McKinney Lab
  • The McKinney Lab
  • Who we are
  • What we do
  • What we've done
  • Lab Code of Conduct
  • How to contact us
  • The McKinney Lab
  • Who we are
  • What we do
  • What we've done
  • Lab Code of Conduct
  • How to contact us

The Ecological Tracers Lab

MCGILL UNIVERSITY, SAINTE-ANNE-DE-BELLEVUE, QUÉBEC, CANADA

WELCOME TO OUR LAB

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Here's a relevant quote on global climate change-contaminant linkages to give you an idea of what we do:


"Physical and chemical changes are easier to model and understand, but changes associated with ecosystems have greater potential to alter persistent organic pollutant pathways and exposures".  


– Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program, 2002. 

Here's a link to a talk at The Wildlife Society (TWS 2015) by Melissa on Alaskan polar bears to show you the types of projects we're working on. 

NEWS FROM THE LAB

🚨 NEW ANNOUNCEMENT 🚨WE ARE LOOKING FOR A RESEARCH ASSISTANT!
 Click here to apply and join our lab!
 
Summer 2023
  • Prof. McKinney got tenured!!! Congrats Melissa, well done!
  • Msc Student Haley Land-Miller submitted her thesis, and graduated, we will miss you, Haley!
  • Anaïs Remili is going to conduct fieldwork with our collaborators from the Icelandic Orca Project in Iceland.

Winter 2023
  • The lab welcomes Keenin Coombs, our new PhD student!
  • New paper by PhD Anaïs Remili: Quantitative fatty acid signature analysis reveals a high level of dietary specialization in killer whales across the North Atlantic​


Fall 2022
  • The lab welcomes Paule Mathieu, currently working with Adam Pedersen on her undergrad honour project.
  • Nadia Facciola left the lab to start new adventures at ECCC! We'll miss you, Nadia!
  • New paper by PhD student Adam Pedersen: Development and validation of a modified QuEChERS method for extracting polychlorinated biphenyls and organochlorine pesticides from marine mammal blubber! 

Summer 2022
  • Anaïs Remili is going to conduct fieldwork with our collaborators from the Icelandic Orca Project in Iceland.
  • The lab welcomes Ambar Maldonado and Vicky Belley, both working on their undergrad projects.
  • Megan Franz left the lab to go pursue new adventures on the west coast. We will miss you, Megan!

Winter 2022
  • Megan Franz has submitted her final MSc thesis entitled "Gut bacterial composition and diversity of two geographically disparate polar bear (Ursus maritimus) subpopulations and the role of diet variation." Congratulations Megan!
  • New paper led by MSc student, Megan Franz, entitled "Distinct Gut Microbiomes in Two Polar Bear Subpopulations Inhabiting Different Sea Ice Ecoregions" published in the journal Scientific Reports. Congrats Megan!
  • New paper by PhD student Anaïs Remili: Validation of quantitative fatty acid signature analysis for estimating the diet composition of free-ranging killer whales!

Fall 2021 
  • Welcome new undergraduate student, Ambar Maldonado Rodriguez!

Summer 2021
  • New paper led by MSc student, Nadia Facciola, entitled "Measurable Levels of Short-Chain Chlorinated Paraffins in Western Hudson Bay Fishes but Limited Biomagnification from Fish to Ringed Seals" published in the journal Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry. Congrats Nadia!

Spring 2021
  • Welcome new undergraduate student, Isabel Fernandez-McAuley!
  • New paper led by PhD student, Anaïs Remili, entitled "Individual Prey Specialization Drives PCBs in Icelandic Killer Whales" published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology. Congrats Anaïs!

Fall 2020
  • Welcome new graduate students, Haley Land-Miller and Kailee Hopkins!
  • Welcome new undergraduate student, Rose Lacombe!

Winter 2020
  • Welcome new graduate students, Adam Petersen and Nadia Facciola!

Fall 2019
  • McKinney Lab is headed to Toronto, Ontario, to participate in the Society for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) Conference 

Summer 2019
  • Welcome new Master's student, Megan Franz!
  • Welcome new undergraduate student, Elena McCulloch!​
  • PhD student, Anaïs Remili, has received a SETAC Student Travel Exchange Opportunity award
  • Anaïs' presentation at Mon Projet Nordique, organized jointly by FRQNT and INQ, has been selected to represent Québec at the international final during the Arctic Circle Assembly in Reykjavík in October!
  • Melissa has been awarded a Canada Research Chair Tier II in Ecological Change and Environmental Stressors

Winter 2019
  • Check out the new review on contaminants in polar bears "State of knowledge on current exposure, fate and potential health effects of contaminants in polar bears from the circumpolar Arctic"
  • We tried curling with the Wildlife group! 
  • Sara Pedro has received her PhD degree. Congratulations Dr. Pedro! 

Fall 2018
  • Check out our new Letter published in  Science "Pollution threatens toothed whales".
  • Congratulations to MS student, Jen Bourque, for leading our new paper, "Feeding habits of a new Arctic predator: insight from full-depth blubber fatty acid signatures of Greenland, Faroe Islands, Denmark, and managed-care killer whales Orcinus orca",  published as a Feature Article in the journal Marine Ecology Progress Series!

Spring 2018
  • MS student, Jen Bourque, is off to the field with USGS Polar Bear Biologists in Northern Alaska!
  • PhD student, Sara Pedro, participated in the Sentinel North International Arctic Field School in Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada!

October 2017
  • New paper "Environmental and behavioral changes may influence the exposure of an Arctic apex predator to pathogens and contaminants" published in the journal Scientific Reports.

June 2017
  • New paper "Ecological change drives a decline in mercury concentrations in southern Beaufort Sea polar bears" published in the journal Environ. Sci. Technol. is an ACS Editors’ Choice Article (6/14/17) and is featured in EurekAlert! (AAAS), Science Daily, Seeker, Scientific American, Popular Science, National Post (Canada), The Wildlife Society, among others
  • Another new paper, led by PhD student, Sara Pedro, "Mercury and persistent organic pollutants in native and invading forage species of the Canadian Arctic: Consequence for food web dynamics" is published in the journal Environ. Pollut. 

May 2017
  • New paper led by PhD student, Sara Pedro, entitled "Blubber-depth distribution and bioaccumulation of PCBs and organochlorine pesticides in Arctic-invading killer whales" published in the journal Sci. Total Environ.
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April 2017
  • McKinney Lab is awarded Institute of Biological Risk Grant to investigate "Biological risks posed by the poleward redistribution of the oceans’ top predator: Insight from killer whale feeding in Greenland" 
  • ​McKinney Lab is headed to Reston, VA, to participate in the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment (AMAP) International Conference on Arctic Science: Bringing Knowledge to Action from April 24-27
  • Melissa is giving keynote address at the Connecticut Association of Biology Teachers "Climate Change and Biology Education" Conference on April 29
  • Congratulations to Jen Bourque for being selected to participate in the first field-school of the International partnerships for excellent education and research (INTPART) project “Arctic Field Summer Schools: Norway-Canada- USA collaboration” from 16-31 May, 2017!

March 2017
  • McKinney Lab, in collaboration with Kristin Laidre at University of Washington, is awarded Center for Environmental Sciences and Engineering Mini-Grant to study "The influence of flexible foraging strategies on hair mercury concentrations in Baffin Bay polar bears"

January 2017
  • Welcome to new MS student, Jennifer Bourque, who will be evaluating decadal scale trends in southern Beaufort Sea polar bear feeding ecology and relationships to hydrocarbon contaminant exposures 
  • Melissa is interviewed for Scientific American article "Polar Bear Cubs at High Risk from Toxic Industrial Chemicals, Despite Bans"
  • ​New paper "Temporal complexity of southern Beaufort Sea polar bear diets during a period of increasing land use" published in the journal Ecosphere


Last updated: December 2022
All content © M. McKinney unless otherwise indicated - All header photos: © Anaïs Remili
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