News

Former Waterloo Wetland Lab Master's Student, Grace Lew-Kowal, Dr. Rebecca Rooney, and colleagues have co-authored a newly-published paper on the efficacy of drone-based herbicide treatment of invasive Phragmites australis. The article, titled "Suppression efficacy of remotely piloted aircraft systems–based herbicide application on invasive Phragmites australis in wetlands" is published in Invasive Plant Science and Management, and is available online via open access.

The Weed Science Society of America also published a press release highlighting the article.

Today, the Waterloo Wetland Lab helped lead a workshop at Hillman Marsh aimed at informing wetland practitioners about invasive Hydrilla. The workshop, which assembled over 40 attendees, focused on how to identify Hydrilla, and strategies to help prevent further invasions. CBC News also attended the event, and produced a segment covering the workshop.

Students from the WWL were honoured at the Biology Graduate Student Association (BGSA)'s first annual general meeting. Ashlyn DeBoer received the Professor Marilyn Griffith Senior Honours Project Excellence Award and the Ontario Graduate Scholarship, Hayden Epp and Gab Izma each received the Queen Elizabeth II Graduate Scholarship in Science and Technology, and Josh Pickering received the Ontario Graduate Scholarship.

Congratulations to all of the award winners, and thank you to the BGSA for organizing a wonderful event!

Our three undergraduate thesis students for the Fall 2024 and Winter 2025 terms, Kiernan Phillips, Ashlyn DeBoer, and Jennifer Zhou, recently presented their research at their thesis poster showcases! We're all proud of your hard work and dedication. Thank you for being such an important part of our lab!

Congratulations to PhD Candidate, Josh Pickering, for successfully completing his comprehensive exam this morning!

The Long Point Peninsula Invasive Phragmites Management Outcomes Story Map, highlighting the successes of the long-term management program in Long Point marshes, is now live! The interactive Story Map, created by Waterloo Wetland Lab alum, Grace Lew-Kowal, can be accessed online.

Recordings from the 2025 Ontario Invasive Plant Council Conference are now available online, including a presentation by Dr. Rebecca Rooney: Status and treatment of invasive Hydrilla verticillata in Canada.

Work completed by the Waterloo Wetland Lab has been featured in the latest issue of the International Association for Great Lakes Research (IAGLR)'s LAKES Letters. Their Winter 2025 issue is centred around science and hope, showcasing success stories from research completed in the Great Lakes. WWL's work on several Phragmites australis research projects is highlighted in the issue, and emphasizes the importance of collaboration among project partners. The article titled "Biodiversity after a Phragmites invasion: A case study of success through close collaboration" is available online via the IAGLR website.

Waterloo Wetland Lab PhD Candidate Gab Izma, alum Danny McIsaac, Dr. Rebecca Rooney, and colleagues have co-authored a newly-published paper on pesticide sampling approaches in urban stormwater. The article, titled "Three Complementary Sampling Approaches Provide Comprehensive Characterization of Pesticide Contamination in Urban Stormwater" is published in Urban Science, and is available online via open access.

The Waterloo Wetland Lab is recruiting a Postdoctoral Fellow for an upcoming project! See below for details.

About the project

The Alberta Monitoring, Evaluation, and Reporting project seeks to enhance wetland monitoring and management in Alberta through rigorous scientific analysis and collaboration.