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Gilbert Cabana
 Address
Gilbert Cabana
Professor
Département de chimie-biologie
Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières
C.P. 500, Trois-Rivières (Québec) Canada
G9A 5H7
Voice: (819) 376-5011 ext. 3366
Fax: (819) 376-5084
E-mail: gilbert.cabana@uqtr.ca
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Academic Background
Ph.D. Biology, McGill University (Québec, Canada), 1997
M.Sc. Biology, McGill University (Québec, Canada), 1989
B.Sc. Biology, McGill University (Québec, Canada), 1984
B.Sc. Biology post-doc, University of California at Berkeley (California, USA), 1999
 
Teaching
Graduate courses :
Food webs and environmental aspects (ENG-6003)
Topics in environmental science (ECL-6008)
Undergraduate courses :
Limnology (ECL-1005)
Ecology (ECL-1003)
 
Fields of Interest
Functioning of ecosystems, stable isotopes, bio-amplification, contaminants, food webs, watersheds, mass spectrometer, food chains, aquatic-terrestrial trophic exchanges.
 
Research
Cabana Lab Research Program:
The structure and functioning of food webs are at the heart of ecology. Indeed, the answer to what appears to be a simple question: “who eats whom?”, is central in helping ecologists predict and understand important ecosystem processes such as contaminant biomagnification, fluxes of nutrients to primary producers and consumers, and the effects of predators in controlling herbivores, and indirectly, plant abundance. An additional problem in food web research has to do with the spatial and temporal aspects of trophic relationships: important players and resources in a food web may come and go and have rapid but later persistent impacts on local ecosystem function. My general interest in ecology revolves around tackling these old ecological problems using novel biogeochemical tools such as stable isotopes and inferences made from the distribution of contaminants in food webs. I am currently directing research projects dealing with tracking movements of consumers and delineating trophic relationships across ecotones in different ecological settings: exchanges between rivers and riparian zones (and vice-versa), contribution of forest birds and insects in controlling agricultural pests, and relative contributions of pelagic and littoral zones to lake productivity. Graduate studies applications are welcomed.
Current projects
Tracing the impact of watershed land use on aquatic food webs using stable isotopes of nitrogen and carbon
We have established a network of 82 stations situated along 16 major rivers draining Saint-Lawrence valley watersheds in Quebec. In collaboration with various governmental agencies, we are using watershed GIS information and water chemistry to link patterns of diffuse and point-source sources of nutrients to isotopic biogeochemical indicators of perturbations of the nitrogen cycle at the watershed scale. On-going information gathered from this network is being used to test hypotheses relating food web attributes such as food chain length and food web connectance to productivity and ecosystem degradation. Practical applications of the program are centered around relating the effect of land use improvement (e.g. establishment of riparian zones) to the isotopic profile of aquatic and riparian organisms.
Using stable isotopes and a contaminant (mercury) to model the incorporation of emerging aquatic insects into the riparian food webs
Contaminants and nutrients can be transported over long distances by rivers to then be redistributed laterally through ground water infiltration, flooding, and dispersal by emergent aquatic organisms. Using sites from our Quebec network (Chaudière and Etchemin rivers), where the natural abundances of both nitrogen and carbon isotopes have been established as powerful indicators of aquatic insects vs terrestrial insect N and C contributions, we are modelling the incorporation of river nitrogen and carbon into terrestrial food web components such predatory insects, spiders, and birds. In a parallel project involving a collaboration with Drs Mary Power and William Rainey (University of California at Berkeley) and the Nevada Nature Conservancy, we are investigating the lateral transfer of mercury via insect emergence from the Truckee River (California/Nevada) into the terrestrial food web (insects, birds, and lizards).
Investigating the impact of removal of black fly larvae by a biological larvicide, Bti, on the structure and function of stream food webs.
Bti is now widely used to control blackflies in streams (as well as mosquitoes in ponds), but little is known about its indirect effects on stream food webs. We are investigating its potential impact on aquatic insect community composition and abundance, growth rates of non-target species, and stream food web structure (seston and periphyton biomass, stable isotope profiles). Streams sites are situated in the Réserve du Saint-Maurice, 100 km North of Trois-Rivières. This project involves collaborations with Drs Jacques Boisvert (UQTR), Dr Antonella Cataneao (Université de Montréal), Dr Jaap Kalff, and Alice Parks (M. Sc. student) (McGill University).
Identifying trophic links between corn fields and invertebrate and vertebrate consumers using nitrogen and carbon stable isotopes
Corn fields are rapidly invading our landscape in sourthern Quebec, but scattered remaining patches of forests can be still be observed in this “sea” of corn. What are the ecological relationships between these “island” patches and the dominating corn agricultural system? To investigate this question we are using nitrogen and carbon isotopes to explore the trophic linkages existing between these very different habitats. Using the fact that corn, a C4 plant, has a very distinct carbon isotopic signature compared to most trees and herbaceous plants growing in hardwood forests, we are investigating the links between corn and different species of insects, bird (using one drop of blood as non-destructive technique), and small mammals collected from the field-forest ecotones in a series of sites near Nicolet (south shore of Lac Saint-Pierre).
Projects in development
Tracing the incorporation of nutrients and contaminants from flood plains into terrestrial food web. This project will involve field work in the flood plains of the Saint-Maurice, Saint-Laurent, Chaudière, and Saint-François rivers. Interested students are welcome to contact me.
Using stable isotopes and contaminants to trace long-range movement and resource use by a highly mobile predator, the double-crested cormoran. This project involves a collaboration with Charles Maisonneuve (Faune et Parcs Québec).
 
 
Recent Publications
Croisetière, L., Hare, L., Tessier, A., and G. Cabana. 2008. Sulphur stable isotopes can distinguish trophic dependence on sediments and plankton in boreal lakes. Freshwater Biology. (published online).
Lavoie, I., Campeau, S., Darchambeau, F. , Cabana, G., and P.J. Dillon 2008. Are diatoms good integrators of temporal variability in stream water quality? Freswater Biology 53 :827-841.
Anderson, C. and Cabana, G. 2007. Estimating the trophic position of aquatic consumers in river food webs using stable nitrogen isotopes. Journal of the North American Benthological Society. 26(2): 273-285.
Giroux, W., Blanchette, P., Bourgeois, J.-C., and G. Cabana. 2007. Ruffed Grouse Brood Habitat Use in Mixed Softwood–Hardwood Nordic–Temperate Forests, Quebec, Canada. Journal of Wildlife Management 71 : 87-95.
Anderson, C. and Cabana, G. 2006. Does δ15N in river food webs reflect the intensity and origin of N loads from the watershed? Science of the total environment. 367: 968-978.
Anderson, C. and G. Cabana. 2005. δ15N in riverine food webs: effects of N inputs from agricultural watersheds. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 62 :333-340.
Parkes, A., Kalff, J., Boisvert, J., and G. Cabana. 2004. Feeding by black fly (Diptera: Simuliidae) larva causes downstream losses in phytoplankton but not bacteria. J. North Amer. Benth. Assoc. 23: 780-792.
Weston, D.P., Jarman, W.M., Cabana, G., Bacon, C.E. and Jacobsen, L.A. 2002. An evaluation of the success of dredging as remediation at a DDT-contaminated site in San Francisco Bay, California, USA. Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 21: 2216-2224.
Branstrator, D.K., Cabana, G., Mazumder, A., and J.B. Rasmussen. 2000. Measuring life-history omnivory in the opossum shrimp, Mysis relicta, with stable nitrogen isotopes. Limnol. Oceanogr. 45 : 463-467.
Finlay, J.C., Power, M.E., and G. Cabana. 1999. Effects of water velocity on algal carbon isotope ratios : Implications for river food web studies. Limnol. Oceanogr. 44 : 1198-1203.
Bradford, M.J. and G. Cabana. 1997. Interannual variability in survival rates and causes of recruitment variation. p. 470-493 In "Early life history and recruitment in fish populations " R.C. Chambers and E.A Trippel (eds.), Chapman and Hall.
Vander Zanden, M.J., Cabana, G., and J.B. Rasmussen. 1997. Comparing trophic position of freshwater fish calculated using stable nitrogen isotope ratios (d15N) and literature dieteray data. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 54: 1142-1158.
Cabana, G. and J.B.Rasmussen. 1996. Comparison of aquatic food chains using nitrogen isotopes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the U.S.A. 93: 10844-10847.
Peters, R.H., Cabana, G., Choulik, O., Cohen, T., Griesbach, S., and S.J. McCanny. 1996. General models for trophic fluxes in animals based on their body size. Ecoscience 3:365-377.
Kiriluk, R.M., Servos, M.R., Whittle, D.M., Cabana, G., and J.B. Rasmussen. 1995. Using ratios of stable nitrogen and carbon isotopes to characterize the biomagnification of DDE, Mirex and PCB. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 54: 1142-1158.
Cabana, G. and J.B. Rasmussen. 1994. Modelling food chain structure and contaminant bioaccumulation using stable N-isotopes. Nature 372: 255-257.
Cabana, G., Tremblay, A., Kalff, J., and J.B. Rasmussen. 1994. Pelagic food chain structure in Ontario lakes: a determinant of mercury level in lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush). Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 51: 381-389.
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