Raincoast Research among top 100 Science Stories of 2009.

Discover Magazine has identified the work of Raincoast research scientists Dr. Chris Darimont and Dr. Paul Paquet in their Top Science Stories of 2009.   The team’s work on the impacts of harvesting on the evolution of fish, mammals and plants made the number 30 position in the top 100 stories.  The research examined the impacts of our quest (as hunters) to bag the biggest and best specimens.  In doing so, we drive selective pressures toward less desirable features, such as smaller bodies or less majestic antlers.  Animals that are routinely subject to pursuit by humans are, on average, 20% smaller and reproduce at a 25% younger age than would normally be present. Smaller and earlier breeders often produce fewer offspring.   When fewer and smaller animals are present, the prey species may have to look elsewhere, hence important shifts in food web dynamics can occur.

Click here access the Discover Magazine Story

Support our mobile lab, Tracker!

Our new mobile lab will enable the Healthy Waters Program to deliver capacity, learning, and training to watershed-based communities. We need your support to convert the vehicle and equip it with lab instrumentation. This will allow us to deliver insight into pollutants of concern in local watersheds, and contribute to solution-oriented practices that protect and restore fish habitat.

Sam Scott and Peter Ross standing in front of the future mobile lab, which is a grey sprinter van.