NSERC grants at Laurentian University Subventions du CRSNG `a l ...

139Fiona Hunter with/avec M. J. Bidochka, R. J. Brooks,J. Richardson, L. Rowe, Albrecht Schulte-Hostedde,& G. Tattersall 2Wildlife Research Station Algonquin ParkA grant of $108,000 for three years.Une subvention de 108 000 $ pour trois ans.Major Facility Access Grant – Subvention d’accès auxinstallations majeuresThe Algonquin Park Wildlife Research Station (WRS) was established in1944 for the long-term study of terrestrial ecology in an undisturbed tractof the boreal coniferous, mixed and northern hardwood forests. The WRSland is owned by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (OMNR) butthe WRS facilities are operated and administered by a consortium of sevenOntario Universities. The station provides access to a 400 km 2 forested “wildernesszone” protected from anthropogenic disturbances; this area containsa variety of terrestrial habitats, numerous headwaters, and several lakes andstreams that have been the research foci of seven major users and nine minorusers from various universities across Ontario. In addition, there have beenboth major and minor International researchers who have used the stationbecause it is such a unique research venue on the Canadian Shield. Undergraduatefield courses from 5–10 Universities are taught in the early spring,late summer and fall, when academic research use is less intense.WRS provides accommodation, three meals a day (seven days a week),and laboratory space for up to 40 full-time users in 25 buildings (cabins,laboratories, cookhouse, etc.). The day-to-day running of the station wasformerly under a nine month Manager who would oversee an assistant managerand two cooks for the six month summer field season (mid-April tomid-October). The Manager also opened the station for winter research andfor winter field courses, as required. The current proposal is designed to keepthe WRS fully functional for 12 months of the year in keeping with newMajor User requirements.2 The names of the researchers from Laurentian University are shown in italics./Les noms des chercheurs de l’UniversitéLaurentienne sont en italiques.