primarily by paleowind activity and intense periodic storms once lake levels had decreased. This formed dunes, which are now common along the south-eastern coast of Georgian Bay in Simcoe County. Dunes that developed earlier (8–10 ka) have a different average orientation than dunes that developed later (3–5 ka). Various geomorphometric techniques are tested to construct a replicable methodology for determining paleowind direction. Through identification of parabolic dunes, azimuth angles were determined and used to infer the dominant paleowind directions. Dunes on the paleolake Algonquin plain commonly have a north-east to south-west orientation, whereas dunes associated with Nipissing phase shorelines formed via north-westerly winds. These data may suggest changing prevailing winds in the Great Lakes region during deglaciation.

Inorganic Contaminants, Nutrient Reserves and Molt Intensity in Autumn Migrant Red-Necked Grebes (Podiceps grisegena) at Georgian Bay.

Red-necked grebes (Podiceps grisegena) are piscivorous waterbirds that breed on freshwater lakes in northwestern Canada and stop-over at the Great Lakes during autumn migration to molt feathers and replenish lipid and protein reserves. The objectives of this study were to (1) describe concentrations of, and correlations among, inorganic contaminants in a sample of autumn migrant red-necked grebes from the Great Lakes, (2) compare concentrations of inorganic contaminants to those in autumn migrant common loons from Schummer et al. (Arch Environ Contam Toxicol 62:704, 2011a), (3) evaluate if the inorganic elements are negatively associated with lipid and protein reserves, and (4) determine if nutrient reserves and molt intensity were correlated. None of the 14 contaminants analyzed were above threshold levels known to cause acute health problems in piscivorous birds. Body masses of plucked birds were within the normal reported range. Lipid reserves varied positively with hepatic concentrations of arsenic, copper, iron, nickel, lead, and selenium and negatively with mercury and magnesium. Protein reserves variety negatively with hepatic concentrations of arsenic, calcium, nickel, lead, and zinc and positively with aluminum, cadmium, and iron. A negative correlation was observed between chest molt and lipid reserves but not between nutrient reserves and other feather tracts. The relationships between lipid reserves and both mercury and selenium were consistent with current research on other piscivorous waterbirds at the Great Lakes and justify continued work to determine interactions of these contaminants in waterbirds that breed, stage, and winter in the region.

Coastal zone occupancy by double-crested cormorants on a Laurentian Great Lake before, during, and after a food web regime shift

The Lake Huron food web has been undergoing change since the invasion of driessenid mussels (Dreissena spp.) (late 1990s), especially in 2003 featuring the lake-wide loss of alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus) among other elements that year. Collectively the changes in 2003 satisfy a number of criteria for a regime shift. Based on multiflight surveys (2001–2005), we modeled coastal zone occupancy of foraging double-crested cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) in the North Channel and Georgian Bay of Lake Huron during the regime shift period. At the start of the regime shift (2003), there were a number of plausible occupancy models based on a set of spatial covariates, the only year in the study when this occurred. Annual shifts in the magnitude and sign of coefficients indicated movement of cormorants between the two coastal regions, especially during and immediately after the regime shift period. Declines in cormorant occupancy of coastal habitat were not confined to 2003 but extended through 2004, with declines in occupancy in the North Channel (2003) preceding that in Georgian Bay (2004). Declines in occupancy in offshore areas in both coastal regions preceded declines in nearshore areas, possibly reflecting the loss of alewife at the time. The spatial response of predators or prey in regime shifts could serve as early indicators of tipping points in ecosystems.

Nd isotope mapping of the Allochthon Boundary Thrust on the shores of Georgian Bay, Ontario: significance for Grenvillian crustal structure and evolution

AbstractNearly 50 new Nd isotope analyses are presented for the Shawanaga region of Georgian Bay, Ontario, to study crustal evolution in the Grenvillian Central Gneiss Belt. Depleted mantle (TDM) Nd model ages are used to map a major Grenvillian tectonic boundary, the Allochthon Boundary Thrust (ABT), which in the Shawanaga area separates gneisses with TDM ages above and below 1.65 Ga. This is lower than the 1.8 Ga age cut-off observed further north, and is attributed to a southward increase in Mesoproterozoic magmatic reworking of an original Palaeoproterozoic continental margin, causing a progressive southward decrease in Nd model ages. Between Shawanaga Island and Franklin Island, Nd isotope mapping yields an ABT trajectory that closely matches published geological mapping, and passes within 100 m of four retrogressed eclogite bodies typically associated with the thrust boundary. This validation of the method gives confidence in the mapped trajectory south of Snake Island, where sparse outcrop inhibits lithological mapping. The new results suggest that published 1.7–1.9 Ga TDM ages in the Lower Go Home domain of the Central Gneiss Belt further south are also indicative of parautochthonous crust. Hence, we propose that the main ramp of the ABT is located in the immediate hangingwall of the Go Home domain, much further south than generally recognized. This has important implications for the large-scale crustal structure of the SW Grenville Province, suggesting that the ABT ramp has a similar curved trajectory to the Grenville Front and the Central Metasedimentary Belt boundary thrust.